Punters in Newcastle fancying a flutter on this coming Saturday’s Randox Grand National have a better chance than most – as it’s the luckiest place to wager on the race. The ‘World’s Greatest Steeplechase’ on April 5th has run since 1839, only missing years during WWII and WWI, the voided race of 1993 and the lockdown virtual race of 2020 – and is Britain’s biggest betting day of the day.

With the field Aintree reduced in recent years to 34 horses, families and racing lovers will all be looking at form, names, jockey silks and the riders to try to pick out the winner of the 30-fence race. Now a new study has revealed punters in Newcastle have the edge – as it’s the luckiest city when it comes to selecting the winner of the four-mile two-and-a-half furlong marathon.

A survey of 2,002 adults commissioned by bookmaker Coral reveals that 51 per cent Geordies have previously backed a Grand National winner in their lifetime.

That puts the Tyneside city just ahead of the home of the National, Liverpool, which came out as the second luckiest city, with 50 per cent of those asked saying they have picked the winner before.

In third place was Cardiff with 49 per cent, and then Manchester at 48 per cent. By contrast, only 24 per cent of residents from Nottingham have picked a winner of the Aintree showpiece.

Coral’s David Stevens said: “The Grand National is our biggest day of the year, with a third of the adult population having a flutter on the famous race.

“Bets will be placed across the UK next Saturday, but it seems that Newcastle is the place to live if you want that extra bit of help, with our Geordie customers the luckiest when it comes to backing the winner.

“In second place is Liverpool, which is entirely fitting as the city is rightly proud of its place in the National’s history, while at the other end of the results, hopefully the people of Nottingham won’t be put off having a bet despite the city’s lowly position in the survey.”

The three-day festival – from Thursday 3rd April to Saturday 5th April – attracts more than 150,000 people to Aintree Racecourse and watched by an international television audience of around 800 million people.

Top ten luckiest places for backing a Grand National winner:

1 – Newcastle (51 per cent); 2 – Liverpool (50 per cent); 3 – Cardiff (49 per cent) 4 – Manchester (48 per cent) 5 – Leeds (46 per cent) 6 – Coventry (45 per cent) 7 – Birmingham (45 per cent); 8 – Glasgow (44 per cent); 9 – London (44 per cent) and 10 – York (42 per cent).