The Grand National is Entain’s most popular betting event of the year, surpassing the Super Bowl and Champions League Final for number of bets.

Entain will take over 15,000 bets a minute on Saturday, with over 4 million betting slips produced for the occasion in shops.

When it comes to betting on the Grand National, the British public are all about the name, according to data from Entain’s UK Sportsbook.  

While popular names, colours or song titles often turn the dial in favour of a horse among recreational bettors, it is once again likely to be bad news for French-named horses who are always among the least backed selections.  

“The Grand National is absolutely unique. It is the one race of the year where the overriding factor in a horse’s popularity is its name. Which is completely unheard of for any other race.”

In 2024, Galia Des Liteaux (23^rd), Farouk D’Alene (28^th) and Eklat De Rire (29^th) were all among the least backed horses, while Vanillier, 2023’s runner up and co-favourite that year, was only the 20^th most selected in a field of 32. The Italian named Capodanno, meaning “New Year’s Day” was the least selected horse in the field.  

In turn, Ain’t That A Shame, an initially high-priced selection with an inexperienced jockey was the most selected due to the likely popularity of Fats Domino’s 1955 hit song.

“One of our key jobs as a trading team for the Grand National is to go through the list of runners and assign a popularity rating to each name. If a horse features a common name such as ‘Bob’s Great’, then that will be one of the most popular names on the day.” 

But if a horse has a French name, especially a long one that nobody can write out on a slip in a shop, then regardless of whether that horse might have a great chance of winning, it is unlikely to be popular. All the trading rules go out the window.”  

Tim Smith, Senior Trading Manager at Entain  said: Other indications a horse might attract interest include their colour with greys always popular. While current events in the public consciousness have also been known to draw in big numbers. Party Politics was very popular in 1992 for once-a-year punters, running just five days before the General Election. The person on the horse can have a significant influence as well, with female jockeys striking a chord with the British public and always being well backed.  

“Rachel Blackmore is always very popular in any race she rides but it is at another level at the Grand National. In 2021, she became the first female jockey to win the Grand National and was cheered home by millions. This year as she is likely to be the only female jockey in the field, it will be no different.”

Betting insights from Tim Smith, Senior Trading Manager at Entain said: “Nick Rockett is likely to be very popular among recreational bettors, as are Intense Raffles and Coko Beach, while Kandoo Kid is one of several possible grey challengers. It waits to be seen whether Rachel Blackmore will ride Senior Chief or Minella Indo, but it would surely give Senior Chief a huge boost in popularity if she were to switch from Minella Indo to Henry de Bromhead’s other entry.  

Favori de Champdou, Horantzau d’Airy, Perceval Legallois, and Fil Dor are likely to struggle for attractors, but Vanillier could break the spell for the French named group. Many believe the grey gelding could go one better at Aintree this time around after his second-place finish in 2023. Despite taking a costly wrong turn at Cheltenham, the usually popular pick recovered miraculously to finish third behind stablemate Stumptown in the Cross Country Chase. 

Gold Cup Winner Inothewayurthinkin was initially the Grand National favourite before being withdrawn from the race after beating Galopin Des Champs earlier this month. Inothewayurthinkin was set to be the shortest favourite in a lifetime but now leaves a more open field.