THOUSANDS will be gathering around their televisions and racing to the bookies as in town Grand National fever hits on Saturday.

Pubs will be packed and hundreds of people in Swindon are expected to stop off at Wharf Green, where the race will be screened live on the Big Screen, but it will be for the last time as the BBC have lost the rights to show the event to Channel 4.

The big day at Aintree Racecourse last year attracted more than eight million viewers on BBC and the event attracts interest from everyone, even those who do not follow horse racing the rest of the year.

Local interest will be focused on Swindon jockey Wayne Hutchinson, who will be riding West End Rocker around the famous course.

He said: “I’m looking forward to it. He is in great form and I am expecting a big run.

“Last year Robert Thornton said he had a great feel off him over the first six fences before he got brought down at Becher’s.

“But in the Becher Chase he got into a great rhythm and he is a smashing jumper. He looks a National horse all over. He seems tailor-made for it.”

Bookies across the town are also expecting a bumper day as millions of pounds are expected to be placed on this one-off race.

Stuart Fergusson, manager at William Hill, in Sanford Street, said the race was a national icon.

He said: “It is definitely going to be our busiest day of the year, we will easily take four or five times more than a usual Saturday.

“I have worked here for seven years and the shop gets very busy. We have all our staff in, no holidays are allowed, and we have staff out on the shop floor helping those first time betters.

”It has become a national treasure, and it is one of those races that everyone seems to bet on, even those who are against betting usually.

“We’ve not had many big bets, it is not one of those races, but a couple of years ago we had someone come in and put ‘£1,000 on the favourite’ on the slip.

“It is a race where people put bets on something that means something to them, for example this year there are a lot of horses with peoples names in them.

“We also get a lot of women backing the jockeys in the pink silks or the biggest price horse.”

William Hill have given the Adver a free £20 charity bet, which we have put on West End Rocker. If he wins the money will go to Prospect Hospice.

This weekend offices across the town will be holding sweepstakes and to help the Adver is running an office sweepstake kit in Friday’s paper, plus a special eight-page pull out on race day.