Aldaniti: The Story of a Champion

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Most people who have been diagnosed with cancer and told that they will most likely die within months would take some time away from work. Not Bob Champion. In the event that Aldaniti has actual knowledge that the information or activity to which the user is directed from said links is illegal, constitutes an offence or may be damaging to the goods or rights of a third party liable for compensation, it shall act with the necessary diligence to delete or disable the corresponding link as soon as possible. At the Elbow I felt a horse come to my quarters but didn’t look. You sense a horse is there. But I went and won two or three lengths.

He had a heart bigger than himself. He always wanted to go faster than he could and he tried his heart out. Some days you'd rather be dead. I got septicaemia half-way through the treatment. You think you're drifting away and feel relief. Then they change your blood, get you up and you start the whole thing all over again.

It will not be the same (with no spectators). (But) the main thing is that the race is on. It has a massive following throughout the world. I think my National was viewed by 400,000million people worldwide. So it is the same or even more every National." The film came about after Champion wrote a book with racing journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Powell. Unfortunately, that plan was scuppered when the iconic steeplechaser suffered a major tendon injury in his first race of the 1979/80 season, with Richard Rowe in the saddle.

I sat on him once for the TV before he went to Liverpool and one morning in Liverpool, then the Grand Naitonal.” As well as his book and the film, Champion was surprised by presenter Eamonn Andrews for the television show, This Is Your Life, on his wedding day later that year. Now he was just waiting on his race partner to recover, and after a year of recuperation, the horse begun training for the 1981 Grand National.Aldaniti took up the lead over the 11th obstacle and was not passed from then onwards, jumping and travelling with complete fluency, but his passage through the race varied greatly from the one envisaged by trainer Josh Gifford. Althea Gifford: “Bob is quite shy, somebody who keeps his thoughts to himself a bit, but he always looked you in the eye and was absolutely straight. I give him great credit for all he did afterwards [for his Trust]… it is amazing.” David Coleman presented Grand National Grandstand on the BBC in what turned out being one of the most famous National's of all-time. On the casting of Hurt, Champion said: “What a professional, every film he’d been in. Sadly, he is not with us anymore. But he was a fantastic man.

Josh Gifford – “the most loyal trainer there’s ever been,” according to Bob – was unstinting in his support. He assured Bob that his job was waiting for him, and – with his owners – presented him with a cheque one Christmas to help stay afloat financially. What a story that would be with Tom Scudamore, because Tom's grandfather rode the winner of the National - Michael Scudamore," he said. There are plenty of other women too, not just those two - there's Bryony Frost as well - but they do a fantastic job.Champion cites the 1973 National as the most outstanding renewal of the race, with the future three-time winner Red Rum claiming the first of his successes from the valiant Australian chaser Crisp, who was carrying a top-weight of 12st.