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The pinnacle of the virtual horse racing calendar, the Virtual Grand National has been growing in popularity massively since its inception in 2017. Betvirtual.co takes a closer look at the origins of the Virtual Grand National and helps you find the best places to bet.
Virtual Grand National 2021
When?
Where?
What Time?
How Many Runners?
9th April 2021
Watch Live On ITV4
8pm
40
10th April 2021
Repeated on ITV/ITV Hub
1pm Approx.
40
The Original Grand National
If you live in the United Kingdom it’s almost impossible to have not heard of the Grand National before. In fact, an estimated 500 to 600 million viewers tune in to watch the Grand National from all over the globe - so, it’s quite likely you’ve heard of it even if you don’t live in the UK.
To give a brief overview, the Grand National was first ran 181 years ago in 1839. Since then It’s ran annually for pretty much every year ever since - minus a few years for WWII and Covid-19.
The attraction of the race is in the spectacle of it, to break this down:
Fences: The fences are much larger than in other jump races. These add to the unpredictability and danger of the race - both of which make the race infamous.
Prize Money: The Grand National is the most valuable jump race in Europe. This means you get the top race horses from across the globe in attendance.
Unpredictability & Danger: Love it or loathe it, these are two factors that get the viewers to tune in.
Betting: Given a combination of all of the factors above, the Grand National is very popular for betting. Odds are often very long due to the unpredictable nature. It’s very common for punters that never normally bet to place a low-stakes bet on the Grand National.
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Firstly, if there are users that want to enjoy the thrill of the Grand National but don’t like all of the controversy that surrounds this would be a good choice.
Secondly, running the virtual Grand National is much cheaper than the actual Grand National - this has allowed the operators to feed money elsewhere - such as in 2020 when all proceeds from the virtual Grand National went to the NHS. A donation of £2.6M.
Finally, the race is ran prior to the actual Grand National but featuring the same horses - so far they have a pretty good record for accuracy. Some punters will watch the virtual Grand National and use as a guide for their Grand National bets.
How Does The Virtual Grand National Work?
The virtual Grand National is ran just before the actual Grand National and features exactly the same horses as the actual Grand National.
The form of the horse is predicted on a multitude of data-points including recent race form, form in previous Grand Nationals, jockey form, weather and more.
As in the actual Grand National, there are plenty of unpredictable events - your horse can fall, your horse can get taken out by another horse falling, your jockey can just be having a bad day.
The final results are aimed to be as accurate to the actual event as possible.
The technology behind the virtual Grand National was built by Inspired Entertainment, a multi-national company that primarily focuses on providing virtual sports and games.
How Accurate Is The Prediction?
The predictions have been remarkably accurate - especially considering the infamously unpredictable nature of the Grand National.
Every year the prediction has got a least one of the top 4 horses correct (see table below) and in 2018 it even predicted Tiger Roll to win. Tiger Roll came in at odds of 10/1.
1st - Tiger Roll
2nd - Magic Of Light
3rd - Rathvinden
4th - Walk In The Mill
2018
1st - Tiger Roll
2nd - Chase The Spud
3rd - Total Recall
4th - Houblon Des Beaux
1st - Tiger Roll
2nd - Pleasant Company
3rd - Bless The Wings
4th - Anibale Fly
2017
1st - Cause Of Causes
2nd - Pleasant Company
3rd - Vieux Lion Rouge
4th - Vicente
1st - One For Arthur
2nd - Cause Of Causes
3rd - Saint Are
4th - Blaklion
Is It Different From Other Virtual Horse Racing (Portman Park, Steepledowns, etc)?
The majority of UK bookmakers feature virtual horse racing on their websites and in their shops. However, the majority of these products are stand-alone - that means, for example, the virtual horse racing you see on Betfred.com will be different from that you see on bet365.com.
The virtual Grand National is operated by a third party, Inspired Entertainment, who in-turn allows bookmakers to take bets on.
Portman Park, Steepledowns and Sprint Valley are operated by SIS.tv and are slightly different again. These are operated by a third party (SIS) and streamed into bookmakers. That’s why you can bet on these racecourses at Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes, etc.
The second key difference between regular virtual horse racing, such as Portman Park and the virtual Grand National is that Portman Park doesn’t feature actual horses and the virtual Grand National does. So, in the virtual Grand National you will see Tiger Roll, Rathvinden, Anibale Fly, etc whereas in Portman Park you will see made up horses.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, as the virtual Grand National is based on actual real-life data (recent horse form, recent jockey form, etc) it is more tailored towards the punter that follows horse racing and likes to do their research. As opposed to Portman Park which is a random number generator that doesn’t take into account form in any way.
What’s The Viewing Experience Like?
Given that we’re in the year 2021 and computer graphics just seem to be getting exponentially better, the graphics are remarkable.
Sure, you can tell you’re watching a computer simulation and not real-life, however, it’s really very close. In a couple of years we can see it being hard to tell the two apart.
See last year's race below to see for yourself:
Missed Out On The Virtual Grand National This Year?
