Aldaniti: The Story of a Champion

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John Francome also highights that “Bob was a very good rider. He was good with anything… you never saw him pull one in the mouth, and was always in a good position landing.” Champion's philanthropy earned him a CBE in the 2021 New Year Honours, a consequence of the 1981 victory that was as unexpected as the success of the charity itself.

Although Aldaniti died in 1997 and Bob Champion retired from training horses in 1999, they are both legends of the horse racing world.Their only outing before the Aintree showpiece was the Whitbread Trial Handicap Chase at Ascot. Aldaniti announced himself as a serious contender after winning by four lengths.

After losing his claim, Bob “struggled a bit, and then went freelance”, eventually working for Monty Stevens, who mainly trained hurdlers, “a self-made man, a real horseman and farmer, and a brilliant feeder,” according to Bob. ‘A superb horseman’ He took me into a fence, it wasn't me taking him - he loved every second." 'I didn't have time to celebrate' I jumped the last, I thought well, you know, we’ve got 400 yards to go. I felt this horse coming close to me about three quarters of a lengths. And I thought that must have been Philip on Royal Mail. He broke down and had injuries for about four times in his life. He spent more time in his box than he did on the racecourse.The 1981 Grand National (officially known as The Sun Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 135th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 1981.

John did things in the script. In his own way, you know, and he never copied me or anything, but we are quite alike, I suppose. Because we both from the north. So, you know, we’ve got that same mentality.” In 1979, Champion was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Doctors gave Champion a 30% chance of surviving and three to four months to live.

The Bob Champion Cancer Trust

The trust became Bob’s passion, and as always he insisted on doing things his way; working hard and then even harder. It was a golden time and he was one of the very best," said Bob Davies, himself a former three-times champion who rode against Gifford in the late 1960s. Again Aldaniti started his return on good form, finishing third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and second in the Scottish Grand National. In the meantime Champion learnt that he had cancer and his great motivation for getting through his chemotherapy treatment was his dream of riding Aldaniti in the 1980 Grand National. Unfortunately it was not to be, Aldaniti pulled up lame yet again when being ridden by Richard Rowe in his first run of the season. Gifford believed this time that he would never race again. Champion details the treatment he had saying: “The treatment was barbaric those days. They put bleomycin, vinblastine in plating, every day for a week and then a couple of days of APA again. Three days off, hit me again with it, then four days off, hit me for a week again.