BBC Radio 5 live

Just a little nudge to let you know that BBC Radio 5 live are live from Aintree for the big race. You can listen via the usual channels or online.

Jockey Sam Waley-Cohen talking about well-fancied Long Run's Grand National chances on Channel 4: "We train, practise and he has been very good but in this environment it is very different. You need luck. Long Run has been at the very top for six years, that is incredibly rare. A race like the National will hopefully freshen him up and bring out his best."

On why he is wearing skin tight silks for the Grand National: "You look for every margin. It is the same stance from the cyclists and if you can reduce drag by any fraction you should go with it."

Alan Sllght:, external Rainbow Hunter for me - he was unlucky last year, unseating on Canal.

The 40 jockeys are led out of the weighing room by last year's winner Ryan Mania, who is on Sue Smith-trained Mr Moonshine this afternoon. They all gather for a quick picture and then it's on with the show.

Veterinary expert Alan Wilson talking to Channel 4 about the challenge facing the horses: "Their binocular vision is not very good so they don't see the fences very well. They are a herd of animals so they will take their cue from other horses. If one goes wrong jumping you can see how others do as well."

Katie Walsh, bidding to become the first female jockey to win the Grand National on Vesper Bell, on Channel 4: "It is fantastic to be asked. I have ridden him at home, I know him well and fingers crossed. I have ridden Seabass here and this guy is different. We have to give it a go anyway. This is the National, I hope to follow something that jumps well, doesn't fall and who knows?"

Frank Keogh
BBC Sport at Aintree

The Package would be a poignant winner for trainer David Pipe, who was successful with Comply Or Die for owner David Johnson in 2008.

Johnson, affectionately known as DJ, was a West Ham-supporting eastender closely allied to the Somerset-based Pipe racing operation. He died last July of cancer.

David's father Martin told me Johnson's widow Shirley would be following the race from hospital after a skiing accident in Switzerland.

"Someone just crashed into her, and she broke her pelvis. It would obviously mean a lot if The Package was to win," said Martin, the retired 15-time champion trainer, who scored in 1994 with Miinnehoma, owned by comic Freddie Starr.

Zara Phillips, who has helped supervise schooling sessions for 2012 Welsh National winner Monbeg Dude - part owned by husband Mike Tindall - aimed at improving his jumping, on Channel 4: "He has jumped well at home. They just have to go out and do it. He has it all there, he just needed to trigger all those muscles and learn how to use them. Horses are a lottery. They can get injured, to be fair to Mike and the Dude he has come up with the goods. He has won some great races for them."

Marcus Armytage, jockey on Mr Frisk who won in 1990, tells BBC Radio Merseyside: "Mr Frisk beat Red Rum's record by 14 seconds and because they water the course they won't beat it. Even last year they were extremely fast but around 30 seconds slower than Mr Frisk.

"AP McCoy often says to me that Mr Frisk must have been the greatest horse to ever walk the earth to win a National with me on board. I think AP will struggle to win it again this year, I don't think either of the horses he had to choose from were quite good enough."

Tom Fordyce
BBC Sport's chief sports writer at Aintree

Image source, Reuters

"Where should the smart money go for the giddy punters at Aintree?

"For all of the shock of last year's 66-1 winner Auroras Encore and the 100-1 shot Mon Mome in 2009, six of the last 10 winners have come from the first eight in the betting.

"The changes to the fences and slight shortening of the course have arguably dissipated more of the unpredictability traditionally associated with this great steeplechase. Maybe it'll pay once again to follow the market."

It's going to be an emotional afternoon for the man known as Mr Aintree, the course's veteran stable manager Derek Thompson.

The 69-year-old is working his 47th and last Festival, and he heads for retirement with more memories than you can shake a hay fork at from years of tending to each and every National winner, including the legendary Red Rum.

He looks after 150 of the finest racehorses in the world during the course of the meeting, and the friends he has made in that time mean he will never be short of a holiday to Ireland!

