Tomorrow is the day of the most famous horse race in the world – the Grand National. Due to its length and the difficulty of its jumps, including the infamous Becher’s Brook and The Chair, the Grand National been described as the ultimate test of horse and rider. In a crowded field the forty jockeys must, well, jockey for position in order to stay the distance and have even a chance of making their way into the winner’s enclosure. The mayhem of the National helps to make it one of the biggest sporting events of the year and around 500 to 600 million people will watch the race in over 140 countries.
The Grand National is also, famously, one of the biggest events in gambling. It’s estimated that £150 million will be bet in the UK alone this year and, let’s be brutally honest, most of it will end up being wasted. With all those horses falling over one another, it’s a nightmare trying to predict which will come out on top. It’s a mug’s game, but it’s also a lot of fun to have a flutter. In order to help inform your decision/muddy the waters even more, we’ve rallied together the whole Blue Badge Style team and asked them to help us predict who will be this year’s winner.
Our crack team of of tipsters, with a few exceptions, have little to no knowledge of horse racing whatsoever, didn’t look at the odds and pretty much all made their predictions based on which horse’s name they liked most. We didn’t even show them the colours of the jockeys’ jerseys – always a strong indicator of likely success, of course. But this is the Grand National; it’s impossible to predict and anything can happen. You just have to go with your gut.
Team BBS has come up with some amusing, conflicting and occasionally slightly bonkers predictions but one thing that we did all agreed on was that if you are going to bet, don’t bet with Paddy Power. This is why:
There are loads of other options online and on the high street to choose from, all of which are bookmakers that haven’t used a murder case as a marketing opportunity. So we do have the choice to boycott Paddy Power. Anyway, let’s get onto our predictions, who are the friends of BBS backing for the big race and why?
Paul, No. 1 Lieutenant – SHAKALAKABOOMBOOM: “Because that’s how I shake my booty!”
Fiona, the big boss lady – Big Shu: “Because I need big shoes!!”
The Relative Lieutenant – Shakalakaboomboom: “Crazy name, crazy horse … Stupid song. As per Sly and the Family Stone”