SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Grand National Day 2026

There’s no better way to go into one of the biggest days on the racing calendar than well up from the previous two days, writes SIMON NOTT.

Ben, Lofty and Nick just needed to kick on today and get the money, which, of course, was the hope rather than the plan.

It was a similar story in the Star Sports office in Hove, they had enjoyed two winning days, though there had been a distinct lack of any big bets there, but that had changed today.

💬 Office Quote: “Early indications suggest JP should have a good day, with four of his National runners filling the top 4 on our book. Bets include £5000 each-way Johnnywho at 12/1 and £5000 each-way Jagwar at 10/1”

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12:45 – Hallgarten & Novum Wines Maghull Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (5YO plus) 

I wasn’t wishing to tempt fate with the first paragraph, but the day couldn’t have started better for the firm. The firm today, bolstered by one, with the addition of Nick’s daughter Zara, who would no doubt be a most welcome pair of hands when Ben goes walkabout.

Lofty was at the helm when a punter bet £20,000 – £22,000 Salvator Mundi, which, well, hopefully, set the precedent for the day’s business.

Even better, of course, was that the bet was beaten by Dan Skelton’s 50/1 chance Mirabad which has to be one of the easiest wins of any horse I’ve seen sent off at that price.  Salvator Mundi was the six-length runner-up and was returned 8/11. Incidentally, the best price on the off-course show I saw was 5/6, come racing.

The book had held £25,867, of which they kept £24,391, at this rate they’ll have to send for more elastic bands. The big punters certainly were lurking, Johnny Dineen on the Fitzwilliam joint showed the £800,000 – £100,000 ticket they’d laid I Am Maximus in the Grand National, they also issued a ‘Big Bet Alert’ on X, I might have to call copyright on that one, only joking, let’s hope they get it beat.

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1:20 – William Hill Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO plus)

Next up and a very open handicap which the punters pretty much swerved, business was light, at the off, the Star Sports quartet had only managed to field £2744, which was pretty disappointing.

The 18/1 winner Wade Out had been quietly backed in the morning but still copped £1608 in the win book but the final winning figure was reduced to £1327 after a small loss on the places.

After the initial morning message, I’d heard nothing from the office up to this point, which I assumed meant they were under the cosh and all hands were at the pumps which of course is good.

💬 Office Quote: “Apologies – first two races have gone our way”

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1:55 – Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (4YO plus)

Betting on the next heat was steady, although the biggest bet during it wasn’t on the home race but on Valtteri It’s James over at Newcastle, £12,000 at SP. You really never do know what’s going to come in when working on the Star Sports pitch, the punters know where to go for a lump.

There were no lumps at all in the home heat, at the off, run in torrential rain, the hod held just £2530, which was pretty poor. Something else that was pretty poor was the 11/4 SP of the race winner Bossman Jack which was a solid 10/3 chance with Star Sports at the off. Given that the winner was an official joint-favourite the book copping £177 was a cracking result.

💬 Office Quote: “Small Loser”

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2:30 – William Hill Handicap Chase (Registered As The Freebooter Handicap Chase) (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5YO plus)

A better result was that the bet over at Newcastle was beaten despite collapsing in the betting, so the firm’s coffers were boosted by a further £12,000, which was very handy indeed.

Business on the next race at Aintree, the rain having ceased, picked up too with three noted bets taken on the race, £4500 – £1000 Lookaway, £4500 – £500 Leave Of Absence and £2250 – £500 Mr Hope Street in a book that held £4584 at the off.

As you can tell by the blog, there appears to have been very little banter, bickering or thankfully arbing by the boss today, or maybe they decided not to tell me about it. The firm had to endure watching two of the three bigger bets fighting out what was a tremendous finish with Mr Hope Street just getting the nod over Lookaway, the latter was over a grand worse in the book, so the best of two losers, but the book still blew £2106.

💬 Office Quote: “A losing race but I expected far worse”

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3:05 – Jet2 Liverpool Hurdle (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (4YO plus)

I was quite surprised, well not really, because it’s such a regular occurrence, but the SP of the last winner Mr Hope Street was 4/1, the last price on the Star Sports’ board and freely available at the off was 9/2. The punters at home really are being sold down the river with the industry returning their own prices, come racing.

There was nothing of note in the next race here at Aintree, though the book did hold £3400 at the off, no that’s not a Lofty round-up but the actual figure. The worst horse in the win book at the off was the 11 year-old Home By The Lee losing £2725 and it was Home By The Lee that led them home though only lost £2544 thanks to favourable places. Oh, and the Industry SP was 5/1, the last price on the Star Sports board was 11/2 despite it being the bogie, you have got 100/18 if you’d asked for it too.

💬 Office Quote: “We are back to winning ways”

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4:00 – Randox Grand National Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (7YO plus)

So, here we are, the big one, The Grand National. As you’d expect, the team were under the cosh with plenty of public money on the race they were all here for. There was decent money as well, noted bets included £4500 – £500 and £4000 – £500 Grangeclare West, £4500 – £500 and £8000 – £1000 I Am Maximus, £20,000 – £1000 Champ Kiely, which, plus the smaller bets, added up to field money of bang on £8900 at the off.

At the off, the book had three losers in it, Grangeclare West losing £8540, Champ Kiely £11,606 and the absolute bogie at £12,628 the 9/2 jolly I Am Maximus.

They say that the Grand National isn’t the race it was but it still has some magic. We were all treated to some real drama out on the turf, the climax of which was I Am Maximus winning for a second time and landing a massive gamble for the JP McManus camp.

Star Sports knocked out £13,625, but do spare a thought, and maybe even a little prayer, for the Fitzwilliam firm who laid £800,000 – £100,000 the 9/2 winner, a whopper indeed, tames lions this game.

💬 Office Quote: “Painful but not life threatening”

💬 Quote from Kaan head of on-course operations: “Whilst all the online punters with many big firms can’t get paid out due to the yearly going down of websites, you don’t get that on course with Star Sports staff, paid quickly and ready to go again or get to the bar.”

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5:00 – Weatherbys nhstallions.co.uk Standard Open NH Flat Race (Grade 2) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO to 6YO)

The race timings allowed an hour to get people paid out and get to work. Lofty reported that they had a steady queue of punters to pay out.

Watching the aerial views on the TV, it seemed like punters were leaving in their droves after the big race. That observation was backed up by a fairly disappointing but not dismal getting out stakes field money of £3428 in the concluding bumper with one bet of note included in that total £7000 – £500 each-way Rices Pool.

The race went to Dan Skelton’s Forthfactor, which was allowed to go off at 10/1 despite the colossal day he’d already had. The on-course punters didn’t latch on to the Skelton bandwagon either, the book won a very decent £3180 on the race, bringing the total cop on the day £22,450.22.

So that was that, a fantastic three days’ racing and a profitable meeting for the good guys. I’ve missed being up there this year, but normal service is resumed next week when I shall be at Newmarket for the Craven meeting with Star Sports. Thanks for reading. If you like these betting ring reports, please spread the word to your racing mates.

💬 Office Quote: “It was our worst result of the day – how’s your luck, concluding a meeting where we broke level at best”

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Views of authors do not necessarily represent views of Star Sports Bookmakers.

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Simon Nott is author of: Skint Mob! Tales from the Betting Ring
available on Kindle CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

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