Haydock Grand National Trial Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

Updated: 2304 Horse Racing

We look at the Haydock Grand National Trial ahead of the next renewal, a race contested over 3m4½f at Haydock to see which runners, trainers and jockeys have previously won the race and which trends can you use to find the winner of the Haydock Grand National Trial.

Haydock Grand National Trial Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends
In this article: Preview
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2025 Haydock Grand National Trial Preview

The Grand National Trial is run at Haydock Racecourse in February of each year and as the name suggests, serves as a trial for the Aintree Grand National. This race is run over a distance of three miles, four and a half furlongs during which the runners face twenty-two fences.

The race was established back in 1948, it was created in 1947 but snow caused the abandonment of the first running, the inaugural running was won by Gallery. Up until 1990, the race was run over just three miles, from 1991 onwards it has been run over the distance which it is run over today.

Haydock Grand National Trial Information:

If you are interested in other predictions at Haydock then head over to the Haydock tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG racing tipsters and also compare those predictions to the runners that make the trend shortlist when added below. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races at Haydock Racecourse section for links to these.

How competitive is the Haydock Grand National Trial market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2021 when the race had an over-round of 111%. The race in 2007 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 127%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Haydock Grand National Trial, the over-round has been 119%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £119 which is bet.

Haydock Grand National Trial Trends:

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Haydock Grand National Trial next time out then you would have backed a total of 0 winners. Backing all 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -18.00. Before placing your bet on the 2025 Haydock Grand National Trial see which other runners today are being backed on the racing predictions page.

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 7:19.80 was set by Ossmoses in 2006, which is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by D M Forster and ridden by Richie McGrath. The slowest winning time was set in 2024 when Yeah Man won in a time of 8:33.90, booked to ride was Sean Flanagan on this Gavin Cromwell trained runner.

These are the top three quickest-run Haydock Grand National Trial over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Ossmoses (7:19.80) in 2006
  2. Vieux Lion Rouge (7:25.10) in 2017
  3. Miko De Beauchene (7:29.40) in 2008

Haydock Grand National Trial Past Winners

Here are the Haydock Grand National Trial past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. The trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Haydock Grand National Trial as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Race Notes: The race was abandoned in 2002. The 2022 winner, The Galloping Bear was later disqualified with Bristol De Mai being awarded the race.

YearHorseInfo
2024
8:33.90
Yeah Man (IRE)
7yo 10-12 9/2F
Sean Flanagan
Gavin Cromwell (IRE)
2023
7:49.90
Quick Wave (FR)
10yo 11-8 18/1
Harry Bannister
Venetia Williams (GB)
2022
8:10.20
Bristol De Mai (FR)
11yo 11-12 11/2
Sam Twiston-Davies
Nigel Twiston-Davies (GB)
2021
8:12.91
Lord Du Mesnil (FR)
8yo 11-6 8/1
Paul O'Brien (3lbs)
Richard Hobson (GB)
2020
7:38.20
Smooth Stepper (GB)
11yo 10-0 33/1
Harry Bannister
Alex Hales (GB)
2019
7:30.30
Robinsfirth (IRE)
10yo 11-4 8/1
Sean Bowen
Colin Tizzard (GB)
2018
8:17.70
Yala Enki (FR)
8yo 10-11 8/1
Charlie Deutsch
Venetia Williams (GB)
2017
7:25.10
Vieux Lion Rouge (FR)
8yo 11-6 8/1
Tom Scudamore
David Pipe (GB)
2016
8:33.10
Bishops Road (IRE)
8yo 11-7 13/2
Richard Johnson
Kerry Lee (GB)
2015
7:41.40
Lie Forrit (IRE)
11yo 11-6 8/1
Peter Buchanan
Lucinda Russell (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Haydock Grand National Trial have been based:

  • GB: 19 winners with an additional 41 placings from 238 runners
  • IRE: 1 winner with an additional 0 placings from 8 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 7 runners

