RIP josh gifford

[beaker1]

Grand National-winning trainer Josh Gifford has died of a heart attack.Gifford, who had only recently returned home from hospital after suffering from septicaemia, will forever be remembered for Aldaniti's stirring victory at Aintree in 1981 after his jockey Bob Champion recovered from cancer.Gifford's son, Nick, who took over from his father at his Findon yard in West Sussex, confirmed the sad news."I'm afraid he passed away in the early hours," he said.Before starting his training career, Gifford was an accomplished jockey and was crowned champion on four occasions.He had four Cheltenham Festival successes and finished second in the 1967 Grand National on Honey End behind the legendary winner Foinavon.Gifford had his first ride as a 12-year-old and his first winner came two years later in 1956 on Trentham Boy on the Flat. His first winner over jumps was at Wincanton in 1959.As well as winning the National with Aldaniti, Gifford trained top-quality horses such as Door Latch, Deep Sensation, Bradbury Star and Katabatic.He trained over 1,500 winners in his career.His son, Nick, added: "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." taken from at the races rip josh gifford

[Trotter]

Re: RIP josh gifford RIP Josh Gifford - certainly one of the big names of jump racing during my lifetime The Aldaniti/Bob Champion story is one the great National stories Door Latch was a favourite of mine