Grand National: Formula to pick winning horse

A PROFESSOR has devised a formula which he claims can predict the winner of the Grand National.

• Maths professor devises formula to predict winner of Grand National

• Professor William Hartston backs Seabass to romp to victory based on statistical model

Professor William Hartston, who has an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge, researched every winner of the world’s most famous horse race in the past 174 years and deduced that winners were most likely to have one-word names, starting with S, R, M or C.

The formula also concludes that the number of letters in the names of horses that win most frequently are between eight and 10, and that horses are between nine and 10-years-old.

By scoring horses involved in Saturday’s event, Professor Hartston has picked a decisive winner - Seabass.

He said: “Seabass is the only horse with consistently high scores across all four criteria as it begins with S, is a one-word name, aged 10 years and has seven letters which is only slightly short of the preferred eight.

“Tatenen also scored an impressive 13/16 points and shouldn’t be ruled out, although its scoring pattern is less consistent.”

Seabass finished in third place in last year’s Grand National, and is among the favourites for this year’s race.