Grand National Festival 2026: Everything you need to know in our Ultimate Guide

Countdown to the Grand National Festival

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Weather Forecast for Aintree

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What is the Grand National Festival?

The Aintree Grand National Festival is a three-day horse racing meeting regarded as one of the highlights in the National Hunt calendar which culminates with the most famous steeplechase in the word: The Aintree Grand National.

It takes place each April at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, with this year's Grand National Festival commencing on Thursday 9th April and lasting for three days up to Saturday 11th April.

There are 21 Aintree races in total with the racing commencing at 13:45 on Thursday and Friday and concluding at 17:15, while on Grand National day (Saturday) the racing commences at 12:45 with the final race of the day at 17:00.

The feature race of the meeting, the Randox Grand National, is scheduled for 16:00 on Saturday.

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How can I watch the Grand National Festival?

The Randox Grand National itself will be shown on ITV1 at 4pm along with several supporting races. 

Alternatively, you can watch every race of the festival on Racing TV, a subscription paid service, or if you're out and about and have a funded Betfair account you can watch every race for free on the Betfair Exchange by logging into your account on laptop, tablet or mobile. 

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Where to get tips for the Grand National Festival

You can get tips, insight and previews for this year's Grand National Festival right here.

Betfair Ambassador Paul Nicholls will have loads of runners during the three days, and we'll have previews for all his intended runners right here on betting.betfair. Check out Paul's dedicated page for his latest columns.

We also have our top team of tipsters including Katie Midwinter, Sam Turner, Mark Milligan, Alan Dudman and the team at Timeform who will be providing, among other things, antepost tips, a full runner-by-runner guide to Saturday's Grand National, and those all important daily tips.

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Grand National Festival Day-by-Day Schedule

• Day 1 - Thursday 9th April - Opening Day
• Day 2 - Friday 10th April - Ladies Day
• Day 3 - Saturday 11th April - Grand National Day

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Day 1 Races - Opening Day

*Thursday's races:

13:45	2m1f	Boodles Anniversary 4yo Juvenile Hurdle	Grade 1
14:20	2m4f	Manifesto Novices' Chase	Grade 1
14:55	3m1f	Aintree Bowl	Grade 1
15:30	2m4f	Aintree Hurdle	Grade 1
16:05	2m5f	Hunters Chase	Class 2
16:40	2m	Red Rum Handicap Chase	Handicap
17:15	2m1f	Goffs Mares' NH Flat Race	Grade 2

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Day 2 Races - Ladies Day

*Friday's races:

13:45	3m1f	William Hill Hurdle	Handicap
14:20	2m4f	Mildmay Novices' Chase	Grade 1
14:55	2m	Top Novices' Hurdle	Grade 1
15:30	2m4f	Melling Chase	Grade 1
16:05	2m5f	Topham Handicap Chase	Handicap
16:40	3m1/2ff	Sefton Novices' Hurdle	Grade 1
17:15	2m1/2f	Debenhams Handicap Hurdle	Handicap

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Day 3 Races - Grand National Day

*Saturday's races:

12:45	2m	Maghull Novices' Chase	Grade 1
13:20	3m1/2f	William Hill Handicap Hurdle	Handicap
13:55	2m4f	Turners Mersey Novices' Hurdle	Grade 1
14:30	3m1f	Freebooter Handicap Chase	Handicap
15:05	3m1/2f	Liverpool Hurdle	Grade 1
16:00	4m2f	Randox Grand National	Handicap
17:00	2m1f	Weatherbys Open NH Flat Race	Grade 2

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Betting on the Grand National Festival

There are many ways you can bet on the 2026 Grand National Festival, either on the Betfair Exchange or on the Betfair Sportsbook, with the most popular and traditional way being to back on individual races via either win or each-way bets.

The 'day of the race' markets typically appear around 48 hours before racing should you want to wait until the final declarations (runners and riders) are known.

And you don't just have to back singles. You can include more than one selection in what is called a multiple.

A selection in two different races combined in a multiple is called a double, three races it's a treble, and four or more races is often referred to as an acca (accumulator).

Closer to the races Betfair will be enhancing odds on certain horses, enhancing the place terms for each-way betting on some races (6 places paid instead of 4 for example), and providing plenty of 'specials' which can include a boosted price for a jockey to ride 2+ winners, or a horse to win by over 5 lengths for example, among many other specials.

And keep an eye out for the daily Betfair Superboost, where the Betfair Sportsbook will select a strongly-fancied odds-on shot - whether it be a horse to win or a horse to finish in a certain number of places - and superboost the price to 1/12.00 or even bigger.

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Betfair Safer Gambling: A range of tools to help

Betfair is committed to safer gambling and here you can find out about the tools that help you set your budget, keep track of your spend, take a break when you need it, and more. Click here for full details.

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Betfair Education - Betting Explained

We understand and appreciate that not everyone betting on this year's Grand National Festival will be familiar with how it all works, and that to some new customers it may appear a bit daunting at first.

With so much information already given in this guide you might just want to jump straight in and place some bets. If that's the case, then we have you covered.

Within our excellent Betting Explained section on betting.betfair.com you will find all the educational pieces that you will need to place a bet.

You might just want to know what the simplest types of bets are available to you, or how betting odds work, and even how to place a bet on either the Betfair Sportsbook or Betfair Exchange.

Click the links below for some popular Betting Explained articles for beginners.

- What are the simplest types of bet? Click here.

- How do odds work? Click here.

- How to place a bet on the Betfair Exchange. Click here.

- How to place a bet on the Betfair Sportsbook. Click here.

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Now read more Grand National tips, features and previews here.

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