1981 in Sports - Horse Racing

Horse Racing

  • August 30 – John Henry becomes the first horse to win a million dollar race, the inaugural Arlington Million, at Arlington Park in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois.
  • November – inaugural running of the Japan Cup, the most prestigious horse race in Japan, at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo. Its distance is about 1½ miles on turf and it is the world's richest turf race.

Steeplechases

  • Cheltenham Gold Cup – Little Owl
  • Grand National – Aldaniti

Flat races

  • Australia – Melbourne Cup won by Just A Dash
  • Canada – Queen's Plate won by Fiddle Dancer Boy
  • France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Gold River
  • Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Shergar
  • Japan – Japan Cup won by Mairzy Doates
  • English Triple Crown Races:
    1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes – To–Agori–Mou
    2. Epsom Derby – Shergar
    3. St. Leger Stakes – Cut Above
  • United States Triple Crown Races:
    1. Kentucky Derby – Pleasant Colony
    2. Preakness Stakes – Pleasant Colony
    3. Belmont Stakes – Summing

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Famous quotes containing the words horse and/or racing:

    “A horse is dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle.”
    —Ian Fleming (1908–1964)

    “Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goat’s cheese ... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.”
    —Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)