Neptune Collonges

Neptune Collonges
Neptune Collonges after winning the 2006 WBX.com Rehearsal Chase on Fighting Fifth Hurdle Day.
Sire	Dom Alco
Grandsire	Dom Pasquini
Dam	Castille Collonges
Damsire	El Badr
Sex	Gelding
Foaled	25 April 2001
Country	France
Colour	Grey
Breeder	Gaec Delorme Freres
Owner	John Hales
Trainer	Paul Nicholls
Record	36:16-4-3
Earnings	£1,313,675
Major wins
Prix Fleuret (2005) Winter Novices' Hurdle (2005) River Don Novices' Hurdle (2006) Prestige Novices' Hurdle (2006) Punchestown Gold Cup (2007, 2008) Hennessy Gold Cup (2009) Cotswold Chase (2011) Grand National (2012)

Neptune Collonges (foaled on 25 April 2001) is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred in France and trained in Great Britain. His most noted success came when winning the Grand National on 14 April 2012.

Neptune Collonges was sired by Dom Alco out of the mare Castille Collonges. He is owned by John Hales and was trained by Paul Nicholls. Throughout his time as a racehorse, his usual jockey was Ruby Walsh. At the 2012 Grand National Handicap he was ridden by Irish jockey Daryl Jacob. Neptune Collonges is called Nipper by the Hales.

Neptune Collonges started racing as a three-year-old in December 2004 when he was entered into the Prix Raymond de Bouglon, finishing in first place out of 16 runners. His first notable win came in December 2005 when he won the Winter Novices' Hurdle, a Grade 2 National Hunt race held at Sandown Park Racecourse in Esher, Surrey. His first win in a Grade 1 race came in March 2007 when he won the Punchestown Gold Cup at Punchestown Racecourse near Naas in County Kildare, Ireland. In that race, he bested a field of 10 horses, holding off Kingscliff by 3½ lengths.

Neptune Collonges went on to win two more Grade 1 races in his career. He defended his 2007 win in the Punchestown Gold Cup by following it with another in 2008 when he defeated Snowy Morning by seven lengths. He then flew to Leopardstown to take part in the Lexus Chase at Christmas. He was sent off the 5/4f in a field of 9. However, he fell when leading the field and having every chance at the second last. His other Grade 1 victory was in the 2009 Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown Racecourse in Leopardstown, County Dublin, where he outraced a field of six.

At the 2009 Cheltenham Festival, Neptune Collonges was believed to have been injured while racing in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The injury was serious enough to put him out for the remainder of the 2008–09 season and the entire 2009–10 season. Owner John Hales said of his prize horse's injury: "We believe it happened in the race, but it didn't show up until a few days after."