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. We initially had a few thousand pounds sent in from people who won money on the horse. There were a lot of fivers here and there,” said Champion. then he or she may make this known to Aldaniti Nonetheless, the receipt of said notification shall not represent knowledge for the purposes of liability as set out in Article 17 of the Spanish Law on Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce (LSSICE). There always seems to be a story involved with it - you've got 40 runners, everybody in the country used to have their one bet a year on the Grand National."

Whilst Champion was battling cancer, Aldaniti was battling a career ending injury which he had suffered at Sandown. The story of the race was subsequently made into a film, Champions, in which Champion was played by John Hurt and Gifford by Edward Woodward.And on that moment when he finally achieved the victory, his thoughts turned to those who had helped him achieve National success. It’s Aldaniti in the lead but being pressed now by Spartan Missile. It’s Aldaniti from Spartan Missile and here comes John Thorne, 54 year old John Thorne putting in a storming finish. It’s Aldaniti from Spartan Missile. Aldaniti is gonna win it, at the line, Aldaniti wins the National! Aldaniti miraculously recovered from the injury that could’ve ended his career with trainer Josh Gifford who the 1984 movie Champions referred to as “the governor,” riding him out every day. A dream that lay dormant had been reignited. Aldaniti will always be closely connected to Champion, who was in the saddle for each of the horse’s first 22 races.

Everyone asked, ‘Do you want to pull Niti out of the National?’” remembers Alex Embiricos. “But it was Dad’s dream, and Bob’s dream to win it..” The injury to Aldaniti was so serious that there was talk of putting the horse down and Champion toyed with giving up racing altogether. Champion knew the agreed tactics had been abandoned at that point and was already arming himself with examples of successful front-running rides to justify his departure from the game plan to Gifford.

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On cancer awareness, Champion said: “The most important thing is, if you think there’s something wrong, go and see a doctor, and it hasn’t been very good through the pandemic. 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. Since retiring from racing, Bob’s career has encompassed everything from training – “I had a winner over the National fences which meant an awful lot to me” – to being a roving ambassador for the British Racing School, and various TV show appearances. But barely a month goes by when he isn’t out supporting the Trust. 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.