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
Aldaniti his racing career he was owned by Nick Embiricos and trained at Findon, West Sussex by Josh Gifford. Aldaniti emerged as a top class steeplechaser in the 1978/79 National Hunt season. He finished third in the 1979 Cheltenham Gold Cup and second in the Scottish Grand National. He sustained a serious leg injury at Sandown in November 1979 and was off the racecourse for over a year. He returned in 1981 with the Grand National as his target and established himself as a legitimate contender with a win in the Whitbread Trial Chase at Ascot Racecourse in February. At Aintree