Cigar To Take Final Bow At Churchill Downs

The farewell appearance of Cigar, the Maryland-bred horse who became a champion, will be Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs. He will be paraded before his fans and then retired to stud.

Details of Cigar’s appearance have yet to be completed, said Karl F. Schmitt Jr., vice president of corporate communications at the Louisville, Ky., track. But he said Monday that Cigar would probably prance onto Churchill Downs’ famous dirt oval late in the afternoon, around the time of the featured race, the $200,000 Grade II Churchill Downs Distaff.

Cigar’s owner, Allen E. Paulson, retired his 6-year-old champion after Cigar’s third-place finish 10 days ago in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Woodbine.

Paulson said he will stand Cigar at his Brookside Farm in Versailles, Ky.