Racingstars, a new peer-to-peer betting service designed to compete with the major bookmakers and encourage responsible gambling has sponsored trainer Polly Gundry for the Grand National as she bids for an Aintree fairytale with Santini.
Exeter-based Gundry has just ten horses in training and sends stable star Santini to make history in the race, as he lines up against runners representing the powerhouse owners and trainers in jump racing.
Racingstars.co.uk have backed Gundry to launch their £1 million Grand National Saturday challenge, giving entrants a day’s worth of entertainment for a fixed price of just £10.
The unique game rewards punters with points per race based on their horse’s finishing position and odds, providing betting fans with a fun way to speculate on every race.
Entrants can buy 50 tokens for £10, allowing them to enter a game for just 10 tokens each. Entries are limited to one per customer per day.
Nathan Thompson, co-founder of Racingstars.co.uk said: “We’re huge racing fans at Racingstars.co.uk so when the opportunity came up to back Polly Gundry for the big race, it was an easy decision.
“Like us, she loves racing, the horses and wants to level the playing field with the bigger outfits so it was a natural fit. We wish Polly, Santini and her owners the very best of luck in the big race and hope he enjoys his spin around Aintree.”
Speaking of the £1 million Grand National Challenge and motivation to launch Racingstars.co.uk, Thompson said: “We’re offering the chance to win £1 million on Grand National Day for a fixed 10 token entry – and you don’t even have to pick the winner of the first race.
“We’re keen racing fans and love a bet, but felt there was a gap in the market for an experience with a set limit on cost that still provided a day’s worth of entertainment. I’m well aware of the fun of a bet but also the need to keep things sensible and wanted to offer a service to help combat problem gambling by limiting what people can spend and when, removing the need to potentially chase losses or deposit multiple times in a day.”
Polly Gundry: “Thanks to Racingstars.co.uk for backing me.”
Racingstars.co.uk are a like-minded team who love racing and want to take on the big players, so it’s a natural fit. I hope one of their players takes down the £1 million challenge on Saturday with Santini winning the Grand National!”
Polly Gundry: “Santini is in good form.”
Santini is cool at the moment. He jumped eight fences of different sorts this morning just to keep his mind on something new and that was all good. He was very enthusiastic. I usually try in the week before a race to keep all of his big muscles moving, but I’ve probably done a little bit less with him this week. We just don’t want to put too much stress on his feet, so we’ve had him walking and trotting on nice fresh grassland as it won’t cause him any jarring or pull the nails around in his feet. I probably still do an hour on him every day and then lead him out twice a day.
Polly Gundry: “I think Aintree will really suit Santini.”
I was really happy with his schooling today. He jumped a rail and then a rail with a water tray before jumping a green fence that we have made up to look like an Aintree fence and he thought it was all good fun which is great going into a race like this. Santini is a very intelligent horse who loves jumping, but he doesn’t like surprises. That’s why we schooled over some unique fences this morning.
As long as the ground is good to soft or softer, that would suit us. He wouldn’t worry about really soft ground, but he also has the most perfect action so good to soft ground would suit him perfectly.
If he is a happy boy doing it, I do think he will stay. He doesn’t quite have the speed of some of the others in the field, but he is a thorough stayer and he wasn’t tired after the Gold Cup. He only raced for two and a half-miles, but he came back in afterwards in the unsaddling enclosure really sprightly. He cries out for a trip.
He is two years older than when he was second in the Gold Cup. The first circuit of the Gold Cup this year was slightly slower this year which didn’t play to our strengths, we have excuses and I think the longer trip and a track that takes a fair bit of jumping might really suit him.
