The strict UK lockdown means that this virtual race could pull in more viewers than the actual Aintree spectacular couldAround lunchtime on Saturday, somebody somewhere will hit “enter” on their keyboard and, a fraction of a second and many millions of calculations later, it will generate the result of the 2020 Virtual Grand National. A few hours after, many millions of viewers – more, perhaps, than might have watched the real thing – will tune in to ITV to watch as the computer’s thought processes get the full CGI treatment and its calculation becomes (virtual) reality.If algorithms are not your thing, think of it as the rolling of a 100-sided dice, with Tiger Roll’s name on about 16 of the...
What would have happened at Aintree on Saturday if the great race had gone ahead? We’ll give an answer at 3pm...It’s a tricky beast, this Virtual Grand National which so many of us will watch on Saturday (ITV, 5pm). Because of our reduced circumstances, it has become something to anticipate on about the same level as that half-pint of Carlsberg that John Mills sinks at the end of Ice Cold In Alex, but it cannot hope to be as satisfying, for all that an immense amount of work has clearly gone in to making it look convincing. Related: Cheltenham faces criticism after racegoers suffer Covid-19 symptoms Here they are - the confirmed 40 runners and riders for #VirtualGrandNational on SaturdayTiger...
Gordon Elliott the trainer appears more optimistic than the owner after saying horse might be fit to try and match Red Rums recordTiger Roll, the winner of the last two Grand Nationals, is 10 days away from resuming light exercise as he builds towards a possible return to Aintree in April. Whether he will make the trip to Liverpool, however, even if he is fit and primed to perfection, is a question for another day.Or, more probably, days, weeks and months. Gordon Elliott, who will equal the record for Grand National victories if one of his runners wins on 4 April, said here that in my mind, it is the race we have been training him for ever since he...
Around half of the people who bet on the biggest betting race of the year are getting short-changed and the British Horseracing Authority need to help sort this outThe creaky old starting price mechanism should be under fresh scrutiny following Saturday’s Grand National, when the SP over-round (which shows the notional profit margin built into the collective odds) came to 163%. That is only slightly less than the 165% of 2015 that provoked fears of once-a-year punters being ripped off and led to a lengthy review, which waved away those fears in a complacent-sounding report.And so, what a surprise, here we are again with identical concerns and no official body inclined to do anything about them. Sophisticated punters, such as...
The Irish jockey has gone 14 years without winning the National but, at 39, has a good chance of a third victory on SaturdayRuby Walsh, the successful rider in two Grand Nationals, has somehow managed to go 14 years without winning another one but he can enjoy a late-career highlight by landing today’s big race aboard Rathvinden (5.15). Walsh has sometimes managed to miss the National by getting injured in an earlier race but there is no chance of such a mishap this time, as the 9-1 shot is his only mount of the day.Trained by Willie Mullins, Rathvinden looked all over a National contender when cruising through the four-miler at last year’s Cheltenham Festival. It was particularly impressive that...