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
1924 Grand National 1924 Grand National The 1924 Grand National was the 83rd renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 28 March 1924. A false start caused the race to be delayed by around eight minutes. 1924 was the last year the Grand National would be started from a general riding start, with the now-familiar 'tape' introduced at the line the following year. The race was won by Master Robert, a 25/1 shot ridden by jockey Bob Trudgill and trained by Aubrey Hastings for owner Lord Airlie, who collected the £5,000 prize