Who rode Shergar to victory in the 1981 Derby?
1981 Epsom Derby 1981 Epsom Derby The 1981 Epsom Derby was the 202nd annual running of the Derby horse race. It took place at Epsom Downs Racecourse on 3 June 1981. The race was won by the Aga Khan's Shergar, at odds of 10/11 ridden by the nineteen-year-old jockey Walter Swinburn and trained at Newmarket, Suffolk by Michael Stoute. The winning margin of ten lengths was the largest in the history of the race. However, the winning time of 2:44.21 was the slowest since 1946. Lydian was scratched at the start after refusing to enter the stalls. Further details of the winner, Shergar:
Shergar that horse faded, the running was taken up by Beldale Flutter. Shergar challenged for the lead, but Beldale Flutter pulled away and won by lengths; Shergar came in second. Following the race, Michael Seely, the racing correspondent of "The Times", thought Shergar's run was significant, and that he was "a magnificent stamp of a horse" whose odds of 25–1 for the following year's Derby were worth considering. Over late 1980 and early 1981 Shergar filled out and was stronger by April 1981. Stoute had decided that Shergar should run in that year's Derby, and planned the season accordingly. The first