The English Grand National 2011 will be on Saturday 9th April. Be ready to join hundreds of thousands of gamblers planning to place a bet on the race. Don’t miss out as this is the most popular British racing event of the year and one of the world’s most prestigious horse races.

Each year 40 horses line-up to tackle the famous Aintree course. With a distance of four and a half miles, with 30 fence jumps, the Grand National is the toughest race in the world and a very challenging test for horse and jockey. Last year, Don’t Push It took the victory (with odds of 25/1) giving Tony McCoy a much deserved win. It took him 15 attempts to win this prestigious race! The year before saw the extraordinary victory of Mon Mome with odds of 100/1! Believe it or not, a few lucky punters had put bets on Mon Mome before the race but they were mostly friends of the jockey.

It is almost impossible to stay away from this event and not put a bet on this great race. The easiest way to do it is to sign up online with Bet365 and claim a free £200/€200 Bet on the 2011 Grand National! All you need to set up an account is an email address and a strategy to put a bet on the Grand National. There are two schools of thought for betting on the Grand National. You can decide to do your research, follow the horses, the trainers and the current’s season racing history. Or you can do a random selection based on names or any other criteria which takes your fancy. Apart from 2008 when the favourite Comply or Die won the race, the results have been pretty much unpredictable and the race is so tough that even the favourites are likely to be trapped by the fences. The victory if Mon Mome in 2009 proved that the Grand National really is a lottery.

Those wanting to bet on the Grand National may want to take a look at where the horse is born and trained. Ireland is currently 2/1 to train the winner of the 2011 after their success at the Cheltenham Festival (the Irish claimed six of the seven winners on the Thursday). Will this show of excellence at Cheltenham be enough to win a race like the Grand National?

If you want to find out more about this year’s favourite horses, Jockey Ruby Walsh will be riding The Midnight Club and he is attracting a lot of attention with odds of 8/1 to win the Grand National. The other two highly supported Grand National runners are the Gordon Elliott-trained Backstage with Grand National odds of 12/1, and Oscar Time, 14/1, who will be ridden by Gold Cup winning jockey Sam Waley-Cohen.

It is estimated that over £250m will be gambled on the race. It is such a popular event that it would be a shame to miss out.