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
1981 Grand Prix (tennis) Jimmy Connors (USA) 4. José Luis Clerc (Arg) 5. Guillermo Vilas (Arg) 6. Björn Borg (Sue) 7. Roscoe Tanner (USA) 8. Eliot Teltscher (USA) 9. Vitas Gerulaitis (USA) 10. Yannick Noah (Fra) The list of winners and number of singles titles won, alphabetically by last name: The following players won their first title in 1981: 1981 Grand Prix (tennis) The 1981 Volvo Grand Prix was the only men's professional tennis circuit held that year. It consisted of the four Grand Slam tournaments and the Grand Prix tournaments. The World Championship Tennis (WCT) Tour was incorporated into the Grand Prix circuit.