The 1981 Melbourne Cup was a handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 3 November 1981 over 3200m, at Flemington Racecourse.
Just a Dash was spotted by Tommy Smith racing in the Riverina district in New South Wales.
[2] It was the second Melbourne Cup victory for Tommy Smith and it had been a long wait between wins in the great race for him.
Smith's previous success was the New Zealand bred stayer, Toparoa, in the 1955 Melbourne Cup.
It was the first Melbourne Cup win for Peter Cook, following his 2nd in the previous year's event with Blue Denim.