Legendary CIGAR died. RIP

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Report: Two-Time Horse of the Year Cigar Dead at 24
by Ray Paulick | 10.08.2014 | 8:59am
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Cigar won the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996 Cigar won the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996

Two-time Horse of the Year Cigar, a popular member of the Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions in Lexington, Ky., has died at the age of 24, according to various reports, including a message on Twitter from the Breeders’ Cup.

The son of Palace Music had resided at the Kentucky Horse Park since May 1999 after it was determined he was sterile. Cigar retired to Ashford Stud in 1997 after a $25-million deal had been struck with owner Allen Paulson following a spectacular racing career that included 16 consecutive wins and earnings of $9,999,815. He failed to impregnate a single mare at Ashford despite the efforts of fertility experts from around the world. His failure at stud triggered one of the largest fertility insurance settlements in history.

Conceived at Paulson’s Brookside Farm in Versailles, Ky., Cigar was foaled at the Pons family’s Country Life Farm in Maryland. Palace Music, a grandson of Northern Dancer, was a turf specialist as a racehorse. Cigar was produced from the Seattle Slew mare Solar Slew, a $510,000 2-year-old purchase by Paulson who failed to win a race in seven starts.

Cigar did not race until February of his 3-year-old campaign in 1993, finishing seventh in a six-furlong maiden race at Santa Anita Park under the care of trainer Alex Hassinger. He didn’t win until his second start a few months later, then spent the rest of the year racing on turf in California, with mixed results.

Late in the season, veterinarians detected chips in both of Cigar’s knees and removed them surgically. When Cigar was ready to return to the track, Paulson transferred him to Bill Mott’s stable on the East Coast. After four losses on turf for Mott, the eventual Hall of Fame conditioner switched Cigar to dirt, winning an Oct. 28 allowance race by eight lengths under Mike Smith. Mott then jumped Cigar into stakes company, where he won the Grade 1 NYRA Mile (since renamed the Cigar Mile) by seven lengths. That was in November 1994.

Cigar wouldn’t lose again until August 1996, when Dare and Go pulled off a stunning upset in the G1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar. In between were victories in the Donn Handicap, Gulfstream Park Handicap, Oaklawn Handicap, Pimlico Special, Massachusetts Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup, Woodward Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Breeders’ Cup Classic (all in 1995), then a second win in the Donn, the inaugural Dubai World Cup, a second MassCap, and the Arlington Citation Challenge at Arlington Park (all in 1996). That final victory equaled the 16 consecutive victories of the great Calumet Farm runner Citation.
Cigar resided at Kentucky Horse Park for the past 15 years

Cigar resided at Kentucky Horse Park for the past 15 years

Jerry Bailey, who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1995, rode Cigar in every race following that first allowance win on dirt, since Mike Smith, at the time, was the regular rider of another future Hall of Fame horse, Holy Bull.

Mott was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998, and Cigar was inducted in 2002, his first year of eligibility. In a poll of horse racing experts conducted by Blood-Horse magazine in 1999, Cigar was voted the 18th greatest North American horse of the 20th Century.

Cigar carried the late Paulson to Eclipse Awards as leading owner in 1995 and ’96 and Cigar himself won the 1995 and ’96 Horse of the Year titles in addition to Eclipse Awards as champion older male in 1995 and ’96. Cigar’s retirement in November 1996 included a parade down Fifth Avenue in New York City and a special appearance on the floor of Madison Square Garden during the National Horse Show.

Cigar’s Career Past Performances
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sad RIP I HAD STUCK IT HERE> www.africanbettingclan.com/index.php/kun...rses?start=40#512855

BECAUSE IT HADNT BEEN CONFIRMED YET

Very sad news a true champ

sad news - RIP

Cigar
Photo courtesy Amanda Duckworth
Nineteen-year-old Amanda Duckworth and her father with Cigar in 2003.

Cigar died Tuesday.

I type the words, but I don't believe them. What's the saying? "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." I know that sentence isn't literal, but you kind of always hope it is.




You will read better obituaries today about Cigar. I know that. Good journalist are never too close to their sources, and Cigar was more than just a racehorse in my life. He was a friend and a teacher, and right now I don't really care about statistics.




I spent my college days working in the Hall of Champions. When John Henry passed, I worked at the Blood-Horse and was far too low on the totem pole to write about it. Today, three paragraphs in, let me tell you that writing an obituary for a friend is impossible.




I should tell you that Cigar's record is something that we will likely not see again. In 1995, he was a perfect 10-for-10, including the Breeders' Cup Classic. Today, we celebrate if a top-level colt has 10 career starts, much less makes that many in one season.




Instead of retiring, Cigar helped give the Dubai World Cup legitimacy the following spring. When people list how many Grade 1 races Cigar won, many forget that the Dubai World Cup wasn't one of them. He won the race, of course, but it was the inaugural running and thus an ungraded event.




Imagine the sportsmanship in shipping your Horse of the Year halfway across the world to run in an unproven, ungraded international race. Now, imagine doing it with a horse who was also trying to beat the record for number of consecutive victories.






Cigar

Photo courtesy Amanda Duckworth
Cigar enjoys the latter days of his retirement just weeks ago.Cigar's streak stopped at 16. Others can tell you about that. They are better qualified. After all, the only race of his that I saw was his last, when he finished third in the 1996 Classic. I will let some of my colleagues tackle Cigar, the racehorse. Instead, let me tell you what I know about Cigar, the horse.