Haydock Grand National Trial Trainer Statistics

There are two leading trainers in the Haydock Grand National Trial over the last 20 renewals with both Venetia Williams and Lucinda Russell who have both won the race three times. Venetia Williams winners have been Rigadin De Beauchene (2014), Yala Enki (2018) and Quick Wave (2023). Lucinda Russell's winners have been Silver By Nature (2010 & 2011) and Lie Forrit (2015). Multiple trainers have not had the best of times over the last 20 renewals in the Haydock Grand National Trial, Paul Nicholls (0-15), Sue Smith (0-12) and Philip Hobbs (0-10) have all failed to produce a single winner despite sending multiple runners to the race.

Here are some of the top Haydock Grand National Trial trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
Venetia Williams22-3-9+23.00+25.84
Lucinda Russell7-3-3+21.00+11.63
Nigel Twiston-Davies20-1-4-13.50-11.79
David Pipe13-1-4-4.00-2.35
Richard Hobson4-1-2+5.00+2.90
Kerry Lee4-1-1+3.50+0.90
Alex Hales3-1-1+31.00+17.80
Gary Moore3-1-1+2.50+0.81
Victor Dartnall3-1-1+2.00+0.50
Gavin Cromwell1-1-1+4.50+2.70

Haydock Grand National Trial Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Haydock Grand National Trial over the last 20 renewals is Harry Bannister who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from Smooth Stepper (2020) and Quick Wave (2023).

Here are some of the top Haydock Grand National Trial jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Harry Bannister2-2-2+51.00+31.05
Robert Dunne7-1-3+10.00+6.65
Sam Twiston-Davies6-1-2+0.50-0.98
Charlie Deutsch4-1-2+5.00+3.40
Denis O'Regan4-1-1+1.00-0.50
James Reveley3-1-1+16.00+9.25
Paul O'Brien2-1-2+7.00+4.90
Sean Bowen2-1-1+7.00+4.00
Sean Flanagan1-1-1+4.50+2.70
Paddy Brennan8-0-1-8.00-6.50

Haydock Grand National Trial Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +60.00 is when runners wore no equipment. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners ran on Good To Soft ground on debut, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-39.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Haydock Grand National Trial is Chepstow, there has been a total number of 6 winners of this race who ran at Chepstow last time out. The next best course which has produced the second most winners is Sandown, there has been a total number of 3 winners of this race who ran at Sandown last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 18 winners from a total of 239 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 2 winners from a total of 14 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Haydock Grand National Trial, that stallion Silver Patriarch has produced 2 winners (2011,2010).

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Haydock Grand National Trial despite multiple attempts:

  • Presenting (0 Wins from 9 runners)
  • Kayf Tara (0 Wins from 8 runners)
  • Cyborg (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Cloudings (0 Wins from 6 runners)
  • Midnight Legend (0 Wins from 6 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Smooth Stepper in 2020, winning for Alex Hales at odds of 33/1 under the guidance of Harry Bannister. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 3 winning favourites in the race. Ahead of the 2025 Haydock Grand National Trial why not head over to the best racing tipster page to see what the tipsters are backing today?

Other Principal races at Haydock racecourse

Here are some other notable races at the Haydock racecourse throughout the racing season that you may be interested in.

Races in January

Races in May

Races in June

Races in July

Races in September

Races in November

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Grand National Trial Preview are at hand, Andy Powell and Darren Brett. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews.

Darren Brett

Darren Brett

Tipster competition manager

A seasoned veteran in the industry, Darren's profound knowledge and unparalleled expertise in horse racing truly come to the fore during the National Hunt season. In addition to his contribution to our Horse racing previews here on OLBG, he also holds the reins for grand-national-guide.co.uk
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content editor

Andy has one of the greatest horse racing results and ratings databases known to man, all of his own creation. with 20 years of collating and following form, ratings and trends, he adds another layer of knowledge to our race previews.

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