British jumps legend Gifford dies at age 70

British jumps legend Gifford dies at

age 70

by Brisnet.com

Former champion jockey and trainer Josh Gifford passed away early Thursday

morning at the age of 70. Gifford had been treated for a severe case of

septicaemia and had only recently returned home.

"I'm afraid he passed away in the early hours," said Gifford's son, Nick, who

had taken over his father's duties at Downs Stables in Findon in 2003. "He'd

been back home for about three weeks, but he took a turn for the worse yesterday

evening. By the early hours he was in a really bad way and in the end it was a

heart attack."

Gifford will always be tied to the Grand National following the exploits of

Aldaniti and Bob Champion in 1981. Their tale inspired the 1984 film

"Champions," which chronicled the story of how Champion came back from a battle

with cancer to ride Aldaniti, a difficult horse to keep sound, to victory in the

1981 Grand National.

Champion and Aldaniti were awarded the BBC's Sports Personality Team of the

Year title in their National year.

Gifford already had made a name for himself well before the Grand National

saga as one of the best jockeys of his era. He had four Cheltenham Festival

successes in the saddle and finished second in the 1967 Grand National on Honey

End behind the legendary 100-1 winner Foinavon.

Gifford was honored as champion jockey on four occasions but retired from the

saddle before he turned 30 to take over training duties for Downs Stables in

1970. His training career saw him capture most of the major races on the

calendar, although his biggest regret was that he was never champion trainer. In

all he trained 1,587 winners before handing over his license to his son in 2003.

Arguably Gifford's best horse was Kybo, who won the 1978 Christmas Hurdle,

but injury prevented Kybo from reaching his full potential. Horses like Queen

Mother winner Deep Sensation, Bradbury Star, who won the Mackeson Gold Cup two

years running, and Katabatic were among the best he trained.

The Chairman of Aintree Racecourse, Lord Daresbury, remembered Gifford,

saying, "Josh was a true gentleman; he was charming, witty, accomplished and

very knowledgeable about horses and racing. I was lucky to have known him

through George Sloan, who came over from America to be Champion Amateur and had

horses with him -- they were some pair together. Josh will be sadly missed by so

many friends in England and America."

Julian Thick, managing director of Aintree Racecourse, added, "He was, and

forever will be, a key character in Grand National folklore as the trainer of

1981 Grand National winning horse, Aldaniti. Josh had brought Aldaniti back from

injury and stayed loyal to Bob Champion through the jockey's fight against

cancer, and their victory together in the race remains as one of the most

emotive and heroic Grand National wins ever witnessed here at Aintree.

"He will be missed greatly, and his contribution to the race will remain as

one of the most iconic Grand National stories of our time."