How to watch Aintree Races for free — live stream Grand National 2026 from anywhere

Aintree hosts the Grand National this weekend (9-11 April) but there’s plenty of horse racing to come before the blue ribband event at one of the hottest weekends in the horse racing calendar – and you can watch Aintree for free with our streaming hack (see below).

Opening Day features Grade 1 highlights including the Aintree Bowl, Aintree Hurdle and Manifesto Novices’ Chase. Ladies Day (Friday, April 10) combines top-class action like the Melling Chase and Topham Chase with iconic style and atmosphere.

Saturday’s showpiece is the £1m Grand National (4pm BST), run over 4m2½f and 30 fences. Leading contenders include I Am Maximus, Grangeclare West and Iroko, with a competitive 34-runner field. With huge crowds, global coverage and historic fences like Becher’s Brook, Aintree remains racing’s most thrilling spectacle.

Here’s our guide on how to watch Aintree racing free online from anywhere in the world.

ITVX, will livestream all the racing from Liverpool’s world-famous Aintree Racecourse.

No subscription – register for a free ITVX in seconds or download the app to your mobile device. Use your email and UK postcode (e.g. W1A 1AA).

Outside the UK during Aintree? You can use NordVPN (try risk-free) to easily unlock your free Aintree live stream from USA, Canada, Australia, Europe or beyond. Special discount below…

NordVPN is the one we can rely on to unlock ITVX’s racing coverage.

NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you’re visiting Canada and want to watch your free ITVX stream, you’d select ‘UK’.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to ITVX, sign in, and watch all the big races at Aintree – including Saturday’s Randox Grand National.

Aintree Racing Schedule

Grand National horse racing — Jimmy Du Seuil is aiming for a Grade One win at Kempton (Image credit: PETER POWELL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

All times UK (BST)

Ladies Day – Friday 10th April

1.45pm William Hill Handicap Hurdle Race

2.20pm William Hill Mildmay Novices Steeple Chase – Grade

12.55pm Top Novices’ Hurdle Race – Grade

13.30pm JCB Melling Steeple Chase – Grade 1

4.05pm Randox Topham Handicap Steeple Chase

4.40pm Oddschecker Sefton Novices’ Hurdle Race – Grade 1

Randox Grand National Day – Saturday 11th April

1.20pm William Hill Handicap Hurdle Race

1.55pm Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle Race – Grade

12.30pm William Hill Handicap Steeple Chase

3.05pm Liverpool Hurdle Race – Grade 1

4pm Randox Grand National Handicap Steeple Chase

DAILY LIVE TV / STREAMING :

Thursday 9th and Friday 10th April from 1.30pm-5pm

Saturday 11th April from 12.45pm-5pm with the Randox Grand National at 4pm BST (11am ET)

TV HIGHLIGHTS:

Randox Grand National at 4pm on Saturday 11th April

Six live races a day on Thursday and Friday

ITV Racing team will broadcast coverage of all three days of the meeting on ITV1 and STV and simulcast on ITVX.

EXTRA COVERAGE:

YouTube and STV and on Saturday from 9.30-10.30am on ITV1, ITV4, YouTube ITVX and STV

Amazon Fire (Tablets, Cube, Stick, TVs)
Android TV (please note: some models aren’t supported)
Android (Mobile & Tablet) – Android 7.0 and above
Apple TV (tvOS 14 or later)
Google TV (Chromecast with Google TV and NVIDIA Shield)
Freely
Freesat (please note: some models aren’t supported)
Freeview Play (TVs and set-top boxes) (please note: some models aren’t supported)
iOS (iPhone & iPad) – iOS 14 and above
LG Smart TVs (2016-2024)
NOW Smart Sticks and Boxes (minimum firmware v11.5.0)
PlayStation (PS4 and PS5)
Roku (Stick & Roku-OS powered TVs, minimum firmware v11.5.0)
Samsung Smart TVs (2017 and above – 2016 models only offer on demand TV)
Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream puck
Virgin Media (360, Stream, TiVo)
YouView (BT, Humax, Sony, TalkTalk)
Xbox (One, Series X, Series S)

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