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
1986 Grand National how the horse had almost been killed years before in a road accident. "He needed 90-100 stitches and lost an awful lot of blood...It's a miracle he's here today, never mind winning the race." 1986 Grand National The 1986 Grand National (known as the Seagram Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 140th renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 5 April 1986. The race was won by nine-year-old 15/2 second favourite West Tip, ridden by jockey Richard Dunwoody. in a time of 9 minutes, 33 seconds for a