The 2022 Grand National will take place on Saturday the 9th of April 2022 and it is one of the major sporting events of the year. The race will be held at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, as it has always been since 1839 but there have been occasions when the race was held elsewhere, such as during the First World War, when a track at Gatwick was used. The 2022 Grand National will feature 30 fences and the first horse past the post will be declared the winner.
Last year, Minella Times won the Grand National with Rachel Blackmore making history as the first female jockey to win the event. Blackmore was named the 2021 RTÉ Sports Person of the Year and the BBC World Sport Star of the Year before going on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2022. It has been confirmed Blackmore will be riding Minella Times for the second Grand National in succession and she will be aiming to join Davy Russell who led Tiger Roll to back-to-back Grand National wins in 2018 and 2019. When Tiger Roll won in 2019, it was the first time since Red Rum in 1974 that the same horse and jockey combination won the Grand National.
So, for those who believe history will repeat itself in 2022, Minella Times is worth a punt, especially with the odds being more generous than they were in the 2021 edition of the race.
50 runners were announced for the 2022 Grand National in February, but this will drop to a total of 40 runners on the 8th of April. The limit for the runners in the Grand National has been set at this number for close to 40 years. It is not often we see any fewer than 40 horses on the course and that makes for a congested start to the race as each horse attempts to negotiate the opening fences. As one would expect with a race containing 40 horses, not every horse finishes the Grand National. In 2012 and 2013, changes were made to the Aintree Racecourse that made the track safer and this is a good place to begin when looking at the number of horses that finish the race. On average, since 2013, fewer than 17 horses finish the Grand National, with the number usually being somewhere between 15 and 20 horses.
So, in the 2022 edition of the Grand National, 40 horses may start but we expect to see under half that number finish. This makes each way betting market interesting because the first thing your horse must do when betting on the Grand National is finish the race. If over half the horses that enter the race are not going to finish, you know if the horse you back can get around the course, it has a good chance of finishing inside the top places.
With that in mind, it is worth noting the positions the bookmakers will pay down to when placing each way bet. Some will pay to fourth place whereas others may go even further as a promotion.
In terms of contenders to finish in the top four of the 2022 Grand National, Longhouse Poet makes a good bet for those wanting to wager at slightly longer odds. However, it is difficult to look beyond Any Second Now, Delta Work, Escaria Ten, and Enjoy D’allen. They each tick several boxes to succeed at the Grand National, including age, experience, trainer, owner, and form. You can choose to bet on these any time up until the day of the race or wait and see what the ground conditions are like on the day before betting.
