With the Cheltenham Festival behind us, the Grand National from Aintree is the next major event on the British racing calendar to look forward to.
This year’s event is scheduled for Saturday 10 April over the famous 4 miles and 2 furlongs course that has been the home since 1839.
The Grand National is Europe’s most valuable jump race with a prize fund of £1 million this year.
Compare that to the United States’ most famous race, the Kentucky Derby. The event dates back to 1875 and was actually inspired from horse racing events in the United Kingdom a couple years earlier.
It now forms part of the famous United States Triple Crown, with the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes taking place in the following weeks. The Derby itself concludes a two-week long festival in Louisville.
This year’s favourite is currently Concert Tour at 4/1, narrowly followed by Essential Quality at 5/1. You can learn moreabout the favourites and get familiar with the full odds ahead of the race itself.
In all there have been 13 Triple Crown winners, with the most recent being Justify in 2018. That horse, now retired, was trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who also happens to be the trainer of this year’s favourite.
If you’re thinking of backing Baffert’s horse you may want to read some reliable horse racing tips closer to the time before placing your stake.
Before the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown is the Grand National in the United Kingdom. The event attracts viewers and interest from all over the world and many people who do not normally watch nor bet on horse racing at other times of the calendar year.
The Grand National rose to popularity with help of the larger fences than found on usual National Hunt tracks, as well as attracting most of the best horses to the event each year. An estimated 500 to 600 million people watch the Grand National in over 140 countries.
British fans will argue that the Grand National is the greatest horse racing attraction on the planet, whilst Americans will no doubt call for the Kentucky Derby. Both have a good case either way.
The Grand National is part of the annual three-day Aintree Festival, whilst the Kentucky Derby festival lasts two weeks – a considerable amount of time for British racing fans that are used to weekend events.
The Kentucky Derby Festival often includes the largest annual fireworks display in North America, the Great Balloon and Great Steamboat Races, one of the largest annual parades in the United States and a marathon. Fans certainly get their money’s worth in terms of fortnight-long entertainment!
Although the main race first ran in 1875 the festival did not come along until 1935, some Century behind its British counterpart.
Whichever race you prefer, we are sure that horse racing fans alike anticipate both races at the start of each year and that the 2021 versions will be just as exciting as previous events.
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.