Virtual Grand National: How does it work? Who are the favourites?

To start, they filmed Aintree using drone cameras in order to recreate the course as accurately as possible.

CGI was used to recreate the horses, as well as realistic turf, all 30 fences and crowds.

A flocking algorithm was then developed, which takes race situations into account, such as how horses round corners, tire, and how the field reacts to a fallen runner.

How is the result determined?

The software uses information from each of the horses’ real performances,
including their past form, weight and age.

Factors such as the weather conditions are also taken into account. All of this data helps to determine the probability of each horse’s finishing position.

Does that mean that the horse with the best stats always wins?

You never know for sure what’s going to happen in real racing, and especially the Grand National.

The Virtual Grand National takes that into account – artificial technology is used to determine how the horses move around the course, how they jump fences and interact with fellow runners, with an element of unpredictability built in.

The stats are used to determine which horses have a greater probability of winning – just as odds are in real racing.

That’s why you’ll also see shorter prices for the likeliest winners of the Virtual Grand National.

View the latest Virtual Grand National odds.

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication