Longtime Owner Paulson Loses Battle With Cancer

Allen Paulson, a self-made millionaire who developed, sold and flew fast airplanes and bred and raced fast horses, including two-time horse of the year Cigar, died Wednesday night at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla.

Paulson, 78, had been battling cancer and because of illness had been unable to visit racetracks for several months. This year he had cut back substantially on his racing and breeding operations, selling farms in Kentucky and Florida, but his wife Madeleine, who once received a young Cigar as a gift and then traded him back to her husband for another horse, is expected to remain in the sport.

Starting in the early 1980s, Paulson plied much of his aeronautical fortune into the horse business, spending millions at public auctions to buy choice bloodstock and developing a state-of-the-art breeding farm in the heart of Kentucky’s bluegrass region. His star-spangled, red-white-and-blue racing silks became familiar at tracks all over the world as Paulson and his trainers cranked out hundreds of stakes wins.

There were multiple Eclipse Awards, three for Paulson as an owner and breeder and 11 for the eight champions that he raced, but the creme de la creme was Cigar, a colt Paulson bred, who captivated the racing public during a 16-race winning streak in 1994-96.

Matching a streak that Citation had carved out more than four decades earlier, Cigar traveled the country, knocking off all comers in New York, Florida, Arkansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, California and Illinois. Victory No. 14 came in the United Arab Emirates, in the $4-million Dubai World Cup, and the streak ended in 1996 at Del Mar--before a record crowd of more than 44,000--when Dare And Go left Cigar in second place in the Pacific Classic.

The contrasting Paulsons--Madeleine in her bright outfits and big hats and Allen in his boardroom-dark business suits--were along for the ride. Cigar was voted horse of the year in 1995, the year he won the Breeders’ Cup Classic as well as the rest of his nine starts, and he won the national title again in 1996.

In California, at the start of his career, Cigar had been just another horse. Recovering from knee surgery, he ran mostly on grass and won only two of nine starts before he was transferred to trainer Bill Mott in New York. Mott ran him four more times--unsuccessfully--on grass before moving him to dirt as the streak started in October 1994.

“We always thought he was a good horse,” Paulson said late in Cigar’s career. “We thought the grass would be easier on him after the surgery. But all he could come up with was a lot of seconds and thirds. But he had such a good conformation that we couldn’t give up on him. And then he just loved the dirt.”

Before Cigar had ever run, Paulson gave him to his wife for a gift. Early in 1995, he asked her if he could have him back, and Madeleine said she’d trade him for Eliza, a champion 2-year-old filly and a promising broodmare. Allen Paulson hesitated, but agreed to make the switch.

Cigar won 19 of 33 races and earned $9,999,815, still the record for career purses. As a stallion, Cigar was infertile, but Paulson and his breeding partners had wisely insured him against that for $25 million.

Paulson was given the Eclipse Award of Merit in 1996, primarily because he had kept Cigar on the track through his 6-year-old season and showcased him from coast to coast.

Sometimes Paulson’s enthusiasm gave Mott pause, but Cigar’s owner would rally his conservative trainer with one of his favorite adages: “The risk is measured by the size of the reward. If there’s little risk, you can’t expect much of a reward.”

Growing up in Clinton, Iowa, a small Mississippi River town, Paulson and his four brothers were introduced to reality early on when their father lost his farm and everything else during the Depression. At 17, Paulson was working as a hotel janitor when he won a few bucks in a bingo game and bought a bus ticket to San Francisco. He rode horses and herded cattle at a dairy ranch near there, and by 19 he had become a mechanic for Trans World Airlines, making 30 cents an hour. After serving as a flight engineer during World War II, Paulson began buying parts from old B-29 planes, adapting them through patents he developed and selling them worldwide.

By 1951, he had started his own company in Burbank. “That,” he said in a 1983 interview, “was the little acorn that grew into a big oak.”

In 1978, he bought a plant in Savannah, Ga., that had been losing money for the Grumman Aerospace Corp. and within five years the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. had become the world’s largest maker of small private jets. Annual sales reached $1 billion and pretax profits were $100 million.

When Gulfstream went public, Paulson netted $85 million, and in 1985 the company was sold to Chrysler for $637 million, about $450 million landing in Paulson’s pockets.

Not all of Paulson’s investments landed him in the winner’s circle. In the early 1980s, he bought a one-third interest in the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. for about $50 million. After three years, the company went into bankruptcy; his losses were more than$37 million.

That setback didn’t slow him down in the horse sales ring. In 1985, he bought Estrapade for $4.5 million, an auction record for a horse in training, and a year later she became the first female to win the Arlington Million.

Paulson’s best buy, though, turned out to be a less-than-impressive-looking weaning that he spent $350,000 to obtain in a dispersal sale by Ralph Wilson, the owner of the Buffalo Bills. Trainer Wayne Lukas said that he’d go broke if he bought too many horses like that one.

The colt turned out to be Arazi. Paulson thought he might turn around and sell him for $1 million, but interest in the horse flagged at a yearling sale, forcing Paulson to keep him. In France as a 2-year-old, Arazi won a major race at Longchamp and Sheik Mohammed from Dubai offered Paulson $5 million for a 50% interest. Paulson didn’t want to sell, but soon afterward he couldn’t say no when the sheik’s offer swelled to $9 million. At Churchill Downs, Arazi won the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with an electrifying burst of speed. Knee injuries compromised his chances in the next year’s Kentucky Derby, but he still retired with earnings of $1.2 million.

Paulson never won the Kentucky Derby, but he’s the leading owner in the Breeders’ Cup series, with seven victories and $8.29 million in purses, more than double the amount of the No. 2 owner on the list.

“It’s easy to say someone will be missed, but with Allen Paulson that really is the case,” said John Van de Kamp, president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California. “In many areas, he was obviously an extra-smart guy. He and Madeleine had an obvious love for the game, and Allen was also one who had great interest in the political issues that are always in front of the sport.”

Paulson, who lived in Rancho Santa Fe and had two marriages end in divorce, lost a son who died in an airplane accident. He is survived by his wife; sons Richard, Jim and Mike; and Dominique, a stepdaughter. The family said that the funeral would be private. A memorial service will be planned.

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A Big Winner

A look at Allen Paulson’s career record:

ECLIPSE AWARDS

Breeder, 1993; Owner, 1995,1996; Award of Merit, 1996.

CHAMPIONS RACED

Estrapade (female on grass), 1986; Theatrical (male on grass), 1987; Blushing John (older horse), 1989; Arazi (2-year-old male), 1991; Eliza (2-year-old filly), 1992; Cigar (horse of the year, older horse), 1995, 1996; Ajina (3-year-old filly), 1997; Escena (older female), 1998.

BREEDERS’ CUP WINS

Theatrical (1987 Turf); Arazi (1991 Juvenile); Opening Verse (1991 Mile); Eliza (1992 Juvenile Fillies); Cigar (1995 Classic); Ajina (1997 Distaff); Escena (1998 Distaff).

OTHER STAKES WINS

Estrapade (1986 Arlington Million); Blushing John (1989 Pimlico Special, Hollywood Gold Cup); Dinard (1991 Santa Anita Derby); Diazo (1994 Strub); Stuka (1994 Santa Anita Handicap); Cigar (1995 Donn Handicap, Gulfstream Park Handicap, Oaklawn Handicap, Pimlico Special, Hollywood Gold Cup, Woodward, Jockey Club Gold Cup; 1996 Donn Handicap, Dubai World Cup, Woodward); Zagreb (1996 Irish Derby).

RECORD

Most owner purses, one year, $9,068,629, 1996.