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
1990 Grand National 1990 Grand National The 1990 Grand National (known as the Seagram Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 144th renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 7 April 1990. Mr. Frisk won the race in a time of eight minutes and 47.80 seconds, breaking Red Rum's 1973 record by 14.1 seconds. He was ridden by amateur jockey Marcus Armytage. Second was Durham Edition, and third Rinus. The 7/1 favourite Brown Windsor finished fourth. In fifth was Lastofthebrownies, ridden by Charlie Swan, and Richard Dunwoody rode Bigsun home in sixth place.