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
Charlie Cunningham (jockey) Charlie Cunningham (jockey) Charles "Charlie" Cunningham (1849-1906) was a 19th-century Scottish National Hunt jockey, who has been described as "Scotland's greatest jockey". Although he was an amateur throughout his career, he won the Scottish Grand National a record four times (1881, 1885, 1887 and 1889) and also the National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup in 1886. He is also one of only two jump jockeys to ride six winners in one day, a feat he achieved at Rugby Hunt on 29 March 1881. In one three-year period, he won 144 out of 276 races. He was unnaturally big for a jockey,