Win or Lose, Cigar Made ’96 Memorable

Although Cigar was beaten in three of his last four starts, it was still something special every time he went to the track in 1996. Which is why any list of the year’s top races needs to be Cigar-heavy, and this collection is no exception:

1. Dubai World Cup. For the first $4-million race, Cigar traveled to the Persian Gulf. On a balmy March evening in a setting out of the “Arabian Nights,” Cigar overcame his foot problems to beat a very game Soul Of The Matter by a half-length. At Hollywood Park, where it was 7 a.m., hundreds stood in front of television sets and cheered. “It might not have been his best race, but it showed what courage he has,” jockey Jerry Bailey said. Through the stretch, trainer Bill Mott counted to himself the number of training days they had lost. Before Cigar left Gulfstream Park for his 6,000-mile journey, Mott compressed a month of training into less than two weeks.

2. Kentucky Derby. Not since 1959, when Tomy Lee and Bill Shoemaker nosed out Sword Dancer, had there been such a slam-bang finish to a Derby. Trainer Wayne Lukas made his way through the crowd to trackside, thinking he had finished second. Trainer Bob Baffert, who knocked off his wife’s hat in their box seat, hoped that his body English had urged his horse to the wire in time. A few minutes after the finish, Grindstone, ridden by Bailey, was declared the winner over Cavonnier and Chris McCarron, giving Lukas an unprecedented sixth straight Triple Crown win. “I must have lost three pounds waiting for that photo,” Bailey said.

3. Arlington Citation Challenge. “Cigar For President” read the sign that an 11-year-old girl from Wisconsin held up on July 13, after he had won this $1-million race for his 16th straight win, a streak that matched the achievements of Citation 46 years ago. Jimmy Jones, who trained Citation, was on hand. “I still think Citation was the greatest,” Jones said, “but Cigar is a great horse, and I’m stingy with an accolade like that.”

4. Pacific Classic. On Aug. 10, before a record Del Mar crowd of 44,181, Cigar’s 16-race streak came to a resounding end. Trainer Richard Mandella, who started two of the six horses in the race, sent Siphon out early, and Cigar and Bailey hounded him through an opening half-mile that was run in a blistering :45 4/5. Siphon tired, but Mandella had Dare And Go, ridden by Alex Solis, in position for the stretch run. In a two-horse finish, Dare And Go, at 39-1, won by 3 1/2 lengths. “They double-teamed us,” said Allen Paulson, Cigar’s owner. “That Mandella’s a smart guy.”

5. Breeders’ Cup Classic. He might have been the smallest horse in the race, but he was the toughest at Woodbine. In the first Breeders’ Cup held outside the U.S., Alphabet Soup, a 19-1 shot, beat Louis Quatorze and Cigar in a rousing finish. A nose and a head separated the first three horses, and it was only another half-length back to Mt. Sassafras in fourth place. “My horse has a long neck,” said winning jockey McCarron. “That helps him in photos.”

6. Preakness. Oneupsmanship was Pat Day on a May day at Pimlico. Removed by Lukas as the rider of Prince Of Thieves, Day rode Louis Quatorze to a 3 1/4-length win for trainer Nick Zito, snapping Lukas’ Triple Crown streak at six races. Prince Of Thieves, with Bailey, ran seventh, and Lukas’ best finish with three horses was Editor’s Note, who was third. “I was disappointed being taken off the other horse,” Day said, “but inevitably it works out. I come over to do the best I can, and leave things in the hands of the Master.”

7. Belmont Stakes. Lukas again. He was out of a Triple Crown winner’s circle for only three weeks, and made it six of the last seven in the series with a surprise effort from Editor’s Note, who won by one length under Rene Douglas, subbing for the injured Gary Stevens. Lukas’ success is about having the right horse ready on the right day. His Derby winner, Grindstone, came out of the race with a chipped knee and was retired. Editor’s Note ended a nine-race losing streak in the Belmont.

8. Jockey Club Gold Cup. At Belmont Park in October, Skip Away compensated for trainer Sonny Hine’s Triple Crown frustrations when he beat Cigar by a head. Twelfth in the Derby and second in both the Preakness and Belmont, Skip Away finished the year with four wins in five starts.

9. Native Diver Handicap. By setting a Hollywood Park record, running 1 1/8 miles in 1:45 1/5 and winning by nine lengths, Gentlemen sent a December reminder to Skip Away, Alphabet Soup and Louis Quatorze: He’ll be around in ’97.

10. Arlington Classic. Close races are usually won by noses, heads and necks, but this late-June stake in Chicago was won by a tail. Trail City, ridden by Day, beat More Royal and Julie Krone by a half-length after Krone’s stick got caught in the winner’s tail. By the time Krone extricated her stick, she had lost her balance and More Royal lost his momentum. “Of all the problems that could happen, this is one of the oddest to date,” Krone said.

Horse Racing Notes

Laffit Pincay rode Kiyo Amy in the third race for his 8,498th win. Only Bill Shoemaker, with 8,833, has won more. Pincay, who turned 50 last Sunday, has four mounts today and five on Tuesday’s card. He finished second with Refined Lady in Tuesday’s seventh race and she was disqualified to seventh place for interference on the turn. . . . Matt Garcia rode three winners Tuesday, two of them for trainer Mel Stute.

Rainbow Blues, second to Marlin in the Hollywood Derby, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite today in the San Gabriel Handicap. Romarin, winner of the last two runnings of the stake, will carry 119 pounds for the third straight year. Romarin, the 7-2 second choice, became a 7-year-old today and could become the the oldest winner of the stake since Big Shot II, a 7-year-old who won in 1972. A win today by Romarin and he’ll share a record with John Henry and Del Mar Dennis, the only two horses to win a Santa Anita stake three straight times. John Henry won the Oak Tree Invitational in 1980-82 and Del Mar Dennis has won the last three San Bernardino handicaps.

Cat’s Cradle is 6-5 for today’s Run for the Roses. . . . On Thursday, Hello and Steel Ruhlr, who were separated by a head as the 1-2 finishers in the Generous Stakes at Hollywood Park, are both entered in the second division of the Hill Rise Handicap, at one mile on grass for newly turned 3-year-olds. The win for the Irish-bred Hello came in his first start in the U.S. for trainer Ron McAnally. . . . Boston Harbor, in his first workout since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, was clocked in :52 4/5 for four furlongs over a muddy track Monday. . . . Wekiva Springs, whose career began under trainer Bob Hess Jr. in California, has been retired. The 6-year-old won three stakes locally, including the San Fernando, and with Bill Mott he won the Suburban and Brooklyn handicaps in New York and the Gulfstream Park Handicap. Wekiva Springs earned $1.5 million.