A National Obsession

Who will triumph on the biggest betting day of the year?

A National Obsession
In the interests of full disclosure, I have been on holiday this week and haven’t had time to write something completely new. A form of this article has been published before on my previous blog site but it has never been on Substack and it has been rewritten and updated slightly. I hope you still find the time to read and enjoy.

Question: Where are you likely to find some awkward students looking a little lost, an elderly lady counting her pennies carefully out of her purse, a gaggle of twenty-something ladies talking about their favourite colours and giggling, a middle-aged man looking serious with three newspapers tucked under his arm and a whole host of other different characters all in the same place at the same time?

Answer: In a betting shop on Grand National day.

The Grand National is always one of the events I look for first in the sporting calendar. It is the biggest betting day of the year in the UK where pretty much everyone (even those who have absolutely no clue) take a punt on a horse winning the most unpredictable race of them all. One of my favourite parts of National day is sitting in the bookies and watching characters such as those mentioned above struggling to fill in the slips, work out the odds or understand that to bet each way means paying double (thank goodness we don’t have to still work out betting tax as well!)

My intention is not to make fun of these people either, I am more than happy to help with advice if anyone looks particularly lost. But within these simple struggles that people have lies the beauty of it: It is an event in which everyone can truly get involved and feel a part of. Whether they then stay in the bookies to watch, go to the pub (sweepstake joined as well of course), go home to watch with friends, watch on their own, or, if they are really lucky, go to join the hordes at the course itself, the reason that so many people participate is because it helps them to feel involved, and gives them something to discuss and to root for - one of, in my opinion, the most addictive things about following any sport or event anyway.

Of course like any other race there are favourites (and occasionally they do triumph) and form to follow and particular jockeys and trainers who appreciate this challenge the most, but there is also a high chance that the fancied horses fall at the early fences or get swept up by horses with no riders or suffer from any other number of distractions. These things will happen in a race with over 30 runners, and truly imposing fences, not to mention the unpredictable British weather, and this is why people may as well pick a horse based on a name, number or colour they like because anything really can happen. Perhaps that’s what makes it so popular.

I vividly remember Grand National Saturdays growing up. Dad would come in with the papers in the morning and put them down in front of my sister and I and instruct us both that we could each pick a horse to back. Of course, at this point, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing (not that I really do now either!). However, I do remember being amazed by all of the different colours of silks that were printed and the wonderful names that the horses had been given.

Once we’d each made a choice, Dad would go down to the bookies and put the bets on (£1 e/w for each horse of course). Later in the day we’d all gather round in the living room and watch the race itself, desperate to see our horses storming to the front. It was a brilliant experience and there was lots of cheering and shouting mixed with shushing to hear the commentary of which horses had fallen. There was an exhilaration to the whole thing which was wonderful and I was completely hooked.

In the early years, I didn’t experience the thrill of winning anything, not that I remember anyway, yet the race still holds some strong memories for me. I remember Party Politics coming in for a popular victory in 1992. Although I was only 7, I was aware that it was an election year and this definitely demonstrated one of the times when a name was a good reason as any to pick a horse that went on to win. At 14/1 at the start, quite a few people won a bit of money that day.

I also recall the race of the next year in 1993, or should I say the race that wasn’t. I was round at a friend’s house that year and I remember the horses coming in for the start. They went to go but some riders and horses became tangled up in the start tape and the red flag was waved to try again. The second time, the same thing happened, but this time, although many stopped, others continued, 30 in fact. There was no way to recall them at this point and in the end, the race was declared null and void even though horses completed the course (the only time this has happened).

A few years later, I was 12 and almost at the end of primary school. By this age, I was able to go down to the bookies with Dad in the morning, although I was asked to stay outside. I understood a little bit about odds and weights and form by this point and I was sure I had picked a guaranteed winner in Suny Bay and couldn’t wait for the race to start that afternoon. The only problem was, it never did.

