What was the first race horse to win $1 million in his career?

Question

What was the first race horse to win $1 million in his career?

Answer 1

I believe it was citation, there is a lot of money in racing now so its easier to win a large amount in a relatively short time, John Henry (who ran until he was 10 since he was gelded and stayed in good shape)  had the earnings mark until Cigar (who retired just under 10 million in earnings at 6 years old)went by...these are not world marks however as purses grow and in places like Japan they actually run million dollar allowance and low level stakes races (and the lifetime earnings marks are very inflated)...the purse in the dubai race(world cup 6 million+)  and the breeders cup (especially the classic 4 million) have huge purses...what Street Sense (the current derby winner) has won up to today is enormous compared to what other hard knocking top 100 of all time horses made in their whole career... for Citation to make what he did in that time was big doings...Invasor the current  champion older handicap horse and horse of the year has 7.8 mil in earnings and at 5 years old should pass the US earnings mark if he has a successful fall ...Karin C below me always posts something insightful here in the horse racing forum and her last point is a great one, example being Lava Man, the west coast horse from so. cal that has made millions since being claimed, running in the west's top handicap races (against mostly the same fields) but shut out every time he runs back east against the countries best...thats one of the reasons my favorite horses of all time are basically out of older eras (Man O War, Secretariat, Dr. Fager, Cigar (who I actually saw run live a dozen times, a few as an unspectacular three year old on the lawn) horses that didnt need to bring a track (or surface) with them or duck horses to win))

Answer 2

Yep, Citation.  Affirmed was first to earn $2 million.  John Henry was first to surpass $4million.  Point Given was the first horse to win 4 $1million purses in a row.

Answer 3

I think it was Citation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_(h...

In 1981 John Henry was the first horse to win a Million Dollar Purse.

In 1981 Arlington was the home of the world's first million dollar race: The Arlington Million. The result of that race is immortalized in bronze at the top of the paddock at Arlington, where a statue of jockey Bill Shoemaker riding John Henry to a thrilling come-from-behind victory over 40-1 long shot The Bart celebrates thoroughbred racing's inaugural million dollar race.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_P...

Answer 4

Citation in 1948!!!

Answer 5

Citation was horse racing's first millionaire.  

It's kind of hard to compare earnings of racehorses that raced in different eras because the value of the dollar has changed (and how!!!), but Blood-Horse did a comparison back a few years, I think when Cigar retired as world's leading money earner, using a correction factor to (theoretically) put all earnings on the same basis.

It came out that Round Table's earnings, when corrected for inflation etc., were at the top.  Round Table made 66 starts in his career and won 43 races, mostly top-class stakes races, and earned $1,749,869.  Those statistics are mind-boggling in this day and age when a top-class horse is considered to be hickory-tough if he has a career with two dozen starts and retires sound.  

Kelso, the great gelding who was Horse of the Year a record 5 times, earned $1,977,896 with 39 wins in 63 starts and held the earnings records for decades.

What has to be considered when looking at a roster of racing's leading owners is that many of the leading money winners of this era have benefited both from extraordinary bonuses offered for horses that won designated races and the inflation in purses for top races.  A horse can earn more money by winning a Breeder's Cup Classic or a Dubai Cup than Citation earned in his whole career.

This is why, to some extent, racehorse earnings as a measure of quality have to be taken with a grain of salt.  A horse that runs against top company and finishes second or third against the best of his/her generation might have earnings that are a lot less than an inferior horse who ducks top competition and spots around the country in soft races that have good purses.