Cigar ( 1990-2014) Cigar (Palace Music--Solar Slew, by Seattle Slew), whose 16-race winning streak over the course of 22 months from 1994 to 1996 tied the record of Citation and earned him legions of fans the world over, died Tuesday from complications from neck surgery at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington. He was 24 years old.

Cigar ( 1990-2014)

Cigar (Palace Music--Solar Slew, by Seattle Slew), whose 16-race winning streak over the course of 22 months from 1994 to 1996 tied the record of Citation and earned him legions of fans the world over, died Tuesday from complications from neck surgery at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington. He was 24 years old.

“He was a cool horse, he meant a tremendous amount to me,” an emotional jockey Jerry Bailey told Steve Byk on At The Races. “It wasn’t until Cigar that I got emotionally attached to horses. He turned me into a person from one that would leave the barn after I got off horses in the morning to a guy that would stay at the barn and watch him graze. He turned me into a guy that really cared about the horses he rode.”

Bred in Kentucky, but foaled in Maryland at Country Life Farm, Allen Paulson’s colt won his maiden sprinting on the dirt at second asking while under the care of Alex Hassinger, but added just one victory and placings in the GIII Ascot H. and GIII Volante H. from his next 11 starts on turf, the final four of those for trainer Bill Mott. The Hall of Fame conditioner called an audible in an attempt to shake things up and entered the handsome bay in a second-level allowance going Aqueduct’s one-turn mile Oct. 28, 1994. His eight-length victory marked the beginning of one of the greatest winning streaks in the modern age. Mike Smith rode him on that occasion, but Jerry Bailey took over for the final 20 starts of Cigar’s career, and they closed out 1994 with a seven-length success over Devil His Due--and Mike Smith--in the GI NYRA Mile H., a race now named in his honor.

An allowance tally in January 1995, his third consecutive win, set the table for a showdown with the Smith-ridden Holy Bull in the GI Donn H. 20 days later. No one knows what the outcome might have been, but ‘the Bull’ went wrong on the backstretch, Cigar came away to a front-running 5 1/2-length victory and the torch had been passed.

“I felt given the post positions--we were inside of Holy Bull--that we should take the race to him,” his jockey commented. “Just as we were turning I heard a big pop, it was like a tree branch. I could hear Mike Smith say ‘Oh no.’ I thought that would be a great rivalry.”

Cigar was boldly campaigned the balance of the year, winning before packed houses in Arkansas and Maryland, Massachusetts and in Los Angeles, before returning to New York to take the GI Woodward S. for the first time and the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. In the 1995 GI Breeders’ Cup Classic, Cigar was out to complete a rare 10-for-10 season and was looking for his 12th in a row exactly one year to the date of his Aqueduct allowance score. Favored at 70 cents on the dollar over a muddy and sticky track that caused his connections all sorts of concern and forced to endure a frivolous pre-race claim from a rival trainer, Cigar raced prominently before being cut loose on the turn with what track announcer Tom Durkin called ‘a dramatic rush.’ With a quarter mile left between him and that perfect season, the "unconquerable, invincible, unbeatable" Cigar came home a 2 1/2-length winner and earned the first of his two Horse of the Year statues
(Video)
He picked up in 1996 where he left off the previous season, registering an easy win in defense of his Donn H. title, but, with the inaugural $4-million G1 Dubai World Cup only a handful of weeks away, Cigar developed a foot abscess, forcing him to miss a prep in the GI Santa Anita H. and casting some doubt on his trip to the Middle East. But Mott was able to get the foot right, and on Mar. 27--a Wednesday evening over the floodlit Nad al Sheba Racetrack–he took his spot in the World Cup. Looking for 14 in a row, Cigar covered ground the entire way over the triangular-shaped track, but hit the front going apparently well at the head of the straight. He went clear into the final furlong, but his compatriot Soul of the Matter rolled up and looked destined for victory. But Cigar turned him back and put the World Cup on the map with a thrilling half-length success (video).

“Watching it, you’d have thought Soul of the Matter was going to run right past him, but when he came to him, I could feel Cigar’s engine rev back up,” Bailey said.

