Bookies toast “good result” as well-backed Minella Times takes Grand National

Racing made headlines around the world after Rachael Blackmore steered 11/1 shot Minella Times to victory in the Randox Grand National on Saturday.

Blackmore, who was the leading jockey at last month’s Cheltenham Festival, became the first female rider in the famous steeplechase’s 173-year history to land the spoils.

Henry de Bromhead-trained Minella Times, carrying just 10st 3lbs, touched down after the last of the 30 fences narrowly clear of the runner up – 100/1 outsider Balko Des Flos – and managed to pull clear at the elbow and maintain a five-length lead up the run-in.

Horse racing in all it’s glory. Fantastic to see. Rachel Blackmore ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/pfHNH99Ad7

— Oisín Murphy (@oismurphy) April 11, 2021

Clear favourite Cloth Cap, who went off at 11/2, pulled up three jumps from home while leading contenders Any Second Now (15/2), Burrows Saint (9/1) and Farclas (16/1) finished third, fourth and fifth.

With no racegoers due to Covid-19 and with betting shops shuttered, competition among the online firms was fierce. A number of bookies paid out on sixth (Blaklion at 40/1) as BoyleSports went seven places (Discorama at 16/1).

“The Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead partnership continued to show they are a class above at the minute as Minella Times ran out an impressive winner,” said Kindred Group’s Alistair Gill.

“Although Any Second Now and Burrows Saint, two of the better backed horses in the race, did get a place, overall it was a good result for us as two of the six places we paid were filled with a 100/1 and 50/1 shot. All told, Aintree was a fantastic three days of racing.”

Alan Firkins of Betfred described the Grand National as not a bad result, although Minella Times was well-supported due to who was onboard. “The horse was of course very heavily backed given the ‘Rachael factor’, which is most definitely now a ‘thing’,” he said.

William Hill’s Rupert Adams said he’d have expected a “bloodbath” and the trading director to have a heart attack if you’d told him beforehand Blackmore would take the most heavily bet race of the year. However, Hills “dodged a serious bullet”, he revealed. “Astonishingly, the expected gamble never materialised and we ended up winning a tidy sum.”

Over at Smarkets, its betting exchange and sportsbook, SBK, broke its own record for betting volume on a single event as almost £93m was traded on the four-mile race – an increase of 21% over the previous National.

Meanwhile, traders at Paddy Power Betfair were probably sticking pins in a Kevin Blake doll after the in-form ITV Racing pundit tipped up a 50/1 winner on the programme’s Opening Show.

Brilliant to hear from so many people that had a few quid on an Irish 1-2-3-4 in the Grand National, but once again the whole thing is 100 times more pleasurable thanks to the reaction of my favourite sparring partner @MCYeeehaaa! ?? @itvracing pic.twitter.com/jVfUmEjd1g

— Kevin Blake (@kevinblake2011) April 10, 2021

Blake highlighted how Paddy Power and Betfair Sportsbook were 50/1 about the first four home being Irish-trained runners, which met the ridicule of outspoken presenter Matt Chapman.

Come 5.45pm and Twitter began to fill up with screenshots of digital slips from those who’d backed Blake’s tip, with many winning £500. In fact, 10 of the first 11 home were trained in Ireland, underlining strength of racing on the Emerald Isle right now.

But it was Blackmore and Minella Times which dominated the news that evening and the following day. “Minella Times was a bad result in the book, but overall, it was a great result for racing – look at all of the positive coverage the sport has received,” Betways’ Chad Yeomans remarked.

This sentiment was echoed by Smarkets CEO and founder Jason Trost, who said: “It was a thrilling Grand National with a wonderful story as Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the race.”

In golf, the sport’s most coveted Major, the Masters, was won on Sunday by Hideki Matsuyama after the Japanese player held off his rivals to take the famous green jacket by one stoke at 10 under par.

The perfect fit.

Hideki Matsuyama dons the Green Jacket for the first time. pic.twitter.com/nTKH3F1qxr

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 11, 2021

Matsuyama, who had a four-shot lead going into the final round, was generally a 40/1 shot, although 50/1 was available in places, before the event started on Thursday at Augusta National.

One of his closest challengers on the back nine, Xander Schauffele, birdied the 15^th to go within two shots of the leader, yet the American landed in the drink on the par-three 16^th and scored a triple bogey, leaving Matsuyama with a straightforward victory.

The 29-year-old had been matched on Betfair at 79/1 for modest sums, although £68,500 had been matched at 69/1. More than £25m was traded on the event on the outright market.

Furthermore, it went down to the wire in DraftKings’ headline fantasy golf contest as a user with the screenname mrmcgibblets11 beat 473,000 entries ($10 to enter) to scoop first prize of more than $1m. Just half a point was the difference between a million quid and $150,000 for second.

Finally, favourite-backers were left with burnt fingers in the Premier League on Saturday as 10-man Leeds upset the odds at 7/1 to defeat runaway leaders Man City in the lunchtime match and in the process bust plenty of accas.

It is what it is! But make sure you F****N keep us down because boy are we coming back. Get that into you!!!!! My brothers are animals! MOT ?

— Liam Cooper (@LiamCooper__) April 10, 2021

However, Liverpool (1/2) playing in their first 3pm Saturday match this season edged past Aston Villa with a 2-1 win and Chelsea (5/11) comfortable dismantled Crystal Palace away at Selhurst Park.

The following day, Manchester United and Arsenal both stuck three past their opponents to collect all three points, while Newcastle (9/4) gave their survival hopes a boost with a 2-1 win away at Burnley.

And West Ham’s purple patch continued as they (21/10) won 3-2 at home to Leicester, albeit with a nervous finish, and staked their claim for fourth spot and Champions League qualification.

Gill said: “We started out so positively, with Leeds beating Champions-elect Man City in the opener, which also took a swathe of accas with it before they’d got off the ground.

“Newcastle beating Burnley also left us in the black, but that was about all we had to celebrate as Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and high-flying and very well-backed West Ham all got over the line.”

Thank you for your comment Patrick ? https://t.co/2fdqkWFCsd pic.twitter.com/Ip5sLhKRnb

— Allan Saint-Maximin (@asaintmaximin) April 11, 2021

As for Betfred’s fortunes on the football, the Saturday lunchtime upset was the big one.

Firkins said: “Manchester City’s surprising home defeat caused a heap of accas to go up in smoke, and it’s all down to murderball, apparently – Bielsa’s relentless training methods breeding that indomitable, never-say-die spirit.

“I’d say it was mainly down to Pep’s selection gamble, but hey, it was certainly a stunner for punters.”