Horse-racing might be shut down but a virtual Grand National is on

The Virtual Grand National takes place tomorrow at 5.15 pm on ITV. It's the biggest and most anticipated race of the jumps season. The event is taking place in cyberspace. There are 40 runners and riders. They will jump 30 virtual fences over 4.5 miles. Bookies are taking bets. Any profits from the bets go to NHS Charities.

The Virtual Grand National is being run on a good ground. The computer software determines the horses' chances of winning. Tiger Roll is the 5-1 favourite. One of the 100-one shots has a one per cent chance of success.

There is a different result every time the race is run. The winner always comes from the group with the greater probability of winning.

Virtual Grand National is taking place. Algorithm influences how the horses move around the course and jump fences.

The virtual Grand National has already been run. The outcome is a fiercely guarded secret. Less than 20 people are aware of the result.

The software has been very accurate in the past. In 2017, the Virtual Grand National winner Cause of Causes finished second in a real thing to One For Arthur. Last year Tiger Roll was second before winning the real race.

All profits from the race will be donated to NHS Charities Together. The umbrella organisation represents over 140 NHS charities. They contribute £1m a day to support the work of the NHS. Bets are limited to £10 each and the odds per horse are the same.

Virtual Grand National is being shown on ITV4 on the Friday evening before the real thing. ITV moved it to primetime slot on its main channel. Last year 10 million people watched the Grand Nats on TV.

The virtual Grand National took 18 months to create. It will be shown on ITV on Saturday, April 4 at 5 pm with the race at 6.15 pm. It is produced by Carm Productions in partnership with Inspired Entertainment. The virtual race was filmed at Aintree using drone cameras.