Pick A Winner The Fun Way!
As many know the Grand National is at best unpredictable. It can take a 100/1 long shot and make a hero of them, so with this in mind how can you pick a winner? Well, the professionals choice is to study the form and make their decision based on that. But as already mentioned anything can happen in the Grand National so below we have a selection of alternative methods to pick your horse.
Try a horse that has the same name as someone you know such as family, friends or even your favourite pop star. It doesn’t matter so long as there is some kind of connection, maybe horses such as According to Pete or Junior have that connection for you.
One way to narrow your selection is to go with a ‘grey’ horse as there were only 4 greys on the line up in 2011. Now while the last grey to win was Nicolaus Silver in 1961 but King John’s Castle was runner up in 2008.
Maybe you spot a link between the horse and your favourite football, rugby or other team sport you follow, it could be a visual link such as strip colour or it could be that the horses name is similar to your team or home ground. Horses such as Cappa Bleu, Becauseicouldntsee, West End Rocker or even Organisedconfusion could ring true to you.
Could the Jockey’s Clothing (known as silks) ring any bells? If the colours have significance to you then cross your fingers that the jockey is on a good horse.
There could be a horse in the line up thats speaks to your favourite activity such as ‘Seabass’ for all you anglers or alternatively for the rigidly single ‘On His Own’ and for those who have a long time partner might find significance in the horse ‘Always Right’.
One sound piece of advice amongst all these alternative ways to pick a horse is to pick a Irish horse, trainer or jockey or if possible all three! This is a particularly good selection method as 6 out of the last 12 Grand National winners were Irish. Midnight Club or Alpha Beat could be in with a chance this year and worth having a punt.
Steer clear of the French! This isn’t racist propaganda from the BNP it is simply and observation that a French bred horse hasn’t won the National for over a hundred years. With that being said if the horse has been trained in the UK it could be in with a chance as Mon Mome was trained by Venetia Williams and won in 2008.
You could always revert to random chance and pin a list of the runners to a wall and through a dart over your shoulder picking the horse closest to wear the dart lands!
Once you have selected your horse you should place your bet with a bookie that has a Bonus Bet offer (there will be conditions). Paddy Power are giving a Free 20 Pound bet if you open an account on line and stake 10 Pounds of you’re own money. It wont feel half so bad if you lose using someone else’s cash and as they pay out on the first 5 horses (instead of the traditional 4) you have a better chance of collecting some cash.
Make sure you bet ‘Each Way’ this ensures you pick up some cash even if your horse comes in as low as 4th (5th with Paddy Power).