1981 Grand National In second place was the 8/1 favourite, Spartan Missile, ridden by 54-year-old amateur jockey and grandfather John Thorne. The story of Bob Champion and Aldaniti was made into a film "Champions", with John Hurt portraying Champion. The film is based on Champion's book "Champion's Story", which he co-wrote with close friend and racing journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Powell. 1981 Grand National The 1981 Grand National was the 135th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 1981. It is remembered for the winning horse Aldaniti, who had recovered from
1991 Grand National Hawke said of his victory: "It just all happened so quickly with Seagram that I couldn't really appreciate it. You never catch up with yourself. I wouldn't mind trying it again. I just happened to be on the right horse on the right day, which doesn't happen very often when you're a jockey. I found that out later." 1991 Grand National The 1991 Grand National (known as the Seagram Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 145th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 6 April 1991. It was the