There are any number of variables which determine the winner of the world's greatest horse race, yet connections of Tiger Roll seem fixated he has been handed a pound or two more than is reasonable.

Fingers crossed Storm Dennis doesn't prove the ultimate menace and Yala Enki (Haydock, nap, 3.15) is given the chance to shine in the Unibet Grand National Trial today.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY MARCUS TOWNEND: At Aintree Potters Corner could become a Grand National hero and one with a link to one of the race and sport's biggest names.

The Grand National was dramatically called off on Monday night after new Government restrictions to fight the spread of coronavirus made it impossible to stage the Aintree showpiece.

The decision, which follows the announcement by the Jockey Club on Monday evening to cancel the Randox Health Grand National, will place the sport under considerable financial strain.

EXCLUSIVE BY MARCUS TOWNEND: Racemail understands the historic organisation, which was formed in 1750 and has 15 British racecourse, has furloughed nearly two thirds of its workforce.

Millions of people take part every year in a Grand National sweepstake - and even though the race won't be run this year, you can still have some fun with our kit for Saturday's Virtual Grand National. 

Glamorous would-be attendees have been donning their glad-rags and showcasing their fineries online as they mark Ladies Day at Aintree during the coronavirus pandemic.

The first Saturday in April could have been one of the biggest days in racing in recent memory, but this year's Grand National will instead be held virtually. Here, Sportsmail's Sam Turner provides his tips...

PETER SCUDAMORE: Despite big weight, dual winner Tiger Roll must surely go close to landing a Grand National hat-trick in Saturday's virtual race, but KIMBERLITE CANDY is my bet.

Ahead of Saturday's Virtual Grand National programme on ITV which also includes a Race of Champions, Sportsmail's MARCUS TOWNEND relives 10 of the Greatest Grand Nationals.

DOMINIC KING: It's the jarring sight of the Blue Anchor that first strikes you. This huge pub, a furlong from the Melling Road, is usually such a bouncing venue for the three days.

Almost five million people tuned in to Saturday's Virtual Grand National won by 18-1 shot Potters Corner as over £2.6million was raised for NHS Charities Together from people betting on the race.

Potters Corner won his trainer Christian Williams a virtual fortune yesterday during a computer simulation of the Grand National watched by almost five million viewers.

Laurie Lee died in 1997. A couple of years ago, David Parker, who made a documentary, found his recordings of Lee in a mis-labelled box and presented them to Penguin

In all, Kenneth Rose wrote six million words of diaries, of which his appointed editor has selected roughly half a million for publication. If these are the gems, I dread to think what the duds were like

There was bad behaviour to be found in all sorts of books published this year, from the highest to the lowest

Did you know that in 2019 a Belgian man broke the record for sitting on the toilet for the longest time - 116 hours?

The most frequently quoted observation about Hollywood is the simplest, and possibly also the truest. 'In Hollywood,' said screenwriter William Goldman, 'no one knows anything.'

Ah, the Golden Age of Travel! This is not a book to be read while you are standing cooped-up on a crowded staircase for ten minutes as part of Ryanair's 'Priority Boarding'

Over the past few years, an increasing number of novels have included real-life members of the Royal Family as characters. Now B W Black has written a novel involving the Royal princesses

The shortest sentence in this autobiography is also the truest. 'Brevity,' writes John Bercow, 'is not my strong suit.' You can say that again!

There have been books, articles, films and plays galore about Philby, Maclean, Burgess and Blunt, but nobody seems to know or care about the 'Fifth Man', John Cairncross

House Of Glass flows with the amazing clarity and delicacy of a fine novel. By the end, I was completely wrapped up in the sharply contrasting characters of the Glass family

Moving into the White House, which had just been built in the middle of a rutted field, America's second president, John Adams, prayed: 'May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof.'

Here We Are opens in a theatre in Brighton, 1959. A snazzy tap-dancing showbiz personality called Jack Robinson is waiting in the wings. The world of entertainment is on the cusp of change

John Carey is a welcoming host, full of enthusiasm, and the opposite of crusty. He can throw sparkling light on a poet's method in a handful of words

Doyle follows an ever-increasing line of academics who attempt to sanctify pop music with stuffiness. In so doing, they extinguish its fire in a great whoosh of homogenous jargon

Bernice A. King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, delivered speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on MLK Day. Thousands around the country celebrate his legacy.

Shahab Dehghani, 24, an Iranian economics student at Northeastern University, was denied entry to the US and ordered to immediately fly back to his native country.

Downing Street has rejected a big business demand to allow low-skilled migration from the EU to continue after Brexit, telling companies to focus on training UK workers instead.

The former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director blasted Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for her repeated 'idiotic' comments that the agency should be abolished.

Priti Patel today launched a savage attack on big British business as she said companies had become 'far too reliant on low skilled' and 'cheap' workers from the EU.

Mexican national, Erick Diaz, 26, was shot in the face by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who was attempting to arrest his mother's boyfriend.

Erick Diaz, a 26-year-old Mexican national, was shot by the immigration and customs agents in Brooklyn on Thursday as they were trying to arrest his mother's boyfriend.

HENRY DEEDES: I have spent two rollercoaster weeks watching Donald Trump at close quarters, and speaking to scores who voted for him in 2016 and who intend to do so again.

Adau Mornyang, 25, was held in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centre in New York for three months before her release on December 21.

The 33 illegal immigrants were found on Monday hiding in a lorry in Calais, France by shocked border force guards after clambering aboard at Dover. Many have now been returned to the UK.

The population in parts of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane is growing at double the national average pace. CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman cited international students.

A Hispanic student, who is a US citizen, says she was told by a teacher in Chicago to go back her country because she wouldn't stand during the national anthem at an assembly at her school.

Migrants will also earn 'points' for how well they speak English. In some cases migrants taking jobs paying as little as £23,000 could be granted visas, depending on their skills.

Sir Keir Starmer insisted he does not believe in 'a numbers game' as he was repeatedly challenged on his views on immigration.

Pauline Hanson has called on the government to 'tighten up' immigration laws after a new report revealed 50,000 migrants who were denied asylum in Australia remain in the country. 

Leaders in agriculture, hospitality and the care system lashed out at the Home Secretary after she dismissed fears over staff shortages caused by the proposed points-based system.

Protesters from RAICES Action, a prominent immigrant rights group, interrupted Biden's closing remarks near the end of Wednesday's two-hour televised debate at the Paris Theater in Las Vegas

Erick Diaz Cruz, left and right in hospital, was shot on February 6 by an agent who was part of a team trying to arrest his mother's boyfriend. He had been visiting NYC on a vacation. Scene inset.

Jose Emanuel Garcia Sota, aka 'Zafado,' and Jesus Ivan Quezada Pina, aka 'Loco,' were convicted three years ago in the February 2011 murder of ICE agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico.

Odion Ighalo angered a student football team while he was participating in a solo training session over the winter break, according to The Sun. 

Octavio Martínez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, locked himself in his vehicle for three hours and refused to honor ICE's request to turn himself in outside his California home.

Almost a third of Australians who took part in a survey expressed concern about immigration. The study commissioned by Real Insurance showed overcrowding as an issue.