Cigar Streak Left In Ashes Dare And Go Ends Horse’s Record Quest

Close, but no Cigar.

The upset victory over Cigar by Dare and Go in the Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar even left the winning jockey a little unhappy.

“We’re glad to have won,” said Alex Solis, “but it was kind of sad. Cigar was kind of a hero for us on the racetrack.”

Cigar’s second-place finish snapped a 16-race winning streak and kept him tied with Citation for the longest victory string by a North American-based horse this century.

“The streak is over, but there’s still races to be won,” said Cigar’s trainer, Bill Mott. “He’s still a great horse. I wouldn’t back down in ranking him up there with the best.”

To winning trainer Richard Mandella, the victory by Dare and Go was “as good as it gets.”

Both Mott and Mandella said a lightning pace figured prominently in Cigar’s upset by a horse who paid $81.20.

“Pace makes the race and obviously it had something to do with the outcome today,” Mott said.

Siphon led the six-horse field through three-quarters of a mile in 1:09 1-5, with Cigar second the entire time. Cigar was a head in front when they reached the mile in 1:33 3-5 and was 3-1/2 lengths back when Dare and Go completed the 1-1/4 miles in 1:59 4-5.

“I could see when they went into the three-eighths pole (at the middle of the final turn) that Cigar had hooked Siphon and that there was a serious battle that was going to tell on one of them,” Mandella said. “Then I looked up to see who had enough to finish and Dare and Go was moving up.”

Jerry Bailey had Cigar in front as they straightened for home but Dare and Go then flew by on the outside. It was obvious by midstretch that Cigar was going to lose for the first time since finishing third in a grass race on Oct. 7, 1994 at Belmont Park.

“I’m as responsible as anybody for the way the race came out,” Mott said. “Naturally, I’m disappointed we lost. I’m disappointed in that I didn’t plan the race differently.”

Bailey sent Cigar right after Siphon, the wire-to-wire winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup.

“Maybe I asked too much of him early in the race,” said Bailey, who rode Cigar in all but one of the races of the winning streak. “I’m certainly not putting the blame on him. If the blame comes my way, I’ll take it, because I’m the one that made the decision.

“I didn’t think it was a killer pace but when I got to the three-eighths pole I thought if someone was going to come at me, I was going to be in trouble today.”

Mott also thought that pressure applied by Dramatic Gold, who was just behind and outside Cigar for the first three-quarters of a mile, affected the outcome.

Cigar, who paid $2.40 and $2.10, finished seven lengths in front of Siphon, $2.10, who was followed by Dramatic Gold, Luthier Fever and two-time defending Pacific Classic champion Tinners Way, who was pulled up. Each starter carried 124 pounds.

Cigar’s loss had to be a bitter disappointment for owner Allen Paulsen, who lives in Rancho Santa Fe, just north of Del Mar. Mott said Paulsen’s only reaction after the loss was, “Too bad.”

The win by Dare and Go, whose place and show prices were $7.60 and $2.10, was a big one for Mandella, whose Soul Of The Matter came within a half-length of beating Cigar in the $4 million Dubai World Cup on March 26.

Soul Of The Matter was scheduled to run in the Pacific but went lame during a workout on Wednesday and might not race again.

Mandella said the 5-year-old Dare and Go, owned by Lapresle Farm, had problems in two ankles earlier this year.

The victory was his second in six starts this year and the $600,000 first money from a $1 million purse boosted his earnings to $1,547,356.

The $200,000 second money pushed Cigar’s bankroll to $9,019,815 and made him the third horse to surpass $9 million. The other two raced in Japan.

Luthier Fever earned $500,000 simply for starting, the money a bonus for being the only horse to start the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic.

Cigar now has won 17 of 19 starts on the dirt. In 11 races on grass before he was returned to the dirt and started his winning streak, Cigar won once. That victory came in 1993 at Del Mar.

Asked if he thought a victory by Cigar might have been better for the sport, Mandella smiled and said, “The sport will have to do the best it can.” The upset was watched by a Del Mar-record crowd of 44,181, surpassing the previous record of 34,697 set in 1994 on opening day.