Bob Champion Bob Champion Robert Champion MBE (born 4 June 1948) is an English former jump jockey who won the 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti. His triumph, while recovering from cancer, was made into a film "Champions", with John Hurt portraying Champion. The film is based on Champion's book "Champion's Story", which he wrote with close friend and racing journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Powell. Champion was born in Sussex, but very soon after his birth the family moved to Guisborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. At the height of his career as a jockey, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in
1985 Grand National had befallen the horse they had backed. Twenty-five years after jockey Hywel Davies' win, his hometown of Cardigan in Mid Wales held a commemorative dinner to celebrate the anniversary of his Grand National victory. Champion jockey Peter Scudamore, who finished the race third on Corbiere, and Neale Doughty, who won the race in 1984, were among the guests at the dinner in February 2010. Davies said of the horse "In the last race before the National, at Warwick, we went about halfway round and he just pulled up and as a result his owner nearly didn't run him at the