The racing activities of Andy Peake can be split into two distinct periods. His first venture into ownership, initially as a 25-year-old with trainer Norma Macauley, ran from the mid-1990s until 2008 and yielded 64 winners, the majority on the all-weather.
Peake’s second spell as an owner began in 2021, focused very much on French-bred National Hunt runners, and hit new heights last month when Sans Bruit produced a dazzling front-running performance under Bryony Frost to capture the Red Rum Handicap Chase on the opening day of the Randox Grand National meeting.
Yet had events taken a different course, Sans Bruit would not have lined up for the two-mile contest at Aintree. Indeed, the Triple Threat gelding would not be racing in Britain at all but for fate intervening, something his owner, Andy Peake, acknowledges.
“Sans Bruit was never getting moved to England because he was owned jointly with his French breeder,” explains Peake, 55, a successful businessman and entrepreneur from Newton-le-Willows on Merseyside, who is now based in Hale. “I bought a half share from his owner-breeder and original trainer, Louis Baudron, with the aim of winning a Grade 1 juvenile hurdle in France.
“Then his trainer, David Cottin, was banned and there was an approach to buy him. I didn’t want to sell Sans Bruit – he was my best horse – so I offered to buy out Louis.
“I was in France to watch him at Auteuil and Paul Nicholls was at the track. I asked him about training the horse in England, he said yes, and I subsequently brought him over.”
Prior to Sans Bruit, Peake’s best jumps horse in the UK had been Colourful Life, owned in partnership with David Jackson. Colourful Life won the 2005 Great Yorkshire Chase when trained by Nicholls, later moving to Keith Reveley, and won nine races in total before being killed in a fall at Uttoxeter.
The death of Colourful Life prompted Peake to withdraw from the sport but having sold his firm UK Hygiene three years ago, he decided to come back in. A call to renowned bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley got the ball rolling for Peake’s second spell as an owner.
Peake says: “Norma Macauley’s son, Simon, was involved in the business I sold. Together we bought a couple from the Sullivan Bloodstock dispersal – Cut The Mustard and Eglantine Du Seuil.
“Anthony called me to say he had found a nice horse in France called Hussard D’Arthel, but the horse would be best suited to staying in France. I’d subsequently seen Sans Bruit win a juvenile hurdle and David Powell, who works for Anthony, brokered a deal with Louis where I bought a half share.
“On his first run for me he was third in a Grade 2 event. He won two hurdle races and a chase and was seventh on his penultimate start in France in the French Champion Hurdle [Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil] before he came over to Ditcheat at the end of 2023.”
Having undergone a wind operation, hopes were high that Sans Bruit would hit the ground running in the UK, but a brief hurdling campaign proved somewhat underwhelming.
“He ran okay at Doncaster first up and we thought he’d go really well in the Imperial Cup, but he finished nearer last than first.
“We then went to Chepstow over fences and saw the real Sans Bruit – he was unlucky not to win as he lost momentum at the last fence and was mugged by a former Cottin horse.
“It was galling to be beaten but we knew the horse was back and we went to Aintree with plenty of confidence.”
Having been held up by Lorcan Williams at Chepstow, different tactics were employed at Aintree in the Red Rum Handicap Chase – which saw two false starts – with Bryony Frost sending Sans Bruit to the front from flag fall.
Peake says: “Although he was 2lb out of the handicap, Sans Bruit had a higher rating in France, so it wasn’t a major concern. I was worried about the quick turnaround, as it was only ten days after his Chepstow run.
“Bryony got Sans Bruit into a lovely rhythm – they met every fence on a stride, taking lengths out of the field at every jump, and while it sounds corny, it really was poetry in motion.
“After his first run here at Doncaster, Paul said that Bryony and Sans Bruit would click, and it would be just like it was with Frodon. He got it right.
“In Love won a Grade 3 race at Pau in February, but I wasn’t there to see it. Aintree was my biggest win when I’ve been in attendance and was very, very special. Just two hours earlier, General En Chef, who I own in partnership with Nicolas de Lageneste, won at Auteuil.
“General En Chef and In Love are being aimed at the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris later this month and I’ll be heading over with my wife Melanie, three kids plus in-laws for the weekend.”
While Sans Bruit is not the only jumps horses Peake has in Britain – Ubetya and Ip Up have both won this season for Jedd O’Keeffe, as has sole Flat runner Percy Willis, while Alan King trains Ernest Gray, victorious at Southwell earlier in the year – most of his runners are based across the Channel and owned in partnerships.
“I can’t really compete with the big owners in the UK, but I’ve created a bit of a niche in France,” Peake explains. “I’m running in lots of big races whereas I couldn’t do that at home, and I couldn’t have the numbers I do if I raced exclusively here.
“With a horse like Imbatable Du Seuil, who won a Grade 3 chase in April, I’m getting 60% of the prize-money but I’m only paying 60% of the cost – and I can honestly say I get as much pleasure as if I owned 100%.
“I’m currently tenth on the leading owners’ list in France this year having banked just under €190,000 so far this year.”
Peake continues: “In France you also receive a transport allowance while four- and five-year-old fillies receive a 15% bonus on top of prize-money.
“The programme book provides more opportunities and there’s a big claiming programme. Vazir, a former Aga Khan horse, couldn’t win in the UK but Mickael Seror sent him to a provincial track – La-Roche-Posay – and he won a €15,000 race.”
With an exciting two-mile chaser to look forward to – Sans Bruit followed up his Aintree effort with a respectable third at Ayr nine days later – and some promising youngsters in France, Peake looks sure to enjoy plenty more magical moments on the racecourse, potentially in future with some homebred stock.
“The idea now is to breed my own runners,” says Peake. “I’ve got six broodmares – some owned outright, some in partnership – with Richard Powell in Normandy, all in foal, plus a yearling and a foal on the ground.
“I never planned to start breeding, but when Cut The Mustard came to the end of her racing career, I was wondering what to do with her and Richard suggested I give it a go.
“Hopefully in a few years’ time I won’t have to buy anything!”
