Grand National Tips 2027: Each-Way Places, Trends and How I Approach the Race

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By The Guv'nor · Last updated October 2026

Grand National tips start with the terms, not the horse. The 2027 Randox Grand National is on Saturday 10 April at Aintree, off at 4pm, with a maximum of 34 runners jumping 30 fences over 4 miles 2½ furlongs. In a field that size I bet each-way, in points, and I take the most places I can get.

This preview sits in my big races calendar, and I'll update it at the weights, after Cheltenham and again at final declarations.

Grand National 2027: date, field and how the race has changed

The Grand National Festival runs from Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 April 2027, and The Jockey Club lists the National itself for 4pm on Saturday 10 April. It's a premier handicap chase over 4 miles 2½ furlongs (about 6,940 metres).

The course has 16 fences and 14 of them are jumped twice, which makes 30 jumps. The Chair (5ft 2in, the tallest fence in the race) and the Water Jump are only jumped once. Becher's Brook, the Canal Turn and Valentine's Brook come up on both circuits.

What changed in 2024

The big change for punters is the field. The maximum was cut from 40 to 34 runners for 2024, and the race moved from a 5.15pm off to 4pm. Here's what that has meant on the day:

• 2022: 40 ran, 15 finished
• 2023: 39 ran (40 declared, one non-runner), 17 finished
• 2024: 32 ran, 21 finished
• 2025: 34 ran, 16 finished
• 2026: 34 ran, 16 finished

In four of those five years fewer than half the field got round. Remember that when we get to the places.

The weights are the first big date of the National year. For 2026 they were unveiled on Tuesday 17 February 2026. The 2027 date hasn't been published yet, so I'll add it here as soon as Aintree confirms it.

How many places each way in the Grand National? (and are extra places worth it)

The standard answer is four places at a quarter of the odds. Under the Tattersalls Committee Rules on Betting (Rule 3), a handicap with 16 or more runners pays 1/4 odds for 1-2-3-4, unless the bookie clearly shows other terms. The National is a handicap with up to 34 runners, so that's the default.

National day is the one day of the year the bookies fight over you, and plenty of them offer extra places, usually at 1/5 odds instead of 1/4. The exact terms change from firm to firm and year to year, so read the terms on your bet slip rather than trusting what you saw on an advert. One more thing from the same rule: day-of-race each-way bets settle on the actual number of starters, but ante-post bets don't follow that rule.

The maths on Grand National each way places

Look, extra places are not free. At 1/5 odds the place part pays less, so you need a slightly better chance of placing to break even. On a 40/1 shot the place part needs about a 9.1% chance of placing at 1/4 odds and about 11.1% at 1/5. My each-way betting explained guide has the full break-even table for every price.

The trade is a few percentage points of break-even for a lot more of the field getting paid. Four places in a full 34-runner field is under 12% of the runners. Eight places is just over 23%. For a big-priced outsider that's normally a trade worth making.

Who filled the extra places: 5th to 8th, 2022 to 2026

Here's something I rarely see anyone bother to show you. I went through the official result for each of the last five Nationals and pulled out who finished 5th to 8th, the places you only get paid on when a bookie offers extra places, along with their starting prices.

What it says, with the caveats up front: this is five races, it's hindsight, and the prices are industry SPs, not the bigger early prices you can sometimes get.

• Of the 20 horses that finished 5th to 8th, 13 were 20/1 or bigger at SP. Of the 20 that finished in the first four, 9 were.
• Across the five races, 85 of the 179 runners finished (47%). With eight places paid and 16 finishers, half the horses that got round earned an each-way return.
• In 2026 all four of the horses in 5th to 8th were 22/1 or bigger, including a 66/1 shot in fifth.

The bottom half of the places is where the big prices landed, and on standard terms every one of those bets was a loser.

My Grand National tips on betting the race: each-way, points and outsiders

If I am honest, the National is the worst race of the year for doing your money, because everyone bets on a feeling. Then they lose, chase it in the next race, and the whole Saturday goes south. So my Grand National each way tips are about how you bet, before we get anywhere near which horse.

Stake in points, even if it's your only bet of the year

Same advice I give everyone: divide your betting bank into points. If you've got £100 for the day, 1pt might be £5. Decide how many points you're putting on the National before you look at a single price, and don't touch the total afterwards. You can't wake up on Saturday morning fancying one a bit more and stick the lot on it. My guide to staking plans for horse racing goes further if you want it.

Understanding that losers are a thing is the key to being a winner longer term. Most National runners lose, every single year. You're betting for the price, not for a certainty.

