The Grand National is a race I await with eager anticipation every year, because, contrary to the public opinion that the race is something of a lottery, the reality is quite the opposite with it being one of my most successful punting races of all time.

When approaching The National from a betting perspective I commence by deleting the horses which in my opinion cannot win because they will be defying statistical history.  People will tell you that stats are there to be broken, well in The National the following rules have to be adhered to when making selections:

1. Horses carrying over 11 stone can be placed but find it very difficult to win, therefore the chance of winning lessens directly in proportion to every pound over  11st the horse is carrying.
2. We can also immediately exclude any horse under 8 and over 12 years of age.
3. Any horse who has not won over 3miles+ are also excluded at this stage.

Summary

The times from Aintree yesterday suggested that the ground was definitely on the soft side of good, this will play into the hands of the strong stayers and also make life even more difficult for the higher weighted horses. In conclusion therefore my shortlist is narowed down to four horses in the following order:

1. Rambling Minster
2. Southern Vic
3. Butlers Cabin
4. State of Play

I shall be backing Rambling Minster & Southern Vic for reasonable stakes, a lesser bet on Butlers Cabin and a small covering wager on State of Play.

Why Should I Bet on the Grand National Online?

Betting online holds many advantages over placing your bet in a betting shop.
1. You can bet from the comfort of your own home, there is no need to make a journey to your nearest bookmakers.
2. It is both easy and secure to place bets online with betting shops that you recognise.
3. Free bets are available from a number of online bookmakers.
4. You can compare odds from 17 UK bookmakers and betting exchanges to find the best odds on your selection.
5. Special Grand National promotions are available from online bookmakers. e.g each way bets may include an extra place, paying out if your horse finishes in the first five places rather than normal first four places.

Do You Remember The First time you had a bet on the Grand National?

For plenty of us (of a certain age) that meant giving your Dad 50p of your pocket money to have on The Pilgarlic each-way (look it up) or for those of you a bit younger, maybe Earth Summit. One thing is for sure though, since those days, there's so much more choice. So, with more bookmakers than ever, all with offers to tempt you in on National day, rather than give you another boring A-Z of the runners, here's a few do's and dont's for the big day.

1) Most bbokmakers push the boat out and on the day of the race will be offering some great "bet matching" offers, often up to £100 for first-timers. It's silly not to take advantage - it doesn't take long to open an account over the phone or on the net - so if you are going to have a bet, you may as well have a free one too! Just make sure you read the t's and c's though.

2) Have a shop around. Don't just bet with the first bookmaker you stumble across on saturday. A few of them will be paying 1-2-3-4-5 e/w. Again, it's only common sense to use them - imagine your 100/1 shot finishing fifth, only to find you've backed it e/w with a bookie only paying first four. How willl you feel then? Gutted!

3) Make sure you take a price. It's very rare for horses to drift badly on the day, but they can collapse in price - Monkerhostin and Papillon in recent years were both big prices in the morning, backed down to single figure prices in the afternoon - so although it can be a bit of a pain (particularly if you're putting on the family bets!) it's a worthwhile exercise. Imagine Aunty Doris' face when she finds out she's got 33's about that 14/1 winner. Must be a drink in it for you. Put simply - everything gets backed on the day, such is the spread of money.

4) Don't get lured into "special" bets, such as "how many fallers at the first" or "how many will complete the course". These are often extremely difficult to predict, and effectively rely on a lot of guesswork and good fortune. And don't, repeat DON'T, think of backing any of those bets that involve a group of named horses finishing. They never win. Ever.

5) Having said that though, for those of you happy to make a profit at any price, you can often find a bit of value about individual runners to complete the course. Look for the slow-but-steady merchants. You can often find odds-against prices about them completing. It's a bet well worth considering as these days the National is a bit more of a classy affair, and the horses are safer conveyances than once was the case.

6) And lastly, don't be afraid of backing more than one horse in the race. This is just about the only race in the year when you can get some fancy prices about some classy horses - don't let the opportunity pass you by.

So there you go. there's plenty of ways to make a profit on the National - just make sure you follow the rules - and the best of luck finding the winner. (Oh you want that too, eh? Try a few quid e/w on Simon then - it's simple!)