For a second straight year, the team made its way to East Boston and packed them into Suffolk Downs for the MassCap, and they did not leave disappointed as the champ scored by 2 1/2 lengths to make it 15 straight. Mott targeted a return trip to California for the GI Hollywood Gold Cup, but the horse’s recurrent foot problems put pay to that idea, and in stepped Dick Duchossois, chairman of Arlington Park, who offered a $750,000 base purse and $300,000 of bonus money to the winner should the track be able to attract Cigar for a July 13 race named the Arlington Citation Challenge in which he would attempt to equal the winning streak of that legend from nearly 50 years earlier. Despite a wide draw and a brutally wide trip, Cigar took care of business, defeating California raiders Dramatic Gold and Eltish  (video)

He sought to eclipse Citation’s record in the 1996 GI Pacific Classic and was 1-10 to do so, but, faced with the possibility of the speedy Siphon (Brz) getting loose on the lead, Bailey pressed a suicidal pace and was clear in the final quarter mile, but Cigar was spent from his early exertions and was run down by Dare And Go late.

“I asked him to do things horses just can’t do, and he got beat,” Bailey recollected. But the Paulsons and Bill Mott were so great about it. It was a real team.”

Returned to New York to prepare for another assault on the Breeders’ Cup, the 6-year-old returned to his best with a four-length tally in the Woodward, but he was upset by the upstart 3-year-old Skip Away in defense of the Gold Cup. Cigar made his final career appearance in the 1996 Classic at Woodbine and was in with a chance deep into the final furlong, but he could not quite finish the job and finished third, beaten a neck.

He was retired with 19 wins from 33 starts and earnings of $9,999,815, at the time a North American record (it has since been broken by Curlin). Paulson sold a 75% interest in Cigar’s breeding rights to Coolmore, who were to stand him in Kentucky, but he proved to be infertile, and, following a reported $25-million settlement, he was turned over to the Kentucky Horse Park to become part of their ‘Hall of Champions’ in 1999.

Cigar was elected to racing’s Hall of Fame in 2002.

Officials at the Horse Park explained that while still maintaining all his mental faculties, Cigar’s physical well-being had declined over the past several months.

“Cigar had been experiencing arthritis-related health issues over the past six months and was in outstanding physical and mental condition other than the osteoarthritis he was suffering from in several of his cervical vertebrae,” said Kathy Hopkins, director of equine operations for the Kentucky Horse Park. “Medical therapies had failed to relieve the pressure that the arthritis was causing on his spine, which had resulted in instability in his hind legs.”

With that information, the decision was made for surgical intervention.

“Cigar developed a compression of his spinal cord in the lower part of his neck,” said Dr. Steve Reed of Rood and Riddle. “The most severe compression was between cervical vertebra 6 and 7, with additional compression between cervical vertebra 5 and 6. This was an acquired problem related to arthritis, and bony remodeling in the neck. The severity of this spinal cord compression became so problematic that all parties were left with few options, the best one being surgery. This was a significant surgery involving a prolonged recovery. Unfortunately, during recovery Cigar suffered a vertebral fracture and passed away.

Dr. Reed continued, “The outcome was disappointing and very sad for many people; but especially for Wes and Kathy who remained at his side to the end.”

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear was among those paying tribute to the champion Wednesday.

“The great champion Cigar thrilled racing fans and surely brought new ones to the sport as he compiled win after win in his incredible streak of victories,” he said. “An example of racing at its best, he continued to serve as an ambassador, bringing joy to countless visitors to the Hall of Champions at the Kentucky Horse Park, where he will be missed.”

Like the other Hall of Champions horses who died in retirement at the park, Cigar will be buried on the Memorial Walk of Champions near Thoroughbreds Alysheba, Bold Forbes, Forego, John Henry and Kona Gold; Standardbreds Cam Fella and Rambling Willie; American Saddlebreds CH Imperator, CH Skywatch and CH Gypsy Supreme; and American Quarter Horse Sgt. Pepper Feature. -- Alan Carasso