While the 2026 Grand National can hardly be said to be just around the corner (it’s 7 months away) the months soon pass. The inevitable process of picking a winner (which will be the talk of every pub goer, and office worker around the time of the race) will soon begin. The sweepstakes too, where you never know if you’re going to be handed a near ‘sure thing’ or a 100-1 outsider. The beauty of the Grand National is that ‘anything can happen’. That moto has bitten bookies hard on occasion, and that’s always a punter pleasing outcome. Let’s take this time to look back at a few Grand Nationals from the past where punters came out on top!
First we’ll start with a classic couple of performances from yesteryear. After his victory in the 2018 Grand National (and successes at the Cheltenham Festival) Tiger Roll went into the 2019 National as firm favourite (at 4/1). Prime time to enlist the services of a bet broker perhaps. As short as he was, due to his form and following he was still the obvious choice to give it his all and come out on top, and so many did just that. The bookies would have made a killing if he’d lost, but inevitably he romped home ahead of 66/1 shot Magic of Light. Bookmakers admitted it was a “horror result.”
Along the same lines of repeat winners, after winning the Grand National in 1973 and 1974 Red Rum went into the 1977 event at 9-1. A favourite with punters, they piled in at those odds, with bookmakers again facing heavy loses as result. Even with his earlier noteable victories (23/1 in 1973, 11/1 in 1974), Red Rum was extremely well backed, meaning those wins were not exactly good news for the bookies either.
Moving from favourite to outsiders now, because there’s nothing more thrilling than pulling a rabbit out of the hat with a huge odds winner. With there being such a long history of the Grand National, there are several examples of such magic moments. We could go back to 1967 with Foinavon for instance, a 100-1 winner, winning as result of an infamous pile-up race when almost every horse fell or was stopped at the 23rd fence. There’s always a few on the look out for a long shot win, and those who did so here, were quids in as result.
Last but not least, in more recent years (2009) Mon Mome is yet another example. Not exactly taking off in the betting Venetia Williams’ runner bolted up regardless. There were plenty having an each way flutter on the horse purely for the big odds (100/1), and they weren’t disappointed. Bookmakers experienced surprisingly heavy losses because of the sheer volume of small-stake bets, which of course adds up. So while sometimes it’s clearly the bookies day, there are plenty of times where the punters give them a well deserved run for their money, or even a bet based black eye!