Cigar rolled over a mile and a quarter of Canadian soil to a third-place finish in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic today in what was probably the final race of a historic career.
He gave it his best shot, but could not quite catch a 19-1 long shot named Alphabet Soup, who scored a smashing upset to win by a nose over Louis Quatorze, who in turn held second place by a neck over Cigar.
For Cigar, the 6-year-old bay superstar who won 16 straight races before the streak was ended in August, it was the third close defeat in his last four races. He was the favorite at 3-5, he was cheered by the crowd at Woodbine race track when he came and when he left, but he failed one more time to overcome adversity and the speed of younger horses.
''It was tough for him again,'' said his rider, Jerry Bailey. ''He got behind a bunch of horses on the backstretch and we had to go wide. But he never quit. The horse is a champion.''
Alphabet Soup, a 5-year-old who nearly tripled his career earnings today, ran the mile and a quarter in 2:01 under Chris McCarron and he paid $41.70 for a $2 bet.
Woodbine was primed for the sport's day of days with a crowd of 41,250 and a record total of 1,457 simulcast outlets to provide betting around the world. And on a resplendent afternoon with flags flapping in the northern sunshine, the star horses ran to dramatic heights with their trainers and jockeys.
Jenine Sahadi of Sierra Madre, Calif., became the first woman ever to train a Breeders' Cup winner when Lit de Justice took the Sprint. The 2-year-old star of the D. Wayne Lukas stable, Boston Harbor, won the $1 million Juvenile and, in all likelihood, the juvenile championship. The only European horse to win a race was Pilsudski of Ireland, who took the $2 million Turf. And the forlorn claiming horse Ricks Natural Star, who had not raced in more than a year and had not won in three years, went off at 50-1 in the Turf and came home cantering about a quarter of a mile back in last place.
But the star of the show, and the chief regret of the show, was Cigar.
Bailey, like a man who has been holding a tiger by the tail, said sadly: ''Well, it's been a long two years. He's had a tough time. Going into the first turn, I was absolutely fine. I was happy to be where I was. Going into the other turn, I was wide, way wide. I had no place to go. I couldn't go inside.
''He got up close and stayed close, but it wasn't meant to be.''
www.nytimes.com/1996/10/27/spo...