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. He had a heart bigger than himself. He always wanted to go faster than he could and he tried his heart out.

Niti played himself in some of the shots in Champions, the film about his and Bob’s story, although he didn’t jump for the film. Six equine doubles were also used, all made up to look like him. Whilst Champion was battling cancer, Aldaniti was battling a career ending injury which he had suffered at Sandown. He took me into a fence, it wasn't me taking him - he loved every second." 'I didn't have time to celebrate' Despite the inevitable outpouring of admiration from all present, Champion's mind had already turned to the next race and he therefore had little time to bask in what he and his mount had just achieved.

He said: “I can remember you are always up there three days, it is a three-day (jumps) meeting now. 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.”

His skill in the saddle won him plenty of races, as well as respect. He also proved skilful with the ladies too. His tempestuous love affairs were well-known and sometimes amusing to those around him. The late BBC commentator Peter O’Sullevan, as ever, described the conclusion of Aldaniti and Champion’s victory in perfect style. activities or content that endanger the protection of public health, respect for personal dignity and the principle of non-discrimination, and the protection of health and children,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.

He added: “Him (Aldaniti), Kybo (who Champion won the 1978 Christmas Hurdle one) and a few other horses kept me going. The chemo was so barbaric those days. You were very ill on it. It was hard and got in your brain because of the treatment, not the disease funnily enough. They gave me six to eight months to live. If I'd had the cancer 18 months before there'd have been no cure anyway, so I'd have been a goner," Champion says. "It was eight months to live – or a 35-40% chance of living, with the treatment. The odds weren't particularly good. I didn't want to die. But I didn't realise until they started pumping the stuff in how toxic it was. Jesus, I felt so ill after two days. It was horrendous treatment. Thankfully now we've gone from 35-40% to 95% on testicular cancer alone [with early diagnosis]. So that's how far we've come.

He set up his charity two years later, which has gone on to help millions of people suffering with cancer, and he has received many awards and adulation for the past 40 years since his famous win at Aintree. 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."

And on that moment when he finally achieved the victory, his thoughts turned to those who had helped him achieve National success. Among his 642 career winners were four at the Cheltenham National Hunt Meeting (now the Festival), and he rode the winners of four of the first five runnings of the Schweppes Gold Trophy, one of the big betting races of the season. 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). Weight, however, turned out to be a constant struggle throughout Bob’s career and he tried out everything from laxatives and pee pills to regular saunas and wasting. 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 said: “Hopefully I will be allowed to go to Liverpool. I love goingt to there. The Liverpool people you can’t beat them. They are absolutely a fantastic bunch of people. It is not just at National-time, if I go any time they are really great people. Champion had survived testicular cancer two years prior whilst Aldaniti had recovered from an injury that threatened to end his racing career and life. 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.