The Aintree Grand National has unveiled its new sponsor from 2014 in the form of Crabbie’s, maker of a rather tasty alcoholic ginger beer.
Crabbie’s will sponsor the famous race for three years and 2014’s running will have a purse worth GB£ 1 million for the first time.
The sponsor will also see its name attached to the Fox Hunters’ Chase and the Topham Chase at the Aintree Grand National meeting.
John Smith’s had sponsored the race between 2005 and Auroras Encore’s 66/1 win in April 2013.
There were reports that Aintree wanted to avoid a bookmaker sponsoring the race if possible, so Crabbie’s will be seen as a success. This is a strange position to adopt, given how much Ladbrokes did to save the race from extinction in decades gone by.
The role of bookmakers in sponsoring races should not be underestimated. In 2012 the betting sector sponsored over 3,000 races, some 41% of the total. Bookmakers put up nearly GB£ 32 million in prize money in the sponsored races out of a total of GB£ 82 million.
Food and drink companies sponsored just 502 races (7%) and these races contributed GB£ 6.5 million in prize money.
Showing posts with label Auroras Encore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Auroras Encore. Show all posts
02 September 2013
19 April 2013
Bookies Yearn For Annual Encore In National
This blog has written before about how the Aintree Grand National is just a large benefit gig for the bookmakers and the financial results announced by William Hill have confirmed it.
The bookmaker reported: “Auroras Encore made the Grand National a major success for William Hill, even beating our record win achieved on the race in 2009 when Mon Mome romped home at 100-1.”
William Hill did not give exact numbers for the amount it won from Auroras Encore’s 2013 Grand National victory but in 2009 the bookmaker won GB£ 6.2 million on the race and had a gross win margin of 37.8% on the event. So the company has earned its shareholders a nice little bonus of more than GB£ 6 million in revenues from the Grand National.
William Hill’s CEO Ralph Topping wrote in his blog:
“I’ve watched some fantastic winners in my 43 years in the business - Red Rum, Aldaniti, West Tip . This year’s result for bookies was as good as it gets….[The Grand National] was a great British tradition, done in a Great British way. Racing was a winner, Sport was a winner. But I’m a bookmaker first and foremost and it’s our William Hill shareholders who top the podium today.”
The bookmaker reported: “Auroras Encore made the Grand National a major success for William Hill, even beating our record win achieved on the race in 2009 when Mon Mome romped home at 100-1.”
William Hill did not give exact numbers for the amount it won from Auroras Encore’s 2013 Grand National victory but in 2009 the bookmaker won GB£ 6.2 million on the race and had a gross win margin of 37.8% on the event. So the company has earned its shareholders a nice little bonus of more than GB£ 6 million in revenues from the Grand National.
William Hill’s CEO Ralph Topping wrote in his blog:
“I’ve watched some fantastic winners in my 43 years in the business - Red Rum, Aldaniti, West Tip . This year’s result for bookies was as good as it gets….[The Grand National] was a great British tradition, done in a Great British way. Racing was a winner, Sport was a winner. But I’m a bookmaker first and foremost and it’s our William Hill shareholders who top the podium today.”
14 April 2013
Grand National Is A Different Challenge Now
John Francome, the former champion jockey, has been speaking to the Daily Mail (Grand National is a joke now; 13 February 2013) and he believes that the Aintree Grand National is not the challenging race that it once was.
“No disrespect to the winner Auroras Encore, but he is not the best jumper in the world and he would not have won it five years ago.”
“It [the Grand National] used to be a jumping test, but no longer. It is a joke and horses like Grittar, who won in 1982, wouldn't succeed now because they wouldn't be quick enough.”
“In the past you needed a special type of horse to jump round Aintree. They looked at the bigger fences and backed off themselves, yet on Saturday they were going faster as they got closer to the jumps.”
As this blog discussed in its review of the Aintree meeting, it does seem on the evidence of the 2013 running that a new profile of winning horse might emerge with the new course set up. Time will tell.
07 April 2013
Aintree Grand National Meeting Review
The Aintree Grand National meeting provided an excellent three days’ racing culminating in a Grand National that seemed to mark a new era in the race’s existence.
Several big name horses were on a ‘reputation recovery’ mission after disappointing at the Cheltenham Festival in March.
On the first day First Lieutenant won the Betfred Bowl Chase, having finished second in the Ryanair Chase at the Festival. Silviniaco Conti had fallen when travelling well in the Betfred Gold Cup and went off favourite for the Betfred Bowl but finished a couple of lengths behind First Lieutenant in third.
Zarkandar, fourth in the Champion Hurdle, won the Aintree Hurdle and beat the Novices’ Hurdle winner The New One in the process.
Special mention must go to Battle Group who won the Silver Cross Handicap Chase on Thursday and then came out again on Saturday to win the John Smith’s Handicap Chase with an equally impressive performance. Two wins round Aintree in the space of just three days is some feat.
Sprinter Sacre showed he is just as good at 2 mile 4 furlongs as at 2 miles when winning the Melling Chase. The Irish contender Flemenstar did not run to his best and was well beaten in third place.
My Tent Or Yours showed the same classy cruising style that he had displayed in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. On this occasion, however, there was no Cheltenham hill to contend with and no Champagne Fever to out battle him.
Similarly, Dynaste had disappointed as favourite in the Jewson Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham but made amends at Aintree in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase.
