Cigar Is Gone
 

Cigar has passed away after surgery of a heart attack. I'm so sad, as he was my all time favorite horse. I'm so glad I got to see him run in the 95BC at Belmont. I've heard he wasn't doing well, with some foot problems, for some time, but I didn't ever dream he was in such dire straits. I so wish there had been beautiful offspring to leave behind as a living legacy. Run free beautiful boy, with all the greats that have gone before you.

Rest In Peace, Old Timer.

what a great star we just lost. my thanks to the people that gave us the pleasure in watching him perform, The Paulson family, Bill Mott, Jerry Bailey and all the grooms, hotwalkers and exercise riders that were part of the team.

RIP, CIGAR, you are gone but will never be forgotten.

Sorry to learn of his passing.

My best memory of Cigar is likely not one most would care to remember.

I may have been there that day. Is it the one where the great Holy Bull broke down? Cigar won, but the luster of that day was greatly tarnished by the breakdown of Holy Bull...he was an all time great also.

Nope. The Pacific Classic. I cashed a nice exacta.

I was at Del Mar when he lost. The place went absolutely silent.

As was I. It's not nice to tell people 'I told you so' when they looking at losing tickets. But, dinner was on me.

One of Jerry Bailey's rare terrible rides using Cigar prematurely into the fast pace.

The thing is, at the time nobody really knew how good Cigar was. He was a much better horse than Holy Bull-- the 16 race winning streak, shipping all over the country and the world, taking on every good horse in training, winning the BC Classic, carrying 130 pounds.

He's the best horse in the 1990's, and Holy Bull didn't even deserve to be in the same shedrow as him.

Having said that, there are 2 things that people should really remember about Cigar:

1. Everyone eventually gets beat, if you run them often enough against good competition. The fans of undefeated horses like Personal Ensign should know that the way you achieve that sort of record is by rarely running in a tough race.

2. If you have a horse like Cigar, you SHOULD do what Paulson did. Cigar drew 40,000 people at many of the tracks he went to. He ran against everyone. He carried weight. In many ways, his streak and Citation's streak are the greatest achievements in American racing history, precisely because those two horses were not babied or protected. Unfortunately, most owners and trainers would have protected the horse and never allowed him to establish just how great he was.

I think he ended up getting overconfident with Cigar. If you look at his ride in the Hollywood Gold Cup, or the Breeders' Cup Classic, it's basically the same ride. Close to the pace, going very wide, losing ground. He rode the horse like he was under the assumption that the horse was always much the best and that he didn't have to save ground or monitor the pace. It eventually burned him.

On a side note, it's rather ironic that 8 years later Bailey's questionable ride on Eddington to induce Stewart Elliott to move prematurely aboard Smarty Jones, cost racing fans another chance to witness history in the Belmont Stakes.....Two chances at history, Bailey involved on both sides of the coin.

The great Cigar was responsible for creating a lot of racing fans. I have a framed photo of him on my office wall.

Let's post some videos of his races.

1996 Dubai World Cup.
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Got to see him this summer at KY Horse Park. He was very gentle and let my 8 yr old daughter pet him. Funny Cide was a different story.