Grand National Guide

Our beginners guide will show you how easy it is to place a bet on the Grand National and how you can land a free Grand National bet.

How to make your Grand National selection

With a field that’s usually 40 strong, picking the winner of the Grand National can seem like a daunting experience – it doesn’t need to be. There are a number of ways to narrow down the runners and our Grand National trends pages are a great place to start. One of the strongest trends is to rule out horses carrying more than 11st 5lbs.

If you prefer a more simple approach, look at the names and see what takes your fancy! Maybe it’s a jockey or trainer you are a particular fan of or even the colours being worn, this is all part of the fun for the casual punter.

Bet to win or each way?

With such a big field and with some bookmakers offering ¼ the odds for the first 5 places, each way betting can seem like a very appealing option when betting on the National. The bigger the price of your fancy, the more it makes sense to go for an each way bet. For odds of 7/1 or less we would recommend a win bet unless you are a super cautious type!

Bear in mind if you have two each way bets, you could back four horses to win for the same stake and a greater reward if you manage to find the winner.

How to place your Grand National bet

Placing an online bet is a very simple, straightforward and secure process. Our step by step guide will show you how to open an online account and place your Grand National bet.

1. Decide on your Grand National horse
2. Click on Free Bet link on the right of this page
3. This will take you to the bookmaker site
4. Find the join, register or open an account link
5. Complete the registration for – it only take a few minutes!
6. Follow the on screen instructions to deposit the funds to make your bet
7. Locate the horse racing link on the bookmaker’s homepage – it may link straight to the Grand National runners.
8. If you can’t find ‘Grand National’ in the list of races, it may appear as the 4.15 Aintree
9. Click on your horse and enter your stake and bet type – Win or Each Way. If you bet each way then you will receive a payout if your horse finishes 2nd, 3rd or 4th but it will cost you twice as much to place the bet. A £5 each way bet will cost £10 as £5 will be on the win part of the bet and £5 on the place part.
10. Confirm your bet and don’t forget to claim your free bet if you have just opened an account with one of the bookies giving away a free bet.

How to get a free bet on the National

Most online bookmakers offer some kind of free bet to new customers to encourage people to open an account with them. We have a full list of the bookmaker free bet offers and some are only available by going through the links here at EBA.

Visit our free bets page to see what offer appeals to you most and click through to your selected bookmaker. Once there, follow steps 5 to 11 of our guide above. Most bookies will offer a match bet on your first stake once the bet is settled. For example, if you have a £10 win on a Grand National runner, once the race is run and your bet is settled, you can have another £10 win bet. This is a great way to get your online betting off to a flying start, with two chances of a winner for the price of one!

More pointers and Grand National advice

If this is your first visit to EBA, why not pay a visit to our horse racing forum and let one of our members point you in the direction of the winner? For a more in depth review of the big race have a look at the Grand National Guide site or Grand National Blog