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
1948 Grand National 1948 Grand National The 1948 Grand National was the 102nd renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 20 March 1948. The race was won by the mare Sheila's Cottage at odds of 66/1. The winning jockey was Arthur Thompson and Neville Crump trained the winner. The pairing of Thompson and Crump won the Grand National again in 1952. Sheila's Cottage became the first mare to win the National for 46 years, and only the 12th in the long history of the steeplechase. First of the Dandies finished second, with