Aintree Horse Racing Tips

How Aintree Tips Work on The Tipster League

The selections on this page are drawn from our tipster league, where every tipster is ranked by all-time verified results across all UK and Irish racecourses. For each race at Aintree, the tip comes from the highest-ranked tipster who has published a selection. If a higher-ranked tipster publishes a selection in the same race, the tip shown here updates automatically. All Aintree tips are locked in at 12:00 BST.

Each tipster's full tipping history is publicly available on their profile, covering every selection they have posted, the odds at the time, and the outcome. The "Top Tipsters at Aintree" section on this page breaks that down further, showing each tipster's wins, losses, and overall record at this specific course. At a meeting as significant as the Grand National Festival, where interest peaks and opinions are everywhere, being able to check an individual tipster's actual track record at the venue is a useful starting point for your own analysis.

This is about transparency, not a recommendation to follow any tip blindly. A high league ranking reflects historical results, not a promise of what comes next. We would always encourage you to do your own research before placing a bet.

About Aintree Racecourse

Aintree is a National Hunt racecourse on the outskirts of Liverpool, Merseyside. Jump racing here dates back to the 1830s, with the first Grand National taking place in 1839 — making it one of the longest-running and most famous horse races in the world. Flat racing was last held at Aintree in 1976; the course is now exclusively a jumps venue, staging around seven meetings per year between October and April.

The racecourse operates across two separate left-handed tracks. The Grand National Course is a triangular circuit of approximately two and a quarter miles, featuring 16 unique fences covered in green spruce. Among them, Becher's Brook, The Chair, and the Canal Turn are some of the most recognisable obstacles in steeplechasing. The Grand National itself requires runners to complete two full laps, jumping 30 fences in total across the four-mile-plus trip.

The Mildmay Course sits inside the Grand National Course and is a distinctly different proposition — a sharper, tighter circuit with conventional birch fences and a short run-in after the last. While the National fences demand bold, accurate jumping and relentless stamina, the Mildmay rewards nimble horses who can race prominently and handle tight bends at speed. Most of Aintree's non-Grand-National racing takes place on this track, including the majority of the Grade 1 races at the Festival.

For fixture information and tickets, see the Aintree page on The Jockey Club website.

The Grand National Festival and Key Races

The three-day Grand National Festival in April is the headline fixture of Aintree's year and one of the biggest meetings in British jump racing. It features 11 Grade 1 races across the three days, attracting top-class horses from Britain and Ireland.

Thursday opens with the Aintree Hurdle over two and a half miles and the Bowl Chase over three miles, both Grade 1 contests that regularly feature horses who performed well at Cheltenham. Friday's card includes the Melling Chase, a Grade 1 over two and a half miles that has consistently attracted high-calibre chasers, along with the Sefton Novices' Hurdle and the Topham Chase — a handicap run over the Grand National fences that doubles as a competitive betting race and an informative Grand National trial.

Saturday builds to the Grand National itself — a handicap steeplechase over approximately four miles and two and a half furlongs with prize money of £1 million, of which £500,000 goes to the winner. It is the richest jumps race in Europe and the single biggest betting race in the British racing calendar. The supporting card includes the Maghull Novices' Chase and the Liverpool Hurdle, a three-mile Grade 1 that often sees Festival form confirmed or reversed.

Beyond the Festival, Aintree hosts several important fixtures through the winter months. The Old Roan Chase, a Grade 2 over two and a half miles, takes place in late October and typically marks the start of the course's season. The Grand Sefton Chase in November and the Becher Chase in December are both run over the Grand National fences, covering shorter distances than the National itself but providing crucial experience and form lines for horses with Grand National aspirations the following April.

What to Consider When Studying the Aintree Card

The most important distinction at Aintree is between the two courses. A horse's record on the Mildmay Course tells you relatively little about how it will cope with the Grand National Course, and the reverse is equally true. The Grand National fences are unique in British racing — bigger, wider, and more demanding than conventional obstacles. Horses with experience over them, particularly those who have contested the Becher Chase, Topham Chase, or Grand Sefton, tend to handle them more reliably than those encountering them for the first time.

On the Mildmay Course, the tight bends and short run-in favour horses who travel strongly through their races and can quicken after the last. Long-striding gallopers can struggle with the angles, while nimble front-runners often outperform expectations here. The National Hunt statistics on this page — covering leading jockeys, trainers, and owners at Aintree — are worth studying alongside the day's racecard when narrowing down your own shortlist.

Aintree's Grand National Festival often attracts runners fresh from strong performances at Cheltenham a few weeks earlier, and cross-referencing form between the two meetings is one of the most common research approaches for the April card. If you are looking at multi-race bets around the Festival, our Lucky 15 tips page combines four selections across the day's action — though as with any multi-leg bet, adding selections reduces the overall probability of the full bet landing.