Cigar Lights Up Massachusetts by Winning 15th Race in a Row

Ten minutes before the running of the 57th Massachusetts Handicap, a leather-lunged fan, in the best New England-ese, yelled this in the direction of Cigar and jockey Jerry Bailey as they made their rounds in the Suffolk Downs walking ring:

“Hey, Bailey, wake him up! It looks like he’s ready to fall asleep.”

Cigar has given himself wake-up calls in many a time zone, and although he might have been able to sleepwalk his way past the five other horses that passed for Saturday’s opposition, the 6-year-old champion still left the gate with gusto.

“Two jumps out of there, he was in full stride,” Bailey said later. “By the third jump, he was locked into the bridle.”

With little prodding from Bailey, Cigar won for the 15th consecutive time, carrying 130 pounds and not seeming to notice as he crossed the wire 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Personal Merit.

Bailey, trainer Bill Mott and owner-breeder Allen Paulson already think Cigar is great, and with every accomplishment their horse crosses the paths of other great ones. Only Seabiscuit, in 1937, and Whirlaway, in 1942, had ever carried 130 pounds and won the MassCap. Cigar’s streak leaves him within one win of tying Citation’s 16 in a row, set in 1948 and 1950, with a year off for an injury, and Paulson’s horse will get his next chance, probably carrying more than 130 pounds against much better horses, in the Hollywood Gold Cup on June 30.

A year ago, Cigar won the Hollywood Park race under 126 pounds. “We go into every race with the utmost confidence,” Mott said. “As long as we can keep our training mistakes to a minimum, Cigar will go out there and do the job.”

In his previous race, the $4-million Dubai World Cup, Cigar ran at equal weights--124 pounds--and beat Soul Of The Matter by half a length.

“It’s hard to know how they’ll weight us in California,” Mott said. “They could start at 130 pounds and adjust everybody down from there. Will we carry five pounds more than Soul Of The Matter, or 10? I just don’t know.”

The spread as Cigar won his second consecutive MassCap, as it is known here, was between 16 and 21 pounds. Personal Merit, who carried 111, was 10 1/2 lengths in front of Prolanzier, who ran third, and the rest of the finishers, in order, were Hogan’s Goat, Northern Ensign and Will To Reign, who was the second choice in the betting at 13-1.

A crowd of 22,169, the largest Suffolk turnout since 1966, couldn’t get enough of Cigar. By the time the horse reached the paddock before the race, fans were at least 10 rows deep to watch him. Fathers hoisted little children on their shoulders. People held their cameras high above their heads and snapped hopefully.

In the counting house, Cigar was no bargain. With no place and show wagering, Suffolk had to cough up $33,933 of its own money to pay off all the bettors, who got the minimum of $2.20 back for a $2 bet. The Cigar-Personal Merit exacta was good for all of $4.80 and the trifecta on the first three finishers paid $33.20.

Cigar completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:49 3/5, a second slower than last year, and earned $400,000 to increase his record North American earnings total to $8,069,815.

Early in the day, shortly after Paulson and his entourage arrived by helicopter in the Suffolk infield, Cigar was his customary inquisitive self. Madeleine Paulson, the owner’s wife, was wearing a white lace hat about half as big as she is, and Cigar tried to make a meal out of it at the barn. Mott had to rope off Cigar’s barn because there was so much backstretch attention being paid to him.

“It’s always a relief after he wins another one,” Mott said. “It’s been that way for about his last 10 races. The next race isn’t going to be easy, but we’ll have about 30 days to regroup. I’ll be thinking about [Citation’s record], but he’s been so good to me, it’s hardly right to ask him to give us any more. All the rest of it will be a bonus.”

Cigar, stabled at Belmont Park, is expected to be shipped to Hollywood Park only a few days before the race.

“That’s the way we did it last year,” Mott said. “You have a tendency to go with something that’s worked before.”

Returning to the winner’s circle in front of the stands, Bailey lifted his dirt-caked blue cap to acknowledge the crowd.

“I’m happy to win another one,” Bailey said back in the jockeys’ room. “Cigar’s become like a buddy to all of us. What he’s done will probably affect me more 10 years from now than it has now. But knowing Cigar, he’s so smart, he’s probably aware of it already.”

Horse Racing Notes

Woodbine, scheduled to play host to the seven Breeders’ Cup races in suburban Toronto on Oct. 26, is in trouble. Mutuel clerks, who have been locked out by management since Feb. 26, have been replaced by non-union employees and could be supported by a walkout of other union workers the weekend of the races. Woodbine officials are not optimistic, and a tote company executive, not wanting his name to be used, said at Suffolk Downs Saturday that Churchill Downs and Hollywood Park are being considered by the Breeders’ Cup as a backup site. Hollywood Park is scheduled to be host to the Breeders’ Cup races in 1997.