Latest updates from Aintree races

Good afternoon, hope you are enjoying your Saturday so far and thank you for joining us for our live blog of the Grand National, where we will have runners and riders, tips, and a pinstickers’ guide to the Aintree race. It’s one of the great days in the British and Irish sporting calendar and we will have all the build up throughout the afternoon.

The weather here in London is lovely and sunny but there are some showers and a breeze up in Liverpool. The going is listed as soft, good to soft in places on the National course (same on the Mildmay course as well). It had been heavy there on Thursday and I think on Friday but, from what I saw watching on TV, it didn’t look quite such a slog as all that and there were some cracking finishes.

We will be getting updates throughout the afternoon from our men at the course, including Telegraph racing correspondent and legit Aintree legend Marcus Armytage, who won the race in 1990 aboard Mr Frisk. Our eagle-eyed newshounds will also be there for any news of fisticuffs, beastly behaviour, nose-powdering, equine welfare, horse deaths, protests and all the other myriad sideshows around this unique event.

If you are unsure about how to start selecting a horse, this here is an excellent guide: Grand National 2024 tips, best bet and how to pick the winner.

There is early news of a non-runner: 19 Run Wild Fred, who will not be running wild or otherwise in the National.

Oh wait. And Chambard, whose goose was surely cooked when I bet on him ante-post, is also an NR.

It’s Jonjo O’Neill’s birthday today. Not sure he has actually got a runner in the big race but he’s got some at Aintree today. Monbeg Genius was to have been his National horse I think but that was withdrawn. In fact I backed that ante-post as well. So in short, avoid any of my selections.

Here’s JP McManus: “I don’t think there is any race like the Grand National. From being a kid I always had a bet in the National, no matter how old you are it is the one race everybody watched. If you go to the local hurling club or wherever, they’d all know who won the Grand National. Look at AP (McCoy), it took him a long time to win it but I know how much it meant to him when he did, I’m just surprised these days he doesn’t say he should have won it twice!”