I'm sure there are thousands... and a few on here as well...When horses make the news and make history people notice and get involved... Point is he did a good thing for racing , was a great horse and can never be credited as "just another horse".

there are so many great and forgotten horses over the last 30 years, i would be hard pressed to include cigar in my top 30 over the last 30 years.

i'll start with 3. precisionist, greinton and spend a buck.

Thirty years is a bit much, but over the last 25 years I think the list of horses who could beat Cigar's "A" game is pretty slim...

I don't think that is entirely true. It took Smarty Jones to make me take note of how interesting and multifaceted the sport is...I know a few who got involved by seeing the Afleet Alex story. We all have our hook...

Top stars do have an impact.

Cigar was a very good horse. But if I had to go with the best horse in the last 30 years I would go with Affirmed. I just think this horse is VERY underrated. He is typically ranked lower than Seattle Slew or The Bid, but in my opinion he should rank slightly higher than those two. He certainly ranks much higher than Cigar or Skip Away.
The reason why is the quality of competition these horses faced.
Affirmed faced more top quality horses, more often, than any other horse to run in the last 30 years, and yet he still managed 22 wins and 5 places from 29 lifetime starts. He beat Spectacular Bid. He faced horses like Seattle Slew and Exceller multiple times. Coastal and Sensitive Prince were both tremendous horses that couldn't contend with Affirmed. And then of course, Alydar. Most horses in the last thirty years have NEVER faced a horse of Alydar's quality, let alone race against him countless times as Affirmed did.
Despite facing this unbelievable competition, Affirmed was Champion 2yo, Champion 3yo, Champion Older horse, Triple Crown winner, and 2-time HOY.
Despite his lack of success against Slew - which the only real knock on him - I would rank him #1 in the last 30 years.

I've always found the "who did he beat" or "he didn't beat anybody" arguement very interesting. I am not only talking about Cigar here. If you have a sound horse, pick easy spots, beat mediocre horses, get these visually impressive victories over lower quality horses, and so on -- sure, I can see some credence in the "he didn't beat anybody" claim. However, on the contrary -- if you show up to the big dances, dance after dance, take on all comers (whoever else shows up and you have no control over that), beat them, beat them again, something along these lines -- then the "who did he beat" or "he didn't beat anybody" arguement, in my mind, has very little, perhaps no, credibility.

Now, about Cigar -- without getting into the stats and going through the PP's line by line/race by race -- this horse raced, raced and raced over the course of what? 2 years? I mean, in 95 didn't he race 10 times, and something like 8 G1's? Did he duck anybody in that campaign? You want to say it was a "weak crop" -- well, that's kind of like a weak jab in a fight. I mean you could say it, but how much are we really talking about here.


I remember him when he debuted as a 4yo, which I think was his first start for Bill Mott. That was kind of like a throwout year because they kept him on the turf for his first 3 or 4 starts. He didn't do much. But late in the year, when Mott put him back on the dirt, that's when the fun really started, LOL. I think his next start and last start of the year was the NY Mile and he trounced Devil His Due. Anyway, aside from the walk down memory lane, during his 5yo year, he took on whoever showed up, he himself showed up coast to coast and I don't remember them ducking anyone.

Regardless, he had a tough campaign. That year was no walk in the park. I don't remember any freshners or vacations for him. He raced 9 times going into the BC (and I think every one of them were G1's -- right? I don't remember off the top of my head).

Once again -- he showed up.

What did Tom Durkin say . . . "the incomparable, the invincible, the unbeatable Cigar!!!"

Eric

I think when it comes to ranking horses (which is obviously very arbitrary) it only makes sense to look at who they beat as ONE factor. It certainly isn't the only factor, but it does matter. It certainly isn't Cigar's connections fault that he didn't face top-notch competition. As yo say ELA, they weren't ducking anyone. There wasn't anybody to duck. But still, if you are going to compare him to a horse like Affirmed I think it only makes sense to compare the horses that Affirmed beat (like Spectacular Bid, Exceller, and Alydar) with the horses that Cigar beat. I think this comparison gives a clear edge to Affirmed.
I don't think it makes any sense to ignore the level of competition.

Disagree....you can debate all night long the merit of Cigar vs others, but how can you limit what it means getting people to the track? How do you know where those fans went? I saw Cigar at Arlington in that made for TV race and it was incredible. How many rock stars horses actually exist? Or existed? That could be another string on it's own.
Fast forward ten or eleven years...If he was running now and not "positioning" himself for races, what would it be like? We are gaga over SS but who would win that match race?

in his day he may have not brought new fans to the sport ... but after his day... and after seeing him at the horse park in kentucky & after watching his replays he brought a newfound respect to the sport 16 times over... at least for me anyway.

LOL@ the might mineshaft who ducked the big 1@anita(well connections did) and who only prevailed in 5 horse fields, and got worked in large ones against the likes of BS and PD

Only Funny Cide has matched Cigar's "rock star" status :)

Afleet Alex, Funny Cide, Barbaro - horse racing is suddenly becoming very, very cool again.

If the sport would only take advantage of the groundswell, and get some readily accessible major network TV deals at this point in time!

They ignored TV in the 1950's, and eventually lost out to football, and now NASCAR.

Edit: and I just remembered ... if the Hennigan brothers can indeed get their "First Saturday in May" movie on TV next year the week before the Derby - on a station most people will stumble across - wow!

Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex were the best horses in the last 30 years... it's not even close.

Both were true champions, with hearts the size of the racetrack... They would have laughed at horses like Holy Bull, Cigar, Skip Away.. etc.

Cigar couldnt have gotten Spectacular Bid out of a jog.

Speaking of Balto Star... You know I have him on my "DRF horse watch list" and every so often (recently as last month) I get a workout for the old guy....
How old is that horse now?

Agreed that comparing to Cigar to 70's or other superstars may be apples and oranges, but how do you think horse racing gets new fans? How did you get hooked? Parents? growing up near a track? There are many ways to get fresh blood in what can be a difficult "inner circle" to navigate and I really think that superstars, or preceived superstars, are a big part of it.