The Grand National is on! Well, at least a Virtual Grand National for 2020. With the famous steeplechase having been scrapped for the year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, organizers have come up with some kind of solution.
Virtual Grand National 2020
They are set to run a Virtual Grand National 2020 as technology steps in to save the day to a degree. It should at least keep fans and punters alike happy that some Grand National action is happening.
Betting markets will be springing up at online bookmakers for the fixture.
The Virtual Grand National 2020 will happen on April 4th at 17:00 GMT and it will feature all 40 of those who were the most likely to be heading to the starting line up. That will, of course, feature the two-time reigning champion, Tiger Roll.
The Irish challenger missed out on a straight hattrick in consecutive years. But he is likely to be back in action for the 2021 edition, for which horse racing betting markets are currently open.
Special Algorithms
The outcome of the Virtual Grand National 2020 is going to be decided by what organisers are calling “special algorithms”. The means one can only presume, inputting real form data to draw an accurate picture.
Other Virtual Grand Nationals
The same algorithm has been applied to previous Grand Nationals, but not as a replacement for the real thing like this year. A virtual Grand National was run in 2017 which was won by Cause of Causes. He ended up in second place in the real race. So that was close.
The algorithm was run again the following year and it did correctly predict Tiger Roll’s success on that day.
For last year’s Grand National, although it didn’t pick out the successful defence for Tiger Roll, it did correctly name three of the top five finishers. The algorithm had picked Rathvinden for the win last year, who came home third.
ITV broadcast and on Youtube
The simulation for the Virtual Grand National is produced by Inspired Entertainment. The programme on the Virtual Grand National 2020 day will be hosted by Nick Luck and the Virtual National will be broadcast on ITV.
As part of the day’s action, there will be a Virtual Race of Champions as well which sees the likes of Red Rum going up against Tiger Roll in simulated action.
On ITV’s Youtube Channel they will be showing ‘ITV Racing’s Classic Races’ which will be picked by social media users.
Before the cancellation of the 2020 Grand National, back-to-back winner Tiger Roll was an 8-1 favourite for the Randox Health Grand National. His leading challengers included Burrows Saint (12-1), Any Second Now (12-1), Definitely Red (12-1) and Magic Of Light (16-1).
