Aintree race course is one of the most renowned racecourses in the world and is positioned on the A59 at Ormskirk Road, Aintree (Liverpool) in the northern suburbs of Liverpool, just six miles from the metropolitan centre. The race track occupies 250 acres and has two left-handed chasing circuits. The first, the Mildmay Course is rectangular and created in 1953. It is nearly one and a half miles in distance end to end, with sharp corners and steeplechase fences. The English Grand National course isn’t as sharp as the Mildmay course but is much more demanding which is why it is known as one of the toughest races in the united kingdom – one which all horse owners would seek to gain entrance to. The
English Grand National course is far longer than the Mildmay at very nearly two and a quarter miles, and is totally flat, with fences that have a decline on the landing side lesser than the take-off side.

William Lynn is the man responsible for bringing horse racing to the parish of Aintree. Lynn was the owner of the Waterloo Hotel, and began horse racing on the land which he rented from the Earl of Sefton. The grandstand started being built in 1829 and after 5 months the first meeting for Flat races was held. They didn’t start hurdle racing until 1836, when the original Liverpool Grand Steeplechase was held at Aintree on February 29th. This competition was claimed by some as being the earliest ever English Grand National and was won by The Duke, ridden by Captain Martin Becher. However, the more well-known Liverpool Grand Steeplechase of 1839 is identified as the original, and was won by Lottery, ridden by Jem Mason. The battle of 1839 was a four miler, across country, and the law was that no rider to open a gate or ride through a gateway, or more than 100 yards along any highway, path or driftway.

The race track was used by the Military in 1915, and after the 1940 National it was again used by the forces. Racing resumed in 1946 and in 1949 the race track was bought by Messrs Topham Ltd; who had rented the place for roughly a 100 years; from the Earl of Sefton for 275,000. Mirabel Topham, an creative soul, went on to create the Mildmay course and a motor circuit which held the European Grand Prix and five United kingdom Grand Prix.

Bill Davies bought the race track in 1973 for 3 million and in 1975 Ladbrokes saved the English Grand National, which was in danger of dying, by running and administering it for seven years at a yearly payment of 250,000. In 1983 the race track was deemed safe when the Jockey Club bought it.

Aintree is now more suited for use with transportation links very much enhanced. In the beginning it could only be reached by train, but now it is reached by car, coach or air. There is a six acre enclosure for landing by copter or the John Lennon airport 20 minutes drive away, meaning guests to Aintree have a better experience.

To settle a bet means calculating how much a winning bet is worth, most of which nowadays is done by computer systems. However the computer is only as good as the information being entered into the computer so it is worthwhile knowing how to spot a mistake should it happen.

Betting odds are usually expressed as a fraction which represents the fraction of your stake that you will win if your selection wins eg: 20/1 (twenty to one), which means that for every one stake, you will win 20 stakes, but as you will get your stake back, the total amount returned in this example will be 21 stakes.

Single bet: for example this is a simply bet on say the Grand National that a particular runner will win a race and to calculate what you could win you multiply the basic factor by the stake eg: £5 win at 5/1 is 5 x 6 = £30.

Betting each-way: Putting a bet on each way really means placing two bets – The first bet is a standard win bet, and the second bet is if the runner finishes anywhere in the first three places (some bookies have a finish in the first four policy while others have a first five – for example Paddy Power did this for the Grand National). Settling an each-way bet isn’t as difficult as it may seem – You multiply the fractional odds by the place factor, which will give you the each-way basic factor, then add one or two, depending on whether the selection was placed or won.

If you place an each-way bet on a horse in an eight runner race and your horse, which has odds of 15/1 comes second in the race, then the win part of the each-way bet wouldn’t get you any winnings but the place part does achieve a win eg: 15/1 multiplied by the place factor (1/5 for 8-runner races) plus one (to include the place part of your stake) which works out as: 15/1 * 0.2 + 1 = £4.00.

If you were lucky enough that your horse won the race, the each-way factor would be calculated as 15/1 multiplied by the win factor and the place factor (the place factor plus one = 1.2), plus two (your two stakes) which works out as 15/1 * 1.2 + 2 = £20.00. This new each-way basic factor is then multiplied by the each-way stake to get the settlement figure.