Pineau de Re

Horses | Last ran in 2015
Dam - Elfe Du Perche
Sire - Maresca Sorrento
Dam's Sire - Abdonski
Born - 2003

Pineau de Re Grand National Wins

  • 2014 - ridden by Leighton Aspell trained by Richard Newland

Pineau de Re won the 2014 Grand National and also ran in 2015, as he tried to retain his title from the previous year, but unfortunately was not able to. He was set to run in the 2016 Grand National, but unfortunately did not make the cut, and was balloted out at horse number 46, much to the frustration of trainer Richard Newland.

Foaled on May 8th, 2003, this horse was bred in France and spent time there during his early days. However, his career as a racehorse did not start there, he was sold to Ireland where he started his racing career, before being sold again to run in England under Richard Newland, where he was trained when he won the Grand National.

A two-time runner of the race at Aintree, finishing 12th in 2015 after his victory in 2014.

Full Results

Year Result Prize Money Handicap Jockey Trainer
2015 12 - 11-00 Daryl Jacob Richard Newland
2014 1 £561,300 10-6 Leighton Aspell Richard Newland

Winner Of The 2014 Grand National

Pineau de Re
Carine06, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pineau de Re started at odds of 25/1 for his Grand National win, overlooked by many who were looking at the race from a form point of view. There was one simple reason for this, he ran in the Becher Chase at Aintree earlier in the season over the national fences and fell at them. He was then sent hurdling, with three of his four subsequent starts coming over the smaller obstacles, which many believed to be because the horse didn’t have the confidence to run over bigger fences after that fall.

However, when he turned up at Aintree, he jumped really well on the day, which played a big part in his success. As the horses approached the final fence, he jumped to the front and stayed on very strongly, showing he was certainly a horse who loved a stamina test. An eventual winning distance of five lengths was recorded, over Balthazar King who finished second, and could not stay on as strongly up the run in.

On the day, Leighton Aspell rode him to victory, taking up the ride because regular pilot Sam Twiston-Davies preferred to ride the seemingly better handicapped Tidal Bay, but that decision was, unfortunately, the wrong one for Twiston-Davies, and a great opportunity for Aspell.

Pineau de Re’s Early Years

Bred in France, the early days of Pineau de Re’s life were spent there, but before he was ready for racing, he was sold to Ireland. This happened at the Goffs France sale when he was two-year-old, and he was bought for €20,000 by Seamus Murphy.

At this point, he was sent to the yard for Phillip Fenton for training, the man who took care of him for the early part of his career.

To begin life, he ran in five national hunt flat races, winning one of them and those included a trip to the Cheltenham Festival to run in the champion bumper, where he finished 7th. After that, he went hurdling in Ireland, winning two races and placing in Grade One and Grade Two contests. Another unsuccessful trip to the Cheltenham Festival as part of this too.

Chasing was his game though, where he fared even better and his final run in Ireland proved to be the best he did in that country. He ran in the Ulster National at Downpatrick, a real stamina test and usually a very competitive handicap, but Pineau de Re won this with ease by 23 lengths. At this point, he was bought by John Provan and sent to the Richard Newland yard for training in England.

Pineau de Re’s Big Race Wins

Pineau de Re had two big successes during his career, with one coming in Ireland and one coming in England. Both of those were in national races, one over 3m4f and one over 4m2f, showing that he was a horse that loved a stamina test.

The first big race win was on April 3rd, 2013, in the Ulster National at Downpatrick, a race which he won with incredible ease, and a race that looked to be a very competitive handicap on paper before he took the field apart. This was his final start in Ireland, he was bought after the win, and won the race off a handicap mark of 125.

Almost a year to the day, in 2014 on April 5th, he had the biggest moment of his career when he landed the Aintree Grand National. He won this race off a much higher handicap mark of 143, showing the kind of improvement that the horse had achieved in a period of 12 months.

Pineau de Re won a total of eight races during his career, from a total of 48 starts and won over £600,000 in prize money. Much of that came from his victory at Aintree in the 2014 Grand National, the highlight of his career and certainly the win that he will be remembered for.