Grand National outsiders and each-way go together

I'm not a win-rate man. Anyone can talk about high win rates when they tip odds-on horses all day. I care about profit, month to month, and at the National that means outsiders backed each-way, because even when they place we make more profit than an odds-on shot winning. Crazy right? Look at the worked example above: £10 on a 40/1 shot that finishes sixth, on eight places at 1/5, gets £45 back. The same £10 on a 4/6 winner gets you £16.67.

The winners' prices back it up. In the last ten runnings (2016 to 2026; there was no race in 2020), three winners were 33/1 or bigger: Rule The World (33/1, 2016), Noble Yeats (50/1, 2022) and Nick Rockett (33/1, 2025). Four went off 8/1 or shorter, all of them favourite or joint-favourite. Ten races is a tiny sample, so treat that as a flavour of the race, not a rule.

Lucky 15s and multiples

Some people like to throw the National into a Lucky 15 with three other Aintree runners. That's completely fine, I love a stupid punt now and again too, but understand what you're buying: four selections, 15 bets and a lot of your stake on doubles and trebles that need several big-field races to go right. My Lucky 15 explained guide has a calculator, and my lucky 15 tips page is where I talk about building one.

The road to Aintree: the trials, the weights and how I approach the race

Most of the useful information arrives months before the race, in a fairly set order.

December: the Becher Chase

Becher Chase day at Aintree is Saturday 5 December 2026, and Aintree has confirmed the Grand Sefton Chase moves back to the same card, so there will be two races over the National fences that afternoon. It's the main chance before April to see horses tackle these fences, and how a horse jumps Becher's and the Canal Turn tells you more than any rating. My Aintree course guide covers the National course against the Mildmay course.

February: the weights

When the weights come out, the race becomes a proper handicap puzzle. Every horse gets a weight based on its official rating, and the question changes from "who's the best horse?" to "who's best off at the weights?". My guide to horse racing handicaps explained covers how marks and weights fit together.

March: Cheltenham and the Irish trials

The Cheltenham Festival comes a few weeks before Aintree, and plenty of National runners have their prep there. The Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse is the other big staying handicap of the spring. Every one of the last ten National winners was trained in Ireland or Scotland, so the Irish form lines deserve real attention.

Final declarations and ante-post risk

Under the Tattersalls rules, a single ante-post bet struck before 10am on the day of final declarations is a loser if your horse simply doesn't turn up. Rule 4(A) only voids it in set cases: the race is abandoned or declared void, the race conditions or the venue change, or the horse is eliminated under the BHA's Rules of Racing, which is what happens when more horses are left in at the declaration stage than the safety limit allows. A horse that gets injured in March, or whose trainer decides the ground is wrong, costs you your stake. That's the price of the bigger early odds. My guides to ante-post betting and Rule 4 deductions explain both sides of it.

How I approach the National

Look, I'm essentially a statistics/maths geek. I used to be a Quantitative Researcher at a Tier 1 investment bank in the UK, and I analyse racing with the same skills. The National is a big-field handicap, so for me it's a pricing job first and a horse race second.

The thing I look hardest at is the weight. My outsiders come from a system that picks out horses that have won or come close at a weight or mark higher than the one they're running off today. In a handicap as big as the National, that's exactly the type I want to find at a price. I'll also pass on any smart money or stable information I pick up in the run-up, when I have it.

My newsletter usually has two kinds of bet: 'Banker' bets, which are my shorter-priced solid ones, and outsiders from that system. A 34-runner National is outsider territory. I bet on every horse I tip and I stake in points like I tell you to. If there's one I'm unsure about, I'd rather skip it than force a bet, and that goes for the biggest race of the year too.

My actual Grand National selections go out to Winners Club members on the Saturday morning.

Price

Price of the service is a fixed £9.99 monthly and that will never change and you can cancel anytime if it's not for you. To break that down for you that's about 32p a day for a whole month or a going to have a McDonalds with a mate. Crazy right?

I've priced it cheap because I want it accessible to absolutely everyone and build a community of winners - If I am honest the £9.99 is just there as a filter if you like so that only serious people sign up. If the paid version isn't for you just yet, then feel free to sign up to the free service.

My promise.

Look, I can't guarantee every tip every day is going to win (anyone that can is a fraudster). But I can promise you that every horse I will tip I am betting on myself and through my data analysis techniques it should be in with a very strong chance of bolting up and winning and over a long enough period you will be profitable.

