Irish Trainers Will Target Grand National Trials After ‘Huge’ £500,000 Bonus Confirmed Irish trainers will target Grand National trials after William Hill announced it will pay a £500,000 bonus if a horse wins one of three designated trials and the big race at Aintree next April. That is the view of the irishracing.com’s Irish Angle team, speaking on this week’s show after William Hill confirmed any winner of the Becher Chase at Aintree, the Classic Chase at Warwick and the Grand National Trial at Haydock will receive the bonus if they win the Grand National. The bonus is in addition to the £500,000 the winner of the famous race earns meaning if anybody was to pull it off they will pocket £1,000,000. It is one of a number of investments William Hill have made into racing after the launch of the William Hill Each Way Extra Challenge Series in Ireland last month. 'Huge Incentive' Asked for her reaction to William Hill’s latest initiative, Emma Nagle said: “It’s a brilliant idea — a huge incentive for connections to target. “Anything like that will make the lead-up to the Grand National more competitive. Sometimes connections like to give their horse a steady warm-up for the National, but this would be a huge incentive to go out and win one of those National trials and then try to win the National itself. You’d be hitting well over the million mark with that, so it’s huge. “You can imagine plenty of trainers from Ireland looking at that and trying to target both because it’s massive prize money for connections.” Irish Trainers Who Will Be Interested irishracing.com editor Vincent Finegan suggested a huge number of Irish trainers will take the designated trial races more seriously now there is a huge bonus at stake. He explained: “We know all the top stables are targeting the Grand National now — Willie Mullins particularly, but also Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead, who’s won it in recent years. Emmet Mullins as well. “So we’re going to get a lot of Irish trainers looking at that bonus and thinking it’s achievable, I’d imagine.” Credit To William Hill Johnny Ward hailed William Hill’s intervention but suggested it is unlikely that they will have to pay out. He said: “I suppose what William Hill might be looking at here is that the chance of a horse pulling this off is pretty unlikely. “You have such a massive field in the National, and even the prospect of three horses having the chance to do the double is pretty unlikely. “But it generates a lot of publicity. There’ll be plenty of talk around the three races, and the media will interview trainers with horses that could potentially do it. “I don’t know what’s going on with William Hill at the moment, but I suspect — and I’m speculating — that they see a gap in the market for innovation in racing. “We live in truly extraordinary times where bookmakers once relied heavily on racing, but now, if racing stopped tomorrow, many wouldn’t give it a second thought. It’s extraordinary. “I think there’s a gap there. Many of the big bookmakers are moving away from racing and showing less and less interest. Maybe William Hill sees an opportunity, and initiatives like this are to be lauded.” William Hill are offering odds of 8/1 on any horse completing the double and bagging the £500,000 bonus. Watch The Irish Angle In Full Or Listen On Spotify
