Pay the Butler (20 February 1984 – 1991) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1988 Japan Cup. Bred in Kentucky, he began his racing career in France and won two of his seventeen starts before moving back to the United States as a four-year-old in the spring of 1988. He won the Red Smith Handicap on his North American debut and in November he defeated a top-class international field in the Japan Cup. He remained in training for two further seasons and ran well in several major contests but recorded only one minor win. He was retired to stud in Japan but died in 1991 after one season as a breeding stallion.