Aldaniti

Aldaniti (25 June 1970 - 28 March 1997) was a racehorse who won the Grand National on 4 April 1981. His jockey on that day, Bob Champion, had recovered from cancer, while Aldaniti had recovered after suffering a career-threatening injury. The horse was trained by Josh Gifford.

Aldaniti
SireDerek H
GrandsireCourt Harwell
DamRenardeau
DamsireReynard Volant
SexGelding
Foaled1970[1]
CountryGreat Britain
ColourChestnut
BreederHarrowgate Stud
OwnerNick Embiricos
TrainerJosh Gifford
Major wins
Grand National (1981)

Aldaniti starred as himself in the 1983 film Champions alongside John Hurt. His Grand National win was voted 62nd of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments in a Channel 4 opinion poll.

Background

Aldaniti was a chestnut gelding bred in the United Kingdom by Harrowgate Stud. His name was derived from the names of his breeder Tommy Barron's four grandchildren: Alastair, David, Nicola, Timothy. During his racing career he was owned by Nick Embiricos at Findon, West Sussex, and trained by Josh Gifford.[2]

Racing career

Aldaniti emerged as a top-class steeplechaser in the 1978/79 National Hunt season. He finished third in the 1979 Cheltenham Gold Cup and second in the Scottish Grand National. He sustained a serious leg injury at Sandown in November 1979 and was off the racecourse for over a year.

He returned in 1981 with the Grand National as his target and established himself as a legitimate contender with a win in the Whitbread Trial Chase at Ascot in February. At Aintree the gelding was assigned a weight of 153 pounds, and started the 10/1 second favourite behind Spartan Missile, a dual winner of the Fox Hunters' Chase. Aldaniti took the lead at the eleventh fence and maintained his advantage for the rest of the race, fighting off a late challenge from Spartan Missile on the run-in to win by four lengths.[3] The next day, more than 3,000 people turned out to welcome the horse back to his stable at Findon.[4]

Aldaniti also ran in the 1982 Grand National with Bob Champion, but fell at the first fence.

Retirement

Aldaniti was retired from racing in 1982 and spent the remainder of his life at his owner's farm in Sussex. He died of old age in March 1997.[5]

A British Rail Class 86 electric locomotive was named after him.

Pedigree
Pedigree of Aldaniti (GB), chestnut gelding, 1970[1]
Sire
Derek H (GB)
1962		 Court Harwell (GB)
1954		 Prince Chevalier Prince Rose
Chevalerie
Neutron Hyperion
Participation
Abadek (GB)
1954		 Abadan Persian Gulf
Affair
EGK Rentenmark
Ardgo
Dam
Renardeau (GB)
1953		 Reynard Volant (GB)
1942		 Foxhunter Foxlaw
Trimestral
Flying Shell Tetratema
Flying Sally
Speckless (GB)
1939		 Cameronian Pharos
Una Cameron
Collina Sansovino
Little Mark (Family: 8-k)[6]
gollark: See, I can turn it on and the only difference is that it can theoretically hear you.
gollark: That's just "deafened".
gollark: Well, this is extremely. Let's go to the stream room?
gollark: Try talking or something?
gollark: Well, this is mysterious. You can't hear me and I can't hear the music octahedron.

References
  1. "Aldaniti pedigree".
  2. "Findon Village Antiquities". findonvillage.com. Archived from the original on 2005-11-23. Retrieved 2006-01-05.
  3. Green, Reg (1993). The History of the Grand National: A Race Apart. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-58515-3.
  4. "THIS IS FINDON - After The Race". findonvillage.com. Archived from the original on 2006-03-27. Retrieved 2006-01-05.
  5. "Aldaniti, Grand National winner, dies at 27". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. "Tipple Cyder - Family 8-k". Thoroughbred Bloodlines. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
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