Pineau De Re will once again tackle the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham en route to the defence of his Crabbie's Grand National title.

Dr Richard Newland's stable star sneaked into the eighth and last qualifying place in one of the races in the series at Exeter on Sunday.

Pineau De Re was third in the Final last March before winning the world's greatest steeplechase at Aintree and Newland could not have been happier with his latest performance.

"I was very pleased with his run on Sunday. He did what I hoped he would do and he's come out of the race great," said the Worcestershire trainer.

"It's all systems go. He's just qualified for the Final and will run well there in the Pertemps, all being well, and then it's off to Aintree again.

"I thought it was a great run. The pace was a bit slow for him really. He got done for a bit of toe, but he boxed on well and ran to a pretty high level - there's plenty of optimism this end."