Saturday’s main event, the Grand National, does look to be a different race now with the changes made to the course and jumps. Jumping mistakes of previous years that might have resulted in a fall or unseating might not be punished as severely judging by the 2013 running of the Grand National.
When searching for a winner in future years it could be less easy to discount the sketchy jumpers because now when they make their customary mistake they could get away with it. A low weight rather than jumping ability or experience of the Aintree fences might take more emphasis in the assessment of the likely winner.
The 2013 Grand National winner, Auroras Encore, trained by Sue Smith and ridden by Ryan Mania, carried 10 stone 3 lbs, which is the lowest winning weight for many years. A trend had been developing for winners carrying 11 stone or more.
Several big name horses were on a ‘reputation recovery’ mission after disappointing at the Cheltenham Festival in March.
On the first day First Lieutenant won the Betfred Bowl Chase, having finished second in the Ryanair Chase at the Festival. Silviniaco Conti had fallen when travelling well in the Betfred Gold Cup and went off favourite for the Betfred Bowl but finished a couple of lengths behind First Lieutenant in third.
Zarkandar, fourth in the Champion Hurdle, won the Aintree Hurdle and beat the Novices’ Hurdle winner The New One in the process.
Special mention must go to Battle Group who won the Silver Cross Handicap Chase on Thursday and then came out again on Saturday to win the John Smith’s Handicap Chase with an equally impressive performance. Two wins round Aintree in the space of just three days is some feat.
Sprinter Sacre showed he is just as good at 2 mile 4 furlongs as at 2 miles when winning the Melling Chase. The Irish contender Flemenstar did not run to his best and was well beaten in third place.
My Tent Or Yours showed the same classy cruising style that he had displayed in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. On this occasion, however, there was no Cheltenham hill to contend with and no Champagne Fever to out battle him.
Similarly, Dynaste had disappointed as favourite in the Jewson Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham but made amends at Aintree in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase.
Saturday’s main event, the Grand National, does look to be a different race now with the changes made to the course and jumps. Jumping mistakes of previous years that might have resulted in a fall or unseating might not be punished as severely judging by the 2013 running of the Grand National.
When searching for a winner in future years it could be less easy to discount the sketchy jumpers because now when they make their customary mistake they could get away with it. A low weight rather than jumping ability or experience of the Aintree fences might take more emphasis in the assessment of the likely winner.
The 2013 Grand National winner, Auroras Encore, trained by Sue Smith and ridden by Ryan Mania, carried 10 stone 3 lbs, which is the lowest winning weight for many years. A trend had been developing for winners carrying 11 stone or more.
06 April 2013
Bookies Fail National Stamina Test
Several online sports books experienced some serious technical issued with their websites as they struggled to cope with the surge in demand caused by the Aintree Grand National on Saturday.
Accounts with several online sports betting firms used by the authors of this blog all experienced some technical issues with both their websites and mobile apps at varying points during Saturday.
Some of the problems stated quite early in the afternoon, well before the Grand National itself.
The winner of the Grand National was the 66/1 outsider Auroras Encore trained by Sue Smith. Such a result may even have been a ‘skinner’* on some books.
It will be especially galling for the bookmakers not to have taken as much money as they could because of the technical difficulties. The fancied horses – Sea Bass, On His Own, Teaforthree – were all beaten, with only Teaforthree making the places.
On Twitter there were numerous posts by people complaining about a certain betting website and threatening to take their business elsewhere. It was a difficult threat to carry out because a number of leading betting websites experienced problems at different times.
The inquiries will begin on Monday when senior management returns to the office as to why the technical contingency plans failed to work. It might transpire that some sites were subjected to cyber attacks (though such attacks are rarely acknowledged publicly), although there is no evidence for such activity at present. But it is unusual for such a number of betting sites to suffer outages even on Grand National day. It could simply be that the betting platforms cannot cope with the Grand National day betting surge.
*A ‘skinner’ refers to a horse upon which the bookmaker has taken no money. If it wins, therefore, the bookmaker does not have to pay out any winnings. An excellent result for the bookmaker.
Accounts with several online sports betting firms used by the authors of this blog all experienced some technical issues with both their websites and mobile apps at varying points during Saturday.
Some of the problems stated quite early in the afternoon, well before the Grand National itself.
The winner of the Grand National was the 66/1 outsider Auroras Encore trained by Sue Smith. Such a result may even have been a ‘skinner’* on some books.
It will be especially galling for the bookmakers not to have taken as much money as they could because of the technical difficulties. The fancied horses – Sea Bass, On His Own, Teaforthree – were all beaten, with only Teaforthree making the places.
On Twitter there were numerous posts by people complaining about a certain betting website and threatening to take their business elsewhere. It was a difficult threat to carry out because a number of leading betting websites experienced problems at different times.
The inquiries will begin on Monday when senior management returns to the office as to why the technical contingency plans failed to work. It might transpire that some sites were subjected to cyber attacks (though such attacks are rarely acknowledged publicly), although there is no evidence for such activity at present. But it is unusual for such a number of betting sites to suffer outages even on Grand National day. It could simply be that the betting platforms cannot cope with the Grand National day betting surge.
*A ‘skinner’ refers to a horse upon which the bookmaker has taken no money. If it wins, therefore, the bookmaker does not have to pay out any winnings. An excellent result for the bookmaker.
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