Intense Raffles Grand National Odds 2025: Buzz could lead to favouritism

With Inothewayurthinkin not coming to Aintree for Saturday’s race, Intense Raffles for trainer Thomas Gibney was installed as the betting favourite for the Grand National. But is that moniker fair enough?

We take a look at the Grand National Odds of Intense Raffles and whether he’s a good price to win the world’s most famous steeplechase…

After spending the whole of 2023 on the sidelines, Intense Raffles came back with a bang a year ago with a dominant victory at Fairyhouse in a Novice Chase.

It didn’t exactly take long for punters to cotton on to the fact that there was a very good horse riding for Thomas Gibney, and next time out he went off as the odds-on favourite at 4/6. That price looked very generous when the result came in, with this horse romping home by 43 whole lengths. Not too shabby that.

He would end the 2023/24 jumps season going for the Irish Grand National over at Leopardstown and once more it was victory. This time it wasn’t by the whopping 43 lengths, but in a quality field winning at 13/2 immediately got the talking heads pondering whether he could do the same at Aintree. It would be no surprise that that would be his target for the 2024/25 campaign and the seven-year-old has been steadily building up for this race.

Two warm-up races came and went with the horse making no impression, but the Bobbyjo at Fairyhouse was going to always be key. A strong run there and he’d vault towards the top of the Grand National betting market. He did go well, losing by less than a length to another genuine contender on Saturday in Nick Rockett.

We’ve seen several times in recent years horses completing the Irish Grand National one year and following it up with victory over at Aintree in the UK edition of the race. Bobbyjo, Numbersixvalverde and last year's winner I Am Maximus all having done the double in the past 30 years.

Gibney’s yard isn’t a big one, with fewer than 30 horses currently being stabled there, but the buzz around the place is very real.

The horse is fully-expected to go off as the favourite, although money has been coming in for Iroko in the past few days. Either way, this is a big-time contender and one to seriously ponder if you are planning a win-only bet for Saturday.

Intense Raffles is one of seven Grand National Grey Horses in the 2025 field. If you love backing Greys, then feel free to check them all out via our article on the subject.

Intense Raffles Grand National Odds & Chances:

As of the opening of the betting market at midday on Thursday, the odds of Intense Raffles winning the Grand National are 10/1 on Betfred. If we turn that price into implied probability, that equates to a 9% chance of winning the race based on the betting price.

Bet on Intense Raffles to win the Grand National:

You can, of course, bet on Intense Raffles to win the Grand National with us at Betfred. If you are a potential New Customer, just click on the sign-up banner below and you can join Betfred today.

For Existing Customers, hit that Grand National Odds button below and you’ll be taken to the Grand National Betting Market on betfred.com, where you can get all the latest prices and of course - place your Grand National Bets.

Betfred Grand National Offer:

Betfred are paying out seven places on the big race for each-way bets at 1/5 odds for those betting on the Grand National. You can do so by following either the Grand National Odds link above or if you want to bet on Intense Raffles, just click on either of the banners at the top or bottom of the article and you’ll be sent to the market page on betfred.com with your selection already loaded into your betslip.

Our Grand National market goes live with the confirmed 34 runners from midday on Thursday, April 3, 2025 and you can bet each-way and get seven places all the way through to 16:00 on Saturday, April 5, 2025, which is when the race will get underway live on ITV1.

You can check out all of our Grand National Tips as well as the profiles for all the other horses running in the race on our main Grand National page…