And the winner of the 2009 Grand National will be…

chickendinner’s five step guide to identifying this year’s king

Don’t resort to picking names out of hats or playing a game of pin the tail on the form guide, chickendinner have come up with a foolproof plan to identify this year’s Grand National winner. We eliminated all the likely losers who don’t fit the profile of a champion until we were left with just one horse standing. Read on to find out who it was:

Step One
14 of the last 17 winners started in the top eight of the betting. Therefore it must be one of these guys (three are joint-eighth):
My Will, Butler’s Cabin, Rambling Minster, State of Play, Hear The Echo, Parsons Legacy, Darkness, Comply or Die, Black Apalachi or Irish Invader

Step Two
10 of the last 13 winners have been aged either 9 or 10. That means we say goodbye to Rambling Minster (11), Hear The Echo (8), Parsons Legacy (11) and Irish Invader (8). Still fighting are:

Posted: April 3rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Grand National index: All the links you need for the big race

Click here for all the latest odds on the biggest race of the year

OUR FAVOURITE FREE BET OFFER (more information here)
Boylesports are paying out six places each-way on the Grand National and are offering a no-strings-attached £20 free bet if you open an account and stake £10 on something.

THE BEST OF THE REST
£20 worth of free bets with Paddy Power, the kings of the money-back special!
£25 free bet with Betfair, who offer the biggest odds on almost everything!
£200 Free Bet Basket with Bet365, who pay out the SP if you take shorter odds!

THE ELIMINATOR
We used a five-step process of elimination to whittle down the contenders until there was just one horse standing: Darkness.

PROFILING THE FIELD
» chickendinner’s preview of this year’s frontrunners (Part One).
» chickendinner’s preview of this year’s frontrunners (Part Two).
» chickendinner’s guide to separating outsiders from no-hopers.

EVERYTHING ELSE
» How to best take advantage of Boylesport’s amazing offer.
» Extrabet.com’s preview of the Grand National spread markets.
» History dictates you should back Irish and avoid the French.
» Betfair make organising a Grand National sweepstake easy.

Posted: April 3rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Grand National 2009: This year’s frontrunners (Part 2)

15 of the last 18 winners have started at 20/1 or less. That means there are eleven major contenders: My Will, Butler’s Cabin, Rambling Minster, State of Play, Black Apalachi, Comply Or Die, Hear The Echo, Parsons Legacy, Irish Invader, Kilbeggan Blade and the chickendinner pick Darkness…

» Just one horse in the last twenty years has carried eleven stones or more to victory - Hedgehunter (2005) - which doesn’t bode well for My Will, State of Play, Black Apalachi, Comply or Die and Hear The Echo, who were all dealt with harshly by the handicapper.

» Rambling Minster and Parsons Legacy are hampered by the fact only two horses aged eleven or older have won in the last 13 years.

Posted: April 3rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Grand National 2009: This year’s frontrunners (Part 1)

15 of the last 18 winners have started at 20/1 or less. That means there are eleven major contenders: My Will, Butler’s Cabin, Rambling Minster, State of Play, Black Apalachi, Comply Or Die, Hear The Echo, Parsons Legacy, Irish Invader, Kilbeggan Blade and the chickendinner pick Darkness…

» Red Rum was the last horse to win the Grand National in successive years and that was 35 years ago. No jockey or trainer has retained since then either which is bad news for Comply Or Die, Timmy Murphy and David Pipe.

» The last seven winners have all been Irish. Black Apalachi, Comply Or Die, Hear The Echo, Parsons Legacy and Irish Invader are the leading challengers from across the Irish Sea this year.

Posted: April 3rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Check out the spread markets for this year’s Grand National

A preview from our friends at spread betting firm Extrabet.com

“There will be more bets struck on Grand National day than strawberries eaten in South East England over the entire English summer. No there won’t- but it is April Fools week! There will however be a lot! Bearing in mind it’s the most competitive event in the racing calendar, run over four and a half miles with 30 fences to negotiate and loose horses all over the place to avoid, some folk just seem to have the knack of finding the winner.

If you’re not one of these lucky folk there is another way. Extrabet.com have gone up with a host of spread special markets on the race including the winning length of the race (priced at 7.5-8.5 lengths) the starting price of the winner (19-20) and the total number of race finishers (15.5-16.5). If you win any cash on these markets you might want to put the funds in your Offshore Account which incidentally is a big price at on the fixed-odds at 33-1 with extrabet.com to win the race.”

Posted: April 2nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

chickendinner’s favourite Grand National free bet yet

Open a Boylesports account, stake £10 then claim a free £20 bet

Boylesports have pulled out all the punches to get you betting with them on the Grand National. Anyone who signs up for an account with the Irish bookmakers, who are paying each-way on five places, before Saturday and places a £10 bet will be rewarded with a no-strings-attached free £20 bet.

Our theory on how best to take advantage of the offer is to stake your initial £10 today on one of the weekend’s shortest favourites (e.g. Man Utd beating Aston Villa, Celtic thumping Hamilton or Jenson Button in Malaysia).

Boylesports will give you access to the free bet within 24 hours and you are then free to use it on the Grand National. But who will you choose? Darkness, who is 16/1 on Boylesports, came out as the winner using our five-step elimination system.

Click here to take advantage of this fantastic offer now!

Posted: April 2nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment