What’s Behind The Enduring Appeal Of The Grand National?

Horse racing is a sport that has been able to adapt and modify its offering to new audiences
over the last century. In the modern digital age, it continues to find a market, but as with any
sport, there needs to be a “crown jewel” that sits at the top and broadcasts the sport to a truly
global audience. In international football, it’s the World Cup. In domestic football, it’s the UEFA
Champions League. In tennis, it’s the Grand Slams. We could go on, but we’re sure you get the
point.

Horse racing is no different. While there might be dozens of professional events taking place
every weekend in all corners of the globe, the cornerstone events that have existed in the sport
for decades give it the extra leg up it needs to continue finding a global market.

The Grand National is part of that intrigue alongside events like the Cheltenham Gold Cup and
the Kentucky Derby. All these races are figureheads that substantially interest a casual
audience. Still, the Grand National, especially in the UK, is the race with the highest individual
appeal.

Gambling Markets

While it would be completely inaccurate to suggest that the Grand National is the only horse
race renowned for its betting, there’s a broader popularity with a casual audience than for other
horse races, especially in the UK.

Workplaces will put together competitions, where people in the office chip in with a £1 or £2 and
pick their horse. Some will throw a £1 in, and they’re given a horse at random—but it helps to
swell the interest and size of the audience that ends up watching the race.

Unlike many other horse races, the dynamic of the Grand National means that some horses
have won the race with huge outside odds before – the most famous example, of course, was
Foinavon in 1967 – which won the famous race at odds of 100/1. Horse racing odds at Bovada
cover many different markets, but the scope of Grand National odds remains some of the most
considerable disparities anywhere in single-event sports betting.

Online sportsbooks often note that the Grand National is their biggest horse racing event of the
year. The 2025 Grand National winner, Nick Rockett, won at odds of 33/1 – and it’s this volatility
and unpredictability that helps to create continued interest for a sporting audience that generally
doesn’t watch horse racing but will sit down and tune into the Grand National.

It’s an annual event that is akin to the likes of the Super Bowl and the FA Cup Final for
sportsbooks. Bookies are already eyeing up the betting odds for the 2026 Super Bowl – and
although the National has only just finished for 2025, plenty of sportsbooks will already be
looking at pricing up the potential markets for next year’s meeting.

Adapting To A Modern Market

Unlike other horse races, which have been too slow or refused to evolve based on a changing
audience, the Grand National organizers have trailblazed in several ways. Not only have they
made several of the jumps much safer across the course to enhance both horse and jockey
safety, but they have moved the first fence closer, reduced the number of entrants to avoid
overcrowding, and have shaved the height of some of the highest jumps, again, for jockey and
horse safety.

This year, the race used plastic grass fences, which are considered a safer and greener
alternative to the previous fences. These fences have helped appease some of those who
protest the race’s dangers and the protection of the horses involved.

UK Sporting Heritage

While Liverpool might be famous for their two Premiership teams and The Beatles, the Grand
National could claim it’s the biggest attraction within the city limits. However, on a broader scale,
the Grand National is the backbone of horse racing – the weeks leading up to the race become
an event for many sports bloggers, influencers, and sportsbooks, all of which will piece together
a litany of offers and promotions to try and get people onto their site to bet on the huge race.

The National has been around for so long that generations of the same family remember
watching the race. While it might not have the enormous audience figures it did in the 1980s
and 1990s, given that the media landscape has changed, it’s one of the few UK sporting events
that commands a TV audience that networks will pay attention to.

So many factors have helped the Grand National continue to present itself as the seminal horse
race in the UK market. It’s a blend of the gambling markets, the unprecedented levels of interest
from a casual audience, and the flexibility to adapt to a changing market that all help the horse
race attract millions of viewers annually.

As with any big event in any sport, there will be further challenges down the road, and as the
Grand National has to cater to a global, digital audience and shift the focus away from the
domestic UK market, these challenges will rear their head. However, the enduring appeal of the
Grand National will likely continue, even in light of future bumps in the road.