1997 was towards the end of the troubles in Northern Ireland and there was also a General Election coming up. The previous year there had been an IRA linked bombing at the Arndale Centre in Manchester around the time of Euro ‘96 being staged in England. Lots of events had been on high alert since then and, sure enough, around an hour before the start of the race, a bomb threat was called in to Aintree.

Of course, all race goers were evacuated from the course whilst the police made checks and it would have been impossible to run the race that day. However, rather than be defeated, organisers decided to run the race on the Monday instead and I was delighted when Suny Bay came in second, albeit around 25 lengths behind runaway winner Lord Gyllene.

These are just a few of many moments that have made the National memorable to me littered amongst others like Tony McCoy eventually winning on Don’t Push It, Red Marauder’s unlikely victory and Tiger Roll dominating like no one since Red Rum for two years in a row. Each year, a different story seems to come up.

1997 was the first small win that I remember having but it was intoxicating and after that point I went on a bit of a run of picking actual winners. Bobbyjo in 1999 was my first followed along shortly by the likes of Papillon, Monty’s Pass and Numbersixvalverde to name but a few. I had convinced myself that I had a bit of a system for picking winners to do with a mixture of colours, age, numbers and so on. Of course, this was absolute nonsense, but like so many others, a little run of good luck convinces you that you have the system cracked. The problem is that many others feel the same way and, unfortunately, the bookies always win in the end.

My best year was actually 2008, the year that I was away travelling in Australia. I was determined to get everyone in my hostel as excited as I was about the race, bearing in mind there were people from all over the world, many of whom didn’t really know about the National at all. I decided to organise a sweepstake and got the hostel receptionist to print off an online guide. I held court in the common room getting people involved and soon all of the horses had names next to them.

I had also had a phone call from home and picked three horses (I pick the same amount each year) for my dad to put on for me.

As it turns out, after all of my organising, I went out that night and didn’t manage to stay up to watch the race (it being on in the middle of the night in Australia) but was delighted when I woke up to find out that not only had I won the sweepstake but the three horses I had picked for my dad to put on had actually come 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The odds against that are huge, so much so that my dad was convinced that because Australian time is ahead of the UK, I had somehow managed to watch the race happen before giving him my predictions! I still remind him of that one.

Of course, as with all forms of betting, the losses generally outnumber the wins but it is the fun of taking part that counts. My favourite win isn’t actually one of my own but my dad’s.

I remember him telling me towards the end of 1997 that he had been listening to a talk show on the radio and had heard about a horse called Earth Summit being tipped for the following year’s Grand National. He had taken the advice and gone to put an early bet on.

The horse had won the Scottish Grand National a few years previously but had then suffered a devastating injury and was out for quite a long time. The owners and trainers had high hopes of good performance on return though, as mentioned in the interview that Dad had heard, and this was proved right in December when Earth Summit won the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow. More wins did not follow but the odds for the horse fell over time and I remember Dad going into different bookies trying to get the best odds a few times. He must have had quite a few bets on the same horse by the event itself.

I also remember him going into a number of different pubs and ‘magically’ ensuring that he had Earth Summit on the sweepstakes as well. By the time the race started I had never seen him more excited or nervous. He didn’t have huge money on, it was just the thrill of having waited so long after hearing the initial tip.

The race itself was on really heavy ground as the weather had been terrible and only 6 of the initial 37 horses actually finished. In the end, Dad didn’t have anything to worry about as Earth Summit galloped away to beat Suny Bay (I had him again) by 11 lengths. He was incredibly proud as he went around to collect his various winnings and always mentions that year when the race comes around.

The race has had its detractors over the years to do mainly with the safety of the horses. There are now less runners and a number of the fences have been adjusted to try and make them safer. It hasn’t in any way lessened the thrill of the big occasion and any measures to protect the horses and integrity of the event are surely a good thing.

Whoever you choose in the National today and however you watch, I hope that the race brings you the excitement that it does to me each year.

And for anyone that’s interested, my money’s on Stumptown or Hewick.