Grand Sefton Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

Discover key trends, past winners, and trainer/jockey records for the Grand Sefton, a 2m5f race at Aintree. This comprehensive preview offers valuable insights for horse racing enthusiasts looking to analyze the upcoming event.
Grand Sefton Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends
Andy Powell
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 Grand Sefton Preview

The Grand Sefton is run over the Grand National fences at Aintree and was switched to be run in November instead of December in 2021 and will be run in November going forward. The race is a Class 2 Handicap Chase run over two miles and five furlongs and is open to runners aged six years old or older. First run back in 1865, the race saw 100 renewals before ending in 1965. However, in 2003 the race was revived and has been run every year since.

Grand Sefton Information:

In April, the only thing racing fans are interested in is the Grand National tips from the OLBG expert racing tipsters, which of the forty runners are they predicting to win the showcase race at Aintree? You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races at Aintree Racecourse section for links to these.

How competitive is the Grand Sefton market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2012 when the race had an over-round of 115%. The race in 2007 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 132%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Grand Sefton, the over-round has been 122%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £122 which is bet.

Grand Sefton 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 Grand Sefton next time out then you would have backed a total of 1 winner. Backing all 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -13.50. Whilst we wait for the 2025 Grand Sefton remember you can get daily racing predictions from the expert tipsters on the racing predictions page.

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 5:23.52 was set by King Turgeon in 2024, which is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by David Pipe and ridden by Jack Tudor. The slowest winning time was set in 2008 when Endless Power won in a time of 6:09.20, booked to ride was James Reveley by the trainer Jim Goldie.

These are the top three quickest-run Grand Sefton over the last 20 renewals:

  1. King Turgeon (5:23.52) in 2024
  2. Al Dancer (5:27.00) in 2022
  3. Poole Master (5:32.10) in 2014

Grand Sefton Past Winners

Here are the Grand Sefton 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 horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Grand Sefton are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorseInfo
2024
5:23.52
King Turgeon (FR)
6yo 10-2 9/2
Jack Tudor
David Pipe (GB)
2023
5:46.19
Gesskille (FR)
7yo 11-7 100/30F
Henry Brooke
Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero (GB)
2022
5:27.00
Al Dancer (FR)
9yo 10-13 5/1
Charlie Deutsch
Sam Thomas (GB)
2021
5:33.75
Mac Tottie (GB)
8yo 11-1 20/1
James Bowen
Peter Bowen (GB)
2020
5:53.75
Beau Bay (FR)
9yo 10-2 20/1
Charlie Hammond (3lbs)
Dr Richard Newland (GB)
2019
5:42:10
Hogans Height (IRE)
8yo 10-8 16/1
Tom Cannon
Jamie Snowden (GB)
2018
5:41.40
Warriors Tale (GB)
9yo 11-12 15/2
Sean Bowen
Paul Nicholls (GB)
2017
6:05.70
Gas Line Boy (IRE)
11yo 11-10 9/2F
Robert Dunne
Ian Williams (GB)
2016
5:37.50
As De Mee (FR)
6yo 11-0 4/1F
Sean Bowen
Paul Nicholls (GB)
2015
5:49.80
Bennys Mist (IRE)
9yo 10-4 8/1
Liam Treadwell
Venetia Williams (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Grand Sefton have been based:

  • GB: 20 winners with an additional 44 placings from 269 runners
  • IRE: 0 winners with an additional 4 placings from 22 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 3 runners

Grand Sefton Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Grand Sefton over the last 20 renewals is Paul Nicholls who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Rebel Rebellion (2013), As De Mee (2016) and Warriors Tale (2018). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Grand Sefton are David Pipe (2 wins) and Jim Goldie (2 wins). There is one trainer who has not had the best of times in the Grand Sefton, Donald McCain has sent a total of 11 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top Grand Sefton 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
Paul Nicholls19-3-6+11.50+4.94
David Pipe9-2-2+22.50+11.44
Jim Goldie8-2-3+71.00+43.13
Nigel Twiston-Davies20-1-3-15.50-11.90
Peter Bowen12-1-2+9.00+3.38
Venetia Williams10-1-3-1.00-1.45
Dr Richard Newland9-1-3+12.00+11.50
Bob Buckler4-1-1+9.00+4.50
Jamie Snowden3-1-1+14.00+8.00
Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero3-1-3+1.33+3.00

Grand Sefton Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Grand Sefton over the last 20 renewals is Sean Bowen who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from As De Mee (2016) and Warriors Tale (2018).

Here are some of the top Grand Sefton 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
Sean Bowen6-2-3+7.50+4.00
Sam Twiston-Davies10-1-1-5.50-6.90
Brian Hughes8-1-1+3.00-0.75
Henry Brooke8-1-4-3.67+3.50
Charlie Deutsch5-1-2+1.00+0.18
Daryl Jacob4-1-2+9.00+6.00
James Reveley4-1-1+8.00+3.88
James Bowen2-1-1+19.00+11.50
Tom Cannon2-1-1+15.00+9.00
Robert Dunne2-1-1+3.50+1.70

Grand Sefton Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +91.50 is when runners had 0 season places.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners ran over 3m last time out, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-39.

The courses that have produced the most winners of the Grand Sefton are Aintree and Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 4 winners from each of those courses.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 20 winners from a total of 289 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 5 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Grand Sefton, that stallion Midnight Legend has produced 2 winners (2021,2018).

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

  • Presenting (0 Wins from 13 runners)
  • Dr Massini (0 Wins from 5 runners)
  • Kayf Tara (0 Wins from 5 runners)
  • Yeats (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Lampion Du Bost in 2007, winning for Jim Goldie at odds of 66/1 under the guidance of Phil Kinsella. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 4 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find you a bet on the 2025 Grand Sefton.

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Grand Sefton Preview are at hand, Andy and James. 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 for National Hunt Racing.

James Banting

James Banting

Tipster Competition Assistant

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for jump racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful national hunt racing blogs for OLBG.

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