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Horseracing

21st Mar 2015

Video: Channel 4’s ad for the Grand National is a touch on the strange side

Think National Hunt meets My Little Pony

Sean Nolan

Safe to say this is not your run-of-the-mill horse racing promo

Since they got the rights to broadcast the Aintree Grand National, Chanel 4 have used some stunning ads to promote it, like this one on the streets of Liverpool.

This year’s effort has just come out and it is about as far from a standard National Hunt ad as you’ll ever get.

With nary a sign of a tweed jacket, a set of binoculars, a fascinator or a stable lad the 60-second spot instead features fantastical scenes involving (we think) unicorns, flying horses and the sort of scenery that is a cross between Avatar and Game Of Thrones.

It is clear that a lot of work went into it and the invention is to be applauded but the reaction online so far has largely been of the ‘WTF’ variety.

Anyway, judge for yourself here.