Cigar Makes Convincing Return

Cheered every step of the way as he charged through the stretch at Belmont Park, Cigar rebounded from the loss that ended his winning streak with a victory in the Woodward Stakes on Saturday in New York.

The second-place finish in the Pacific Classic on Aug. 10 at Del Mar that had ended his 16-race streak was a hardly a thought.

Cigar, the 1-5 favorite, won by four lengths over L’Carriere, in 1:47.06 for the 1 1/8 miles. Last year, Cigar won the Woodward in 1:47.07.

Golden Larch finished an additional half-length behind and was three-quarters of a length ahead of Smart Strike. Eltish finished last. Petionville was scratched.

The $300,000 from a purse of $500,000 boosted Cigar’s career earnings to $9,313,815.

Trainer Bill Mott said Cigar will start next in the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 5 at Belmont, then end his career in the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 26 at Woodbine near Toronto.

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Charges of animal cruelty were dropped against trainer Frank Passero, who won a national record 14 consecutive races at Gulfstream Park in Florida last winter.

Passero had been accused of applying a substance containing cayenne pepper to the genitals of his horses in an attempt to make them run faster.

The complaint was dismissed Friday after a state hearing officer ruled the confession groom Abraham Siddo gave to investigators was inadmissible as evidence because phrases in his statement were inconsistent with language used and understood by the groom.

Tennis

Top-seeded Thomas Muster failed to convert on four match points in a second-set tiebreaker before rebounding to beat Lucas Arnold in the semifinals of the Colombian World Series at Bogota.

Muster, who finished off the unseeded Argentine, 6-1, 6-7 (9-7), 6-3, will face defending champion Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in today’s final. Lapentti, seeded fourth, beat No. 7 Mauricio Hadad of Colombia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Third-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain advanced to the final of the Romanian Open to face fourth-seeded countryman Alberto Berasategui at Bucharest.

Moya struggled to defeat unseeded Romanian Andrei Pavel, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, in the semifinals, and Berasategui defeated Christian Ruud of Norway, 6-0, 7-5.

Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat Italy’s Flora Perfetti, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, and advanced to the semifinals of the Czech Open at Prague. Schnyder will face Czech Lenka Cenkova, who beat eighth-seeded Henrietta Nagyova of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-2.

Chuck Devoe of Indianapolis retained his title in the USTA Men’s 65 Grass Court Championships at Lawrence, N.Y., beating Ed Kauder of Sun Valley, Idaho, 6-4, 6-2. In the 70 division, Graydon Nichols of Hanford, Calif., downed defending champion Fred Kovaleski of New York, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. In the semifinals of the 60 division, Bob Duesler of Newport Beach overtook Peter Froelich of Australia, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Len Lindborg of Laguna Beach rallied to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over defending champion Jim Nelson of Newport Beach.

Motor Sports

Randy LaJoie cut deeply into David Green’s lead in the Busch Grand National series with a convincing victory in the MBNA 200 at Dover Downs International Speedway in Delaware.

Angelle Seeling became the first woman to qualify No. 1 in Pro Stock Motorcycle history, covering a quarter-mile in an NHRA-record 179.24 mph in the Pioneer Electronics Keystone Nationals at Mohnton, Pa. Seeling, 26, of Americus, Ga., finished in 7.375 seconds on her Suzuki GSXR. Other No. 1 qualifiers at Maple Grove Raceway were Kenny Bernstein in top fuel, John Force in funny car and Warren Johnson in pro stock.

Dave Villwock posted the fastest qualifying speed for today’s 30th Bill Muncey Cup Unlimited Hydroplane powerboat race on San Diego’s Mission Bay. Villwock’s PICO American Dream has won six of eight races this season. Saturday’s speed of 167.986 mph for the 2 1/2-mile run topped the 165.627-mph lap produced by defending San Diego champ Mark Tate in Smokin’ Joe’s.

Miscellany

Police questioned eight men--reportedly members of heavyweight champion Mike Tyson’s entourage--after they allegedly beat a Manhattan parking lot attendant for putting a scratch on the bumper of their BMW. The victim, Mark Pierrpaul, suffered a bruised nose in the Greenwich Village incident, but refused to file charges, police said.

Names in the News

Amy Van Dyken, the first U.S. woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, was honored as the U.S. swimmer of the year and also received the Phillips Performance Award at Orlando, Fla. . . . Kostya Tszyu (18-0) retained his International Boxing Federation junior-welterweight title with a knockout of South African Jan Bergman (32-1) at 1:23 of the sixth round of the scheduled 12-rounder in Newcastle, Australia. . . . Kayaker Scott Shipley rebounded from a disappointing finish in the Summer Olympics to win the men’s singles in the Whitewater National Championships at Nashville.