Aintree Racecourse — Home of the Grand National

Where is Aintree Racecourse?

Aintree Racecourse is in Aintree, a district in the borough of Sefton on the northern edge of Merseyside, roughly six miles from Liverpool city centre. Although it's universally associated with Liverpool — many people simply search for the "Liverpool Grand National" — the course actually sits just outside the city boundary, served by its own railway station on Merseyrail's Northern Line.

The racecourse has staged the Grand National since 1839 and hosts fixtures through the year, but it is the spring festival — and the National in particular — that puts Aintree on the world stage, drawing around 150,000 racegoers across the three days and a global television audience in the hundreds of millions.

The Grand National Festival at Aintree 2027

The 2027 Randox Grand National Festival runs over three days, Thursday 8, Friday 9 and Saturday 10 April 2027. Each day builds towards the main event, mixing Grade 1 championship races with the colour, fashion and spectacle Aintree is known for. For the full race-by-race card and exact off-times, see our Grand National 2027 schedule, and for the countdown and confirmed timings our dates & times page.

The highlight, the Randox Grand National itself, is run on the Saturday afternoon over roughly four and a quarter miles and 30 fences — the longest and most demanding test in the National Hunt calendar, with a field of up to 34 runners.

The three days of the festival

Opening Day — Thursday 8 April 2027

The festival opens with a high-class card headlined by Grade 1 contests over hurdles and fences — including the Aintree Hurdle and the Manifesto Novices' Chase — setting the tone for the weekend. It's traditionally the most relaxed of the three days and a favourite with racing purists for the sheer quality on show.

Ladies Day — Friday 9 April 2027

Aintree's Ladies Day is one of the biggest days in the British sporting and social calendar, pairing top-level Grade 1 racing — such as the Melling Chase and the Sefton Novices' Hurdle — with one of the most famous fashion occasions of the year. Expect showpiece races alongside the Style Award and a packed, celebratory atmosphere.

Grand National Day — Saturday 10 April 2027

The crescendo of the festival. Seven races build to the Randox Grand National in the late afternoon, when up to 34 runners line up for the world's most famous steeplechase. It's the day casual fans and seasoned racegoers alike circle in the calendar.

What races are run at Aintree?

Across the three days the festival features around 21 races, including a string of Grade 1 championship events — the Aintree Hurdle, the Melling Chase, the Liverpool Hurdle and the Manifesto Novices' Chase among them — as well as the Topham and Foxhunters' chases, which are run over the National fences themselves. The full 2027 racecard, with distances and times, is on our festival schedule page.

Betting at the Aintree Festival

The Grand National is the biggest betting race of the year, and the Aintree festival attracts a wide range of promotions from UK bookmakers. The most valuable tend not to be the biggest free bets but the ones that improve a bet you were going to place anyway — chiefly extra each-way places, where firms pay five, six or even seven places instead of the standard four, which matters enormously in a field of up to 34 runners.

Other offers you'll commonly see around the festival include faller money-back (a refund if your horse falls or unseats), Non-Runner No Bet on ante-post wagers, Best Odds Guaranteed and race-day price boosts. We explain how these work, and how each-way betting is structured, in our plain-English how to bet on the Grand National guide, and round up the types of offer in our Grand National offers guide. We're an independent guide — we explain the offers rather than sell them.

Tickets & attending Aintree

Tickets for the Grand National Festival are sold through the official Aintree box office (run by The Jockey Club) and typically go on sale many months ahead, with the most popular enclosures selling out well before raceday. Enclosures range from the more relaxed areas to premium and hospitality packages, so prices vary widely depending on the day and where you want to be.

As an independent guide we don't sell tickets — always book through the official Aintree racecourse website to be sure you're buying genuine tickets. We'll note confirmed 2027 on-sale dates here as they're announced.

Getting to Aintree

Aintree Racecourse is at Ormskirk Road, Aintree, Liverpool L9 5AS. It's one of the best-connected major racecourses in the country:

• By train: Aintree station sits right beside the course on Merseyrail's Northern Line, around 20 minutes from Liverpool Central.
• By car: close to the M57 and M58, with the M62 and M6 feeding in from further afield; official and park-and-ride options operate on festival days.
• By air: Liverpool John Lennon Airport is around 10 miles away, with Manchester Airport under an hour by road.

On festival days local roads are busy and parking is limited, so public transport is strongly encouraged.

The course & its famous fences

What sets Aintree apart is the National course itself — a huge, roughly triangular circuit of spruce-dressed fences unlike anything else in racing, with an easier inner Mildmay course used for the other chases. Landmarks like Becher's Brook, The Chair and the Canal Turn have become part of sporting folklore, and have been carefully modified over the years to improve safety while keeping their unique character. For a fence-by-fence guide, see our Grand National course & fences page.

A short history of Aintree

Racing at Aintree dates back to the 1820s, with the first running of what became the Grand National in 1839. Over nearly two centuries the course has produced some of the sport's greatest stories — from Red Rum's three victories in the 1970s to Tiger Roll's back-to-back wins and I Am Maximus regaining the title in 2026. You can see the full roll of honour on our previous winners page.

Watching the Grand National at Aintree

If you're not at the course, the Grand National is shown live on terrestrial television in the UK, with build-up running through the afternoon, plus streaming and radio coverage. For the exact channel, start time and streaming options for 2027, see our how to watch the Grand National guide.

Frequently asked questions

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