The Aintree Festival is just two days away and at 2.00 on Thursday afternoon, the build-up to the world’s most famous race will begin with three days of exhilarating action in Liverpool.

The Grand National is without doubt the most famous race of the meeting, but horse racing fanatics will be eagerly anticipating a number of the supporting races on Thursday and Friday.

After fears that the weather could have a detrimental effect on the meeting, Aintree clerk of the course Andrew Tulloch has admitted that he is now pleased with the ground ahead of the festival, with the ground looking likely to be no worse than soft.

Now, with fears about the going out of the way, punters can look forward to a plethora of top quality jumps action.  2010 Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander returns in the totesport Bowl Chase on Thursday, while Big Buck’s will put his unbeaten record over hurdles on the line against Time For Rupert in the Liverpool Hurdle.  With the likes of Zaynar, Kalahari King and Khyber Kim also in action at Aintree, any questions left unanswered by this year’s Cheltenham Festival will surely be resolved just three weeks on.

With a whopping 21 races for punters to sink their teeth into over the course of the three days, it is vital that practised and inexperienced punters make use of the attractive looking free bet offers some of the nation’s leading bookmakers have in place.

Leading Irish bookmaker Paddy Power will no doubt be hoping that he can topple some of England’s leading fancies and he is offering new customers that sign up here a free £50 bet on any of the races on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, brimming with confidence after the joy they had at Cheltenham, Ladbrokes are happy to give punters that sign up using bonus code MAXIMUMBONUS, a free £25 bet on the world’s most famous steeplechase.