Magical History Tour Over for Retired Cigar

Cigar, the gallivanting thoroughbred who won race after race while giving the sport a much-needed transfusion, won’t run anymore. Allen Paulson, the owner and breeder who showcased him for the world, announced Thursday that Cigar has been retired, clearing the way for the start of his breeding career next February in Kentucky.

Cigar lost three of his last four races, including a narrow defeat in a three-horse photo finish in Saturday’s $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Woodbine in Toronto, but he will be remembered for a 16-race winning streak that started in late 1994 and spanned more than 20 months. Matching a streak that Citation recorded more than 40 years ago, Cigar traveled from coast to coast in the United States, frequently getting a police escort from the airport to his barn. Fifteen of the wins came at eight U.S. tracks, and the other win--No. 14--was the most extraordinary, coming in a $4-million race over the desert sands of Dubai, 7,000 miles away.

That victory, and win No. 12 in the streak--the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park a year ago--were the landmark victories for Bill Mott, the trainer who in 1994 inherited a struggling horse who had belied his grass breeding by winning only one of seven turf starts in California. Cigar failed to win in four more grass tries in New York for Mott, who switched him to dirt in the fall of 1994, when the winning streak began.

“Dubai and the Breeders’ Cup win were the super efforts,” Mott said. “He had more impressive wins and easier wins, but those were the two big ones. One because he had to do so much to get there, and then won such a hard-fought battle, and the other because it was the culmination of a perfect year.”

Cigar beat Soul Of The Matter by half a length in Dubai last March, only weeks after a foot injury had knocked him out of running in the Santa Anita Handicap. Paulson was desperate to honor his commitment to run in the United Arab Emirates, and Mott compressed a month of training into about 10 days to have Cigar ready.

The Breeders’ Cup win gave Cigar a 10-for-10 record in 1995, leading to the horse-of-the-year title. The team behind him swept year-end honors, with Mott winning an Eclipse award for training, Jerry Bailey being voted jockey of the year and Paulson winning the owner award.

After Dubai, Cigar won his 15th in a row in the Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs. He continued to have foot problems, missing the Hollywood Gold Cup, a race he had won the year before. Win No. 16 came July 13 at Arlington International, which had created the $1-million Arlington-Citation Challenge to accommodate the horse’s schedule.

The streak ended at Del Mar on Aug. 10, when Cigar got caught in a punishing speed duel with Siphon in the $1-million Pacific Classic and then was run down by Dare And Go in the stretch before a record crowd of more than 44,000.

Cigar’s luster dimmed after Del Mar. He wasn’t losing by much, but he lacked that finishing punch and both Mott and Bailey suspected that the elongated campaign was talking its toll.

Cigar won the Woodward at Belmont in September, but three weeks later, Skip Away, a 3-year-old, held him off to win by a head in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. At Woodbine, seeking to become the first horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic twice in a row, Cigar finished third behind Alphabet Soup and Louis Quatorze. Only a nose and a head separated the three horses, and they all ran fast enough to break the track record for 1 1/4 miles.

“He never gave up,” Mott said of Cigar’s last race. “He was still grinding, but maybe he lost that electricity that he had before.”

It was the first time Cigar had lost two consecutive races since the fall of 1994, when he was still running on grass.

“He’s still the horse of the year again,” trainer Wayne Lukas said. “The horse of the year is the horse everybody relates to, and that was Cigar. It was the same way in 1986, when we won the title with Lady’s Secret. You didn’t have to explain your vote. These are the kind of horses that people in Des Moines can relate to. From a purist standpoint, people might have trouble voting for Cigar because of what he failed to do at the end. But he needs to get credit for what he tried to do and what he brought to the table.”

Before the Arlington race, Paulson received a $20-million offer from Japan for Cigar. He turned it down, and the bid reached $30 million by the time Cigar reached Del Mar. Paulson rejected that offer too. Now Cigar winds up at Paulson’s breeding farm near Versailles, Ky., where the mating fee will be $100,000 per mare.

“There’s only one Cigar,” Paulson said. “And I want to keep him.”

Cigar earned $480,000 for his third-place finish at Woodbine, pushing his total to $9,999,815, a world record. He won 20 of 33 races.

After Saturday’s race, Mott recommended to Paulson that Cigar--a bay son of Palace Music and Solar Slew--be retired. Before making the decision, Paulson entertained notions of running one more race in California, or going to Japan for a $10-million match race against Helissio, winner of the Arc de Triomphe.

Now Cigar’s next appearance will be Saturday, when he parades for the crowd at the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden. They’ll put rubber shoes on him, and he’ll get another police escort, this time from the barn at Belmont to Manhattan.

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Cigar’s Legacy

RECORD

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Year Starts 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 9 2 2 2 $ 89,175 1994 6 2 0 2 180,840 1995 10 10 0 0 4,819,800 1996 8 5 2 1 4,910,000 Totals 33 19 4 5 9,999,815

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CIGAR’S RECORD-TYING WINNING STREAK

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Date Track Race Margin 1994 Oct. 28 Aqueduct Allowance 8 lengths Nov. 26 Aqueduct NYRA Mile 7 lengths 1995 Jan. 22 Gulfstream Allowance 2 lengths Feb. 11 Gulfstream Donn Handicap 5 1/2 lengths March 5 Gulfstream Gulfstream Handicap 7 1/2 lengths April 15 Oaklawn Oaklawn Handicap 2 1/2 lengths May 13 Pimlico Pimlico Special 2 1/4 lengths June 3 Suffolk Massachusetts Handicap 4 lengths July 2 Hollywood Hollywood Gold Cup 3 1/2 lengths Sept. 16 Belmont Woodward 2 3/4 lengths Oct. 7 Belmont Jockey Club Gold Cup 1 length Oct. 28 Belmont Breeders’ Cup Classic 2 1/2 lengths 1996 Feb. 10 Gulfstream Donn Handicap 2 lengths March 27 Dubai Dubai World Cup 1/2 length June 1 Suffolk Massachusetts Handicap 2 1/4 lengths July 13 Arlington Citation Challenge 3 1/2 lengths

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