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No four-legged champion matched the quality of the 1970's until the mid-1990's when in puffed a phenomenon called CIGAR. An ordinary horse on turf, he was transformed when he was moved to the dirt in late 1994. The next year he exploded winning all ten of his starts to become the first undefeated handicap champion since SPECTACULAR BID in 1980; he earned a record $4.8 million that year. Trained by BILL MOTT and ridden by JERRY BAILEY, CIGAR added the $4 million Dubai World Cup the following March and in July, at Arlington, tied CITATION's record of 16 straight wins. With 19 wins in 33 starts, he just missed becoming the first horse to win $10 million, as he raked in $9,999,815 for his owner, ALLEN PAULSON, and the rest of his team.

THIS AMAZING 2-HOUR TIME CAPSULE FEATURES A COMPILATION OF CIGAR's MOST MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES ON THE TRACK - 19 RACES IN ALL!! The following two races are shown partially: 1994 NYRA Mile and 1995 Gulfstream Park Handicap (both races are shown half-way into the race and then uncut to the finish). THE NEXT 17 RACES ARE SHOWN IN THEIR ENTIRETY FROM START TO FINISH beginning with the 1993 Hollywood Derby...then into his 1995 season: Donn Handicap, Oaklawn Handicap, Pimlico Special, Mass Cap, Hollywood Gold Cup, Woodward Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Breeders' Cup Classic to his final year of racing in 1996: Donn Handicap, Dubai World Cup, Mass Cap, Arlington Citation Handicap, Pacific Classic, Woodward Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup and Breeders' Cup Classic.

Few athletes in any sport reach the plateau where they can be bestowed the honor of making up a class of legends described as, a superstar. On October 28, 1995, at a very wet Belmont Park, a five-year-old bay horse named CIGAR staked his claim at doing just that. Like other members of the elite class he had joined, CIGAR took on the best competition there was to offer and left them to choke in his dust it was the $3 million Breeders' Cup Classic, the richest race in America, and when he hit the gas he never looked back. It was in this race that CIGAR became America's sweetheart; he turned doubters into believers and made winners out of those that had faith in him.

CIGAR would once again have to prove himself against the world's best, but this time it would have to be on foreign soil. Most Horses of the Year do not have something to prove, yet CIGAR was not generally considered among the all-time greats. Maybe it was because his competition was perceived to be average, maybe because he had failed to carry high impost; maybe because he had not set any track records or that he had won only two of his first thirteen starts. With the courage, commitment and support of his connections, CIGAR was given the chance to be great. In Dubai, CIGAR accomplished a singular feat; in the stretch of Nad Al Sheba Racecourse - a track few had heard of until now, CIGAR exhibited the most important of all attributes in a racehorse: class. CIGAR's win in the inaugural Dubai World Cup on March 27, 1996, was the narrowest winning margin of his career but his most impressive to date. It proved to be a much tougher test, but just as rewarding as he reached to the deepest reservoir of his ability to hold off fellow American challenger, SOUL OF THE MATTER. He no longer was just America's hero - he now became the world's hero!

CIGAR will forever be remembered not for winning the Breeders' Cup Classic or some other Grade I race in the U.S., but for journeying to the desert sands of the Middle East and accepting a challenge in Dubai. CIGAR won the Dubai World Cup and earned himself a niche in racing history. He will forever be blanketed with the distinction of being the first horse to travel half-way around the world and to run on a sand track for a $4 million purse where there is no wagering.

Throughout his career, CIGAR has won fans and races from Dubai to Canada to the U.S., and in an era when the negatives of the sports world get more publicity than anything else, CIGAR was able to grab the collective attention of a legion of fans and produce thrilling race after thrilling race. Remembered as the great champion he was, CIGAR never failed to excite and inspire. When CIGAR made his career debut in a maiden race at Santa Anita on February 21, 1993, who would've predicted that the horse who finished 7th that afternoon would go on to have his name uttered in the same breathe as CITATION's - his accomplishments will forever link him with the greatest Thoroughbreds of all-time.

When you remember this horse, remember him in the winner's circle, adorned in his familiar red, white, and blue silks and draped in a blanket of flowers. Remember the two-time Horse-of-the-Year that was and will forever be CIGAR! A full 2-hour tribute to the great CIGAR can be yours!
 

 

 

FOR A DETAILED CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE 19 RACES FEATURED IN THIS TIME CAPSULE, JUST REQUEST A COPY AND A COMPILATION SHEET ALONG WITH THE 1,2,3 FINISHERS WILL BE E-MAILED TO YOU.



2 Hours.

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