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
1998 Grand National 1998 Grand National The 1998 Grand National (known as the Martell Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 151st official renewal of the world-famous Grand National steeplechase that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 1998. The race was won in a time of 10 minutes and 51.5 seconds and by a distance of 11 lengths by the 7/1 favourite Earth Summit, ridden by jockey Carl Llewellyn. The winner was trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies at Grange Hill Farm in Naunton, Gloucestershire, and ran in the colours of the six-member Summit Partnership, which included Aintree press officer Nigel