The post title is a little presumptive of course, in that my time machine is on the blink. Essentially though, regardless of whether we’re a gambling professional or casual punter we all have our own unique way of picking the horses we bet on. Some approaches more sensible and analytical than others of course, and with the Grand National just around the corner if you’re looking for a method of picking a winner, I present to you five ways to make selection for the Grand National 2024.
Office sweepstakes
If you’re an office worker there is often the standard ‘pick it out of a hat’ or first come first served’ style of horse racing betting when it comes to picking your selection. It’s all just a bit of fun and if yours romps home you get to paint yourself as office savant for the day, and if it doesn’t nobody particularly cares. Should you all be throwing in a bit of money in as the prize, then there may well be peer pressure to ‘reinvest’ it in rounds of drinks if you win, and so it’s not to be taken too seriously!
Cold, hard, analysis
Followers or form and professional gamblers alike often draw assessments of a horses chances and value via statistics and various subjective and objective measures, long before others have considered doing so (if they ever do), and so even though there’s many aspects of luck to the Grand National, these individuals often at least have a foundation and reasoning behind their decisions. That approach doesn’t promise anything on any specific day, but as a long term approach it should eventually pay dividends.
I just like the name / the odds
The average Joe may well like the thrill and the spectacle of the Grant National, but they’re understandably not losing sleep over making a selection. It can often just come down to liking the name of a horse, and preferably alongside it liking the odds too. If a horses name resonates with you, there’s nothing more thrilling than hearing it blare out again and again during the race as you realise you’re ‘somehow’ still in with a shot with a couple of furlongs to go. And if yours romps home, who cares what the reasoning was behind the pick!
Ask a budgie
If you’re a fan of Carry on Films you may well have seen the comical Carry on at your Convenience. One plotline sees a housewife struggle to get their pet budgie Joey to talk. Her and her husband eventually work out that it tweets whenever the name of horses (which go on to win) are read out. This results in several big wins for them. Very unscientific of course but if you do notice a nearby parrot and are short of ideas it’s always an option to have a little whisper in its ear to see what it has to say. Your chances of getting a positive or useful reply are rapidly increased if there happens to be a horse called Polly Wants a Cracker’ running.
Copy a mate
If it’s all too much hassle for you to pick a horse out of the 34 racing (down from 40 in previous years), or you’re pained over your selection, you can always be completely uninventive and just join with a mate with their selection. That way you’re either both either cheering on your selection together or consoling each other them it falls at the first. It’s an opportunity to drink to your joint success, or drown your sorrows aka a good excuse to have a pint!
