Pineau De Re ended a chaotic Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree by breaking clear to win by five lengths on Saturday, with a host of favourites among the 22 horses to fail to complete the world’s toughest jumps race.
Ridden by Leighton Aspell and trained by a doctor who looks after 12 horses as a “hobby”, the 25-1 shot jumped the last of 30 fences in the lead and pulled clear to win easily from Balthazar King (14-1) in second and 10-1 joint-favourite Double Seven in third.
The famous race has been tainted by a string of deaths over the fearsome fences in recent years but organisers said all 40 horses, and jockeys, returned safely after the race. There were only 18 finishers.
Aspell, who finished second in his debut National in 2003, retired in 2007 but returned to the saddle within two years saying he missed the weighing-room camaraderie and the thrill of racing.
“I thought there was still some unfinished business and some life in the old dog,” Aspell said.
The 11-year-old Pineau De Re is the third straight outsider to win the thrill-a-minute National, which is screened to a worldwide TV audience of about 600 million, after victories by Neptune Collonges (33-1) in 2012 and Auroras Encore (66-1) last year.
Teaforthree, Long Run and Tidal Bay were among the well-backed horses that failed to finish the race, which began on the second try after a false start.
Dr Richard Newland, who studied medicine at Cambridge University, is a doctor in Claines in central England and only took out a licence to train horses in 2006. Pineau De Re was his first runner in the National.
“This is a hobby for me really,” Newland said, “and I have no real plans to change anything at the minute. I’m lucky enough to be able to do this [train horses] and enjoy it but if you do it as a full-time job, there’s a higher level of stress and less fun”.