I partially owe my career to Cigar. The day of his last race, I walked into the living room and asked my dad what he was doing. He explained that one of the best racehorses of all time was running his final race. I thought that was nice, but I thought a big white horse was prettier, so I picked Alphabet Soup. My dad jokingly threatened to disown me, especially when my big white horse crossed the wire first.




Cigar may have lost that day, but the magnitude of that race made me fall in love with horse racing. It wasn't the first race I had seen, but it is the first one I specifically chose to watch. I didn't live in a racing state, but I followed the sport the best I could in those days before everyone's phone was also a mini-computer.




When I decided to attend the University of Kentucky, it was partially because it was in the heart of horse country. Through a series of very fortunate events, I ended up working and volunteering in the Hall of Champions.




This morning, when I was walking my dog, random memories kept coming to me. Silly things.




Cigar loved food. I mean, he loved it. He would prance like a king when it was feed time. He got three scoops of sweet feed in his blue bucket. The blue was to match one of the colors in his racing silks. Carrying that bucket to his feed trough was like telling a kid he was going to get to meet Santa. Every single day.




Cigar also loved mints. We always asked people not to sneak the horses treats. One, we didn't want any accidental bitings to occur, and two, we wanted to know what our horses were eating. Cigar, however, was a champion beggar and got illicit peppermints all the time. People would deny it, of course, but in his quest to savor every bit of essence of mint, Cigar would start licking his stall door. It was his tell.




Cigar was a master at downward-facing dog. He got his morning bath on the back walkway, and it was very common for him to stretch and yawn in a way that would make even the most skilled yogi jealous. That back walkway was his safe spot. In addition to getting baths, that is where we would take him for visitors to have a meet and greet with the mighty champion.




He knew that back there he was supposed to do no more than stand and pose. Sometimes, the sun and contentment proved too much and he would also nap. But people could pet him and tell him how great he was, and he would take it all in stride. Now, if we needed him to puff up and prance for official photos, all we had to do was take him to the front walkway. That was his stage to strut on. Behind the barn was his place of peace.




Cigar was skilled at playing to an audience. When it was time to turn him out in the afternoon, he would always run to the front right corner of his paddock. Usually he would roll, sometimes he would rear. If he drew a crowd, the more he would gallop. The more cameras that said crowd had, the more he would show off.




On his 20th birthday, there was a big celebration. Ever the ham, Cigar had to check out the poster of himself that was hanging on the barn wall to commemorate the event.




It is for that reason that I believe Cigar's greatest victory in life was being sterile. Let me explain. This horse loved his public. He would push his hay from the corner of his stall to the door so he could munch and watch all at the same time. He thrived in an environment where he was fawned over by an adoring crowd. He did more for the sport and for himself by being an ambassador than he would have accomplished at stud.






Cigar

Photo courtesy Amanda Duckworth
The death of Cigar has hit fans and admirers of the great runner hard.Would it have been nice for him to sire a foal or two, instead of being infamously infertile? Maybe. But the numbers say the odds of him being a superstar sire were small. Instead, he spent years teaching the public about the beauty, grace and ability of the thoroughbred -- even ones who don't win the Kentucky Derby.




More times than I care to count, I was asked when he won the Derby. After being told he never did, I would get the inevitable follow up of, "So, why is he considered great?" One person at a time, Cigar showed how racing is more than just one Saturday in May, and he had $9,999,815 reasons to back up that argument. That figure, his earnings mark, is burned into my brain, by the way.




One particular park visitor was a good lesson in patience. She tried to argue with me that not only did Cigar win the Derby, he won it three times. When I gently corrected her, she told her friend to ignore me, that I was just a groom. That moment is something that I hold with me to this day.




Horses are not robots. They don't magically show up in starting gates so you can bet on them. A lot of time and effort goes into it from a lot of people. But no one, and I mean no one, knows a horse better than his or her groom. I have so much respect for the people who work day in and day out behind the scenes to make this industry run, even though most of their names will never be in print.




Part of the reason Cigar made such a great ambassador is because he was kind, especially for a stallion. Sure, he was mouthy and liked to chew on things; that is what stallions do. He liked to play, and if he thought you were unworthy he would test you, but he never did anything out of malice or spite, unlike his equally famous barn mate John Henry. They were such a study in contrast.




And now, they are both gone. It doesn't seem possible, but John Henry died on Oct. 8, 2007. There is something about October, I guess, but it is eerie that their death dates are so similar.




Yesterday, I was traveling, but all I heard about was the insane weather in Lexington. Breathtaking thunder and lightening, possible tornadoes, impossibly strong winds. It seems appropriate somehow. It's nice to think that Mother Nature wasn't going to let Cigar's passing occur on just any day. Today, well, today, we have crystal-clear skies.




This morning I stopped at a table in my living room. Sitting there is a photo of me holding Cigar, with my dad's arm around my shoulder. Technically, it is not a great photo, but it has long been a personal favorite.




Then, I sat down at my computer to do my job. Cigar's halter is hanging on a hook behind me. I am choosing not to turn around. I am very fortunate to do what I do, and I can count on one hand the times I have not wanted to do my job.




Today is one of those times.




Because today, my job is to tell you that Cigar died.

A legend of the thoroughbred world. Go well Cigar.

Believe it or not, but can remember, SABC3 crossing over to the Dubai World Cup and showing Cigar's victory live.