Maori Venture (1976–2000) was a

thoroughbred racehorse The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

noted for winning the

1987 Grand National The 1987 Grand National (officially known as the Seagram Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 141st running of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 1987. The race w ...

. The horse was so-named because breeder Dai Morgan had played rugby in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, home to the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

. An eleven-year-old owned by Jim Joel, trained by Andrew Turnell he was stabled in

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Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. He was ridden by Steve Knight. Carrying 10 st 13 lb, Maori Venture won the race by five lengths at a price of 28/1 and in a time of 9 min 19.3 s. It was both Maori Venture's first and last race in a Grand National. At the time of the race, owner Jim Joel was aged 92 and had been trying to win the Grand National since 1957. Maori Venture was retired from racing immediately after the race and given to his rider in the Grand National, Steve Knight. Maori Venture died in 2000, aged 24.

Grand National record

References

External links

{{YouTube, id=6QXDcwOaj3Q Grand National winners National Hunt racehorses 1976 racehorse births 2000 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 22-a