( CNN ) -- One of the most dramatic Grand Nationals in recent years ended in victory for 25-1 shot Pineau De Re , who ran on relentlessly to capture Britain 's most iconic horse race . Ridden by Leighton Aspell for doctor-turned-trainer Richard Newland , Saturday 's victory capped a fairytale return to racing for the jockey , following his premature retirement from the sport in 2007 . Veteran jockey Richard Johnson narrowly failed to break his 17-year Grand National duck , finishing second on Balthazar King , ahead of A.P . McCoy and Double Seven in third and Alvarado , ridden by Paul Moloney , in fourth . The 167th edition of the most famous race in the National Hunt calendar did nothing to dispel its reputation as the ultimate test for horse and rider . Horses must jump 30 obstacles over the four-mile course , including notorious fences The Chair and Becher 's Brook . Two false starts delayed proceedings at the Aintree course near Liverpool , the race eventually getting under way in driving rain without Battle Group , who refused to start . An error-strewn opening circuit saw further casualties , and just 18 horses completed the race . Many of the favorites , including Teaforthree , Long Run and Triolo D'Alene , succumbed to the course 's notoriously challenging obstacles . By the halfway stage , loose horses were scattered among the runners . One of the most significant incidents occurred when a riderless Tidal Bay , having earlier parted company with jockey Sam Twiston-Davies , loomed upside the leader , Across The Bay , and carried him across the course and effectively out of the race . Across The Bay managed to rejoin the field and eventually finished 17th . Pineau De Rey 's victory was memorable for both jockey and trainer . The 37-year-old Aspell spent two years working as assistant to flat trainer John Dunlop before making a surprise comeback to race riding in 2009 . Trainer Dr. Richard Newland is a registered physician with around a dozen horses in training . He has quickly established a reputation as a trainer skilled at refreshing older horses , such as the 11-year-old Pineau De Re . The race has been marred by deaths in past years , but this time all 40 horses and jockeys returned safe and sound . `` It has given us greater confidence in the measures taken to make Aintree safer for horses , '' Mark Kennedy , head of science for animal welfare at World Society for the Protection of Animals , told CNN . `` In the UK alone , for each thousand horses that start a jump race , four will die . At this level of risk fatalities are not freak events ; they are predictable . ''
167th outsider wins prestigious Aintree at Grand National course in England . Leighton Aspell comes home ahead of Grand National in grueling 30-fence race . Caps fine comeback for winning jockey Leighton Aspell , who quit in 2007 .