Cigar

[Calzone Lord]

While I was searching through my files for Lil E Tee's form this morning - I found Cigar's stuff.

One of the most interesting questions ever is what Cigar might have done if he was not repeatedly raced on turf after his awesome maiden win on dirt.


Cigar got left by about 2 full lengths at the gate...




He was gunned up into a breakaway speed duel with the 6/5 favorite...



He dueled the favorite into submission (the favorite was beaten 8 lengths going six furlogns) and Cigar held on to win by 2.25 lengths with a 93 Beyer. That same week, fellow 3-year-old and eventual divison champion Praire Bayou won the Preakness with a 98 Beyer. The 2nd place finisher to Cigar, who sucked up, came back and won his next two starts on dirt.

Cigar's sire was a Group 1 winner at 10 furlongs. His damsire was triple crown winner Seattle Slew. He just wins a sprint with a monster tough trip and the Beyer is almost as fast as the Preakness that week...Arcangues won that years BC Classic at 140/1 or so.

Cigar did win his next 16 dirt starts in a row after the maiden win ... but I had always wondered how much more he could have done if 16 months of his career wasn't being foolishly wasted on a surface he obviously hated.



The running line comment in his fast maiden win was simply "off slowly, rushed" ... it's easy to fault Hassinger... but P. Val deserves some of the blame as well for getting Cigar left and riding such a piss poor race to rush him into a crazy speed duel after that.