Here's what some of our paid members have been saying:

Give it a go, what have you got to lose? It's only a tenner a month. Feel free to try out the free version first!

- The Guv'nor

Grand National trends worth knowing

I keep the full trends work on my Grand National trends page, including which of the old rules still hold in a 34-runner race. The short version, from the official results for 2016 to 2026 (ten runnings):

• Weight is no longer a barrier. The last three winners carried 11st 6lb (2024), 11st 8lb (2025) and 11st 12lb (2026). Aintree says 11st 12lb is the most a winner has carried this century. Compare Minella Times with 10st 3lb in 2021.
• Willie Mullins is the name. I Am Maximus (2024 and 2026) and Nick Rockett (2025) took him to four National wins, level with the record held by Ginger McCain and Fred Rimell.
• Ireland dominates. Eight of the ten winners were trained in Ireland. The other two, One For Arthur (2017) and Corach Rambler (2023), came from Lucinda Russell's yard in Scotland. My Irish horse racing tips page covers the Irish racing those horses come out of.
• Favourites have had a good run. The 2026 favourite at 9/2 was the shortest-priced winner since Tiger Roll at 4/1 in 2019, and Aintree counts seven winning market leaders this century. The same ten years threw up a 50/1 winner, so don't lean on it.
• Winners have been seven to ten years old. Every winner from 2016 to 2026 fell in that age range.

All of that is hindsight on a small sample. Trends are a filter for narrowing the field, not a reason to back something.

Aintree Festival 2027: the three days and the races that matter

The National is one race out of 21 across three days. For Aintree festival tips, the Grade 1s are where the class is, and the big handicaps are where the each-way value lives. This is the 2027 race list as Aintree's event schedule showed it on 5 October 2026; race names, sponsors and the order can change before April.

Day 1: Thursday 8 April (Opening Day)

Four Grade 1s: the Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle, the Manifesto Novices' Chase, the Bowl Chase over 3m 1f and the Aintree Hurdle over 2m 4f. There's also the Foxhunters' hunter chase, the Red Rum Handicap Chase over 2m and a Grade 2 mares' bumper.

Day 2: Friday 9 April (Ladies Day)

Aintree day 2 is one of the best cards of the spring. It has four Grade 1s: the Mildmay Novices' Chase, the Top Novices' Hurdle, the Melling Chase over 2m 4f and the Sefton Novices' Hurdle over 3m ½f. The big handicap is the Topham Chase over 2m 5f, run over the National fences. The card also has two handicap hurdles.

Day 3: Saturday 10 April (Grand National Day)

The National is the sixth race of seven. Before it come the Maghull Novices' Chase, the Mersey Novices' Hurdle and the Liverpool Hurdle (all Grade 1), plus two premier handicaps. A Grade 2 bumper closes the meeting.

If you're after Aintree day 2 tips or Saturday's, that's what the Winners Club newsletter is for: members got my Aintree Festival newsletters in April 2025, and Aintree 2027 will be the same.

Grand National FAQs for once-a-year punters

How many places each way in the Grand National?

The standard terms are four places at 1/4 odds, because the National is a handicap with 16 or more runners. Many bookmakers offer extra places on the day, usually at 1/5 odds. Check the terms on your own bet slip before you bet.

When is the Grand National 2027?

Saturday 10 April 2027 at Aintree, with a 4pm off time listed by The Jockey Club. The Grand National Festival runs from Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 April.

How many horses run in the Grand National?

The maximum is 34, cut from 40 in 2024. A full 34 ran in 2025 and 2026; 32 ran in 2024 after two horses were withdrawn lame on the morning of the race.

How many fences are in the Grand National?

Thirty jumps. There are 16 fences on the course, and 14 of them are jumped twice. The Chair and the Water Jump are jumped once.

What is the biggest-priced Grand National winner?

100/1, done five times: Tipperary Tim (1928), Gregalach (1929), Caughoo (1947), Foinavon (1967) and Mon Mome (2009). Auroras Encore (2013) was 66/1 and Noble Yeats (2022) was 50/1.

Does the favourite win the Grand National?

Sometimes. Favourites or joint-favourites won four of the last ten runnings (2019, 2023, 2024 and 2026), but the same ten races also had 33/1 and 50/1 winners. For favourites across racing, see my guide to how often favourites win.

More in this guide

• Grand National trends: which still hold in a 34-runner race
• Aintree course guide: the National course and the Mildmay course
• Irish Grand National tips and preview
• Scottish Grand National tips and preview
• Welsh Grand National tips and preview
• Each-way betting explained