With five Irish winners in the last eight renewals of the great race, it’s no wonder that horses trained in Ireland dominate bet365's ante-post market this time around – the first five in the betting no less!

Top of their list is Dun Doire at 10/1, closely followed by last year’s winner, Numbersixvalverde, at 12/1. Hedgehunter, Point Barrow and Far From Trouble (an uncertain runner at this stage) are all priced at 14/1 to give runners from the Emerald Isle a strong hand in this year’s race, but recent market moves at bet365 suggest that the Irish won’t have it all their own way.

Two horses that have attracted interesting support in the past couple of weeks are Longshanks and Bewleys Berry, and they are now trading at 20/1 and 25/1 respectively with bet365. The former has an excellent record over the National fences having finished second and fourth in the Topham Chase, whilst the latter ran an eye-catching race behind Eurotrek in the Becher Chase in November, and bet365's George Primarolo is particularly sweet on his chances, “I would strongly fancy him to turn the tables on that horse in the big race.”

Of course, picking the Grand National winner is never that easy so, to give you a helping hand, bet365 are offering all new customers £100 in free bets. Simply open an account before the big race and they’ll match your first bet with a free bet up to £25, with up to another £75 in free bets available once you’ve placed further bets with bet365.

Grand National Review

The Grand National is the most valuable National Hunt handicap horse race in the United Kingdom.
For many years it has been the most valuable a popular race in the UK, is it popular amongst many people who do not normally watch or bet on horse racing.
In more recent times the grand national has become one of the more controversial races in the UK calendar, due to the number of injuries and fatalities suffered by the participating horses.
Animal rights groups are campaiging hard to have the race banned.

The Grand National is taditionally held on a Saturday in early April at Aintree in Liverpool.
The steeplechase is run over two laps of the Aintree 'National' course, covering a demanding four and half miles. There are 16 fences on the `National` track, 14 of them are jumped twice (The Chair and the water are omitted on the second lap).

Some of these fences have acquired near-legendary status for their severity, particularly Becher's Brook and The Chair, although in recent years this severity has been much reduced due to pressure from various animal rights groups. The Grand National is the centerpiece of the three-day meeting at aintree and in 2007 will be held between Thursday 12th - Saturday 14th April with the national off on the Saturday at 3.05pm

Grand National Past Winners

Year	Winner	Age	Weight	Jockey	Trainer	Odds
2009	Mon Mome	9	11-0	Liam Treadwell	Miss Venetia Williams	100/1
2008	Comply or Die	0		T J Murphy	David Pipe	7/1
2007	Silver Birch	10	10-6	Robbie Power	Gordon Elliott	33/1
2006	Numbersixvalverde	10	10-8	Niall Madden	Martin Brassil	11/1
2005	Hedgehunter	9	11-1	Ruby Walsh	Willie Mullins	7/1 F
2004	Amberleigh House	12	10-10	Graham Lee	Ginger McCain	16/1
2003	Monty's Pass	10	10-7	Barry Geraghty	Jimmy Managan	16/1
2002	Bindaree	8	10-4	Jim Culloty	Nigel Twiston-Davies	20/1
2001	Red Marauder	11	10-11	Richard Guest	Norman Mason	33/1
2000	Papillon	9	10-12	Ruby Walsh	Ted Walsh	10/1
1999	Bobbyjo	9	10-00	Paul Carberry	Tommy Carberry	10/1
1998	Earth Summit	10	10-5	Carl Llewellyn	Nigel Twiston-Davies	7/1 F
1997	Lord Gyllene	9	10-00	Tony Dobbin	Steve Brookshaw	14/1
1996	Rough Quest	10	10-7	Mick Fitzgerald	Terry Casey	7/1 F
1995	Royal Athlete	12	10-6	Jason Titley	Jenny Pitman	40/1
1994	Miinnehoma	11	10-8	Richard Dunwoody	Martin Pipe	16/1
1993		0
1992	Party Politics	8	10-7	Carl Llewellyn	Nick Gaselee	14/1
1991	Seagram	11	10-6	Nigel Hawke	David Barons	12/1
1990	Mr Frisk	11	10-6	Mr Marcus Armytage	Kim Bailey	16/1

Grand National best odds & betting

RUNNER	BEST PRICE	BEST BOOKIE