"I've made some wonderful friends and I've got that many invites to go to Ireland I could basically spend the rest of my life there," said the Yorkshireman., external "But I only ever stay with one family - the Carberrys."

Frank Keogh
BBC Sport at Aintree

Image source, Getty Images

Shakalakaboomboom has been the big market mover with bookmakers ahead of the Grand National.

Andrew Griffiths, spokesman for Aintree's betting partner Betfred, said: "Shakalakaboomboom is our worst loser in the race, and is into 20-1 from 33s.

"It seems to be all about the name - he went off joint 8-1 favourite two years ago.

"Teaforthree is solid and 10-1 (was 12s) joint favourite with Double Seven, the mount of champion jockey AP McCoy."

It's been 109 years since we had a Welsh-trained winner of the Grand National. To put that into context, WG Grace was still playing first-class cricket, while it was also the year that Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic Football Clubs were formed.

Joint-favourite Teaforthree, trained by Rebecca Curtis, could change all of that this afternoon.

"It would be great to bring the race back to Wales - it hasn't been won for 109 years and I'm sure they are all behind us back home," said Curtis. "Any horse can win - just look at last year's 66-1 shot - but we've got him exactly where we want him and now can all he can do now is his best."

You can listen to coverage of the Grand National on BBC Radio 5 Live throughout the afternoon.

An interesting pre-race feature to bury your head into has been written by Shourjo Sarkar, who asks why horses have not got any faster in recent years, despite humans improving their times in athletics.

There are many reasons, but Andrew Byers, a senior lecturer in equine sports science at Nottingham Trent University, says: "Compared with humans, racehorses are incredibly advanced athletes. Any significant gains in physiology have already been achieved."

Go and have a read. It's worth your while.

Luke Harvey
BBC Radio 5 live racing commentator

"I was lucky enough to ride in it twice and never got round. The second time, before the race, I was convinced I was going to win as I was on a fancied horse.

"I lined up on the start line and I could feel the horse's heart beating through my legs. That made mine go even faster. I was in front and at the first fence but his head hit the ground and that was it. I can't explain it, I've never been that physically gutted. I'm not afraid to admit it, I cried there on the grass. I didn't give a damn about the owners, trainers, I was just gutted for myself. Distraught."

Image source, Getty Images

Eighteen-time champion jockey AP McCoy was part of a special BBC Radio 5 live programme last night, and he admitted he is desperate for success on board Martin Brassil-trained Double Seven this afternoon.

"The Gold Cup is the race a jockey would mostly want to win but the Grand National is different to everyone," he said. "Because the Gold Cup is over and I didn't win it, I am now saying the National is the one I want to win.

"When I won it with Don't Push It in 2010, I remember going to bed at 3am. It is an amazing feeling to win the Grand National."

The money is beginning to pile on for Double Seven, who is now joint 12-1 favourite with Teaforthree.

Pineau De Re, John? Here's what our man in the know, Frank Keogh, says about him in our pinstickers' guide: "Trained by former GP, so victory would be just what the doctor ordered. Winner of the Ulster National has been well backed in recent days. Formerly trained in Ireland by Philip Fenton, who faces a drugs case after banned steroids were seized from his yard. He is expected to deny any wrongdoing. Horse's name refers to aperitif wine produced in western France. Jockey finished second on Supreme Glory to winner Monty's Pass in 2003."

John Warrington:, external Bet on Pineau De Re for me, apparently an outsider that could go well.

You might have heard of our next race: the Grand National. It gets under way at 16:15. But you already knew that, right?

Jockey Richard Johnson, who will bid to end his 17-race winless Grand National run on Balthazar King and rode Duke of Lucca to victory in the Handicap Chase, on Channel 4: "He is the perfect horse for the race. The ground is ideal, no excuses. He is 110% honest and wherever he finishes he will have run his heart out."