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Originally Posted by BlinkersOn
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.
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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.
