Virtual Grand National: How does it work, when is it on and odds
Published:
The GrandNational proper may have been declared a non-runner until 2021 but that won’tstop Britons up and down the country cheering on a simulated version of TigerRoll in Saturday’s Virtual Grand National.
It’s theclosest thing we’re going to get to live sport for the time being. And with allprofits from the race going to the NHSCharities Together, it’s for a good cause too.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2020 Virtual Grand National.
What are the odds?
Odds for theVirtual Grand National have been fixed at a set-price by all bookmakers. Thatmeans they won’t change at any point from now until race-off.
Tiger Roll would’ve gone off a warm favourite to make it a hat-trick of actual Grand National wins, and as such heads the market for the Virtual version at 5/1.
He’s followed by Any Second Now at 10/1 and Burrows Saint at 12/1. Pleasant Company, who finished runner-up in the real Grand National back in 2018 is 28/1, with Double Shuffle the outsider at 100/1.
When is it?
The Virtual Grand National is scheduled to start at the same time the actual race would’ve gone off at. That means the action will begin at 17:15 on Saturday 4th April 2020.
Unlike thereal thing, we shouldn’t have to worry about any false starts either.
Where canI watch it?
ITV will have a 30-minute slot dedicated to the Virtual Grand National on the main channel.
It will run from 17:00 until 17:30.
Whatfactors determine the race result?
Informationabout each horse is fed into the software, which helps to determine the probabilityof each of their potential finishing positions.
This isbased on their past form, performances in other race, weight and a number ofother factors.
Will itthrow up the same result every time?
The allureof the Grand National is in its unpredictable nature. The Virtual GrandNational is no different, with every simulation having the probability ofproducing a different outcome through the same probabilities.
It stands toreason that the horses with a greater probability of winning stand a greaterchance, hence their shorter odds. But that doesn’t guarantee success in theVirtual Grand National, just as it doesn’t in real life.
There’s anelement of artificial intelligence involved in how the horses move around thecourse, how they jump fences and how they interact with each other, which inturn produces different variables.
How didthey manage to do it?
Designed byInspire Entertainment, the whole project took a mammoth 18 months to completeand began with the filming of Aintree Racecourse using drone cameras.
They thenbuilt the fences using CGI so that if a horse breaks through any of them, thefence falls apart and CGI characters jog on to patch them up as in real life.
Real lifeelements such as turf being thrown up, CGI crowds and ambulances tracking therunners were also added in. A flocking algorithm, which takes into account howhorses run around corners and how the field reacts should a horse fall at ajump serve to increase the realism of the event.
Who wonit last year?
VirtualTiger Roll will be gunning for revenge this year after Rathvinden stole hiscrown in 2019. Can the Virtual Tiger reclaim the crown he last won in 2018? Wecan’t wait to find out.
All oddsand markets correct as of date of publication.
