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Making Claims: Nevills Defends His Eclipse Awards Ballot

In “Making Claims,” Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills shares his opinions on the Thoroughbred industry from the breeding and sales arenas to the racing world and beyond.

It's early January, and you know what that means: Eclipse Award voters have begun sharing their ballots on social media, and no matter who they picked, outrage ensues from the folks who disagree.

I've got an Eclipse vote, and it's made public as a member of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters bloc of voters, so in the interest of transparency, I'll share here how I filled out my ballot, along with my reasoning for each category.

If you think I'm off-base with any of my votes, just remember these two things: First, the voting is closed, so nothing I say here can swing any undecided voters. Second, back in 2011, one intrepid voter chose Drosselmeyer as champion turf male in a campaign where his lone start on grass was a seventh-place effort. No matter how much we might disagree on who should be placed where, please understand that someone out there will go further off the deep end than any of us could imagine and cancel me out. Eclipse Award voters are an eclectic bunch.

With that out of the way, let's get down to business.

2-Year-Old Male
1. Essential Quality
2. Jackie's Warrior
3. Fire At Will

While I certainly can't fault anyone for giving Jackie's Warrior a mulligan for his fourth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and instead focusing on his brilliant campaign up to that point, two things swung it toward Essential Quality for me.

First, when they faced off head-to-head on the biggest stage of their lives in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Essential Quality got there first. The juvenile dirt races hold a lot of weight for me, especially in a deep field like we had this year. Second, Essential Quality had a bit more depth to his game. Where Jackie's Warrior got to the front early to do his damage, Essential Quality showed he could be a Grade 1 horse battling for the lead or coming from behind, and he did it twice beyond a mile. That professionalism gave him the edge.

2-Year-Old Female
1. Vequist
2. Dayoutoftheoffice
3. Aunt Pearl

Vequist was the only horse in the division with two Grade 1 wins, and if she was going to split the series with Dayoutoftheoffice, I'd rather have the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in my win column than the Frizette. All due respect to Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Aunt Pearl, but the lack of depth in North America's juvenile turf platoon and its schedule compared to their dirt contemporaries makes it hard to put a turf horse on top on either of the baby divisions.

3-Year-Old Male
1. Authentic
2. Tiz the Law
3. Happy Saver

The first two were slam dunks. Authentic won the Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic, both over Tiz the Law, who would have gotten the nod if he'd have won either one of those races. There is such a wide gap to the third spot that it allowed for some creativity. Happy Saver got the call by virtue of beating older competition in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

For the record, I need you all to appreciate the level of restraint it took for me to keep my real champion 3-year-old of 2020 off the ticket: a gelding named Underscore who ran fourth in his only career start back in March, who is now working toward his second career when he's not busy receiving hugs and mints.

3-Year-Old Female
1. Swiss Skydiver
2. Shedaresthedevil
3. Harvey's Lil Goil

Pretty simple here. If a filly wins a Triple Crown race, it's going to take a mountain of evidence against her to knock her off the perch. Fortunately, Swiss Skydiver had a deep resume to justify the spot beyond her centerpiece victory, with four other graded stakes triumphs, including the G1 Alabama Stakes. Shedaresthedevil, who bested Swiss Skydiver in the Kentucky Oaks and never ran a bad one in 2020, was a clear second, completing an outstanding exacta for new Lane's End resident Daredevil.

Older Dirt Male
1. Improbable
2. Vekoma
3. Global Campaign

I'll be the first to admit that after watching Improbable lose as the favorite again and again as a 3-year-old, I never thought he'd get it together enough to become more than the occasional fluke Grade 1 winner. A year later, here I am eating my words after he became one of the few consistent pillars of an older male division that saw a lot of its potential stars struggle with injury and consistency. Improbable crisscrossed the map and beat everyone else in the division he needed to beat.

I could have shaken the bottle, pulled out a lot of other names to fill out the bottom of the ticket and felt the same about it, but consistent, strong efforts at the highest levels got Vekoma and Global Campaign there for me. In a year where practically every serious contender either got hurt or got exposed when the chips were really down, showing up to work with your lunchpail was enough.

Older Dirt Female
1. Monomoy Girl
2. Serengeti Empress
3. Valiance

In terms of margin of victory, Monomoy Girl might be the biggest runaway winner of this year's divisions. She went unbeaten in four starts this year, including her pièce de résistance in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Serengeti Empress was probably the best horse with the worst luck this year, just missing a couple of graded stakes wins after running with a ton of heart. Even with the near-misses, she was incredibly versatile, winning graded stakes at both the sprint and route distances. Valiance got good at the right time, and proved she belonged with a win in the G1 Spinster Stakes and a second to Monomoy Girl in the Distaff.

I struggled with what to do with Midnight Bisou. She ran huge in the Saudi Cup (and she might end up being named the winner someday if the right people decide there's enough evidence to take Maximum Security down), she looked like the Midnight Bisou we all know and love in her G2 Fleur de Lis romp, and she was unlucky to get nipped in the G1 Personal Ensign. What kept her off the ticket for me was the incomplete feeling I had when I looked at her record. She only raced three times – twice on U.S. soil – she only won once (as of the time this was published), and she didn't win a North American Grade 1. When I crossed out her name from the running lines and separated the campaign from the brand recognition behind the horse that ran it, the bid lost a lot of its luster.

Male Sprinter
1. Whitmore
2. Vekoma
3. Volatile

Not a great year for this division in terms of true standouts. Like the Older Dirt Male division, there were a lot of struggles here with form and health that made this division tough to sort out. When that happens, the Breeders' Cup gains a lot more weight, almost by default. Whitmore ran the race of his life to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint, and while his campaign had its fair share of misfires, he did enough with his supporting efforts to put him on top.

Vekoma and Volatile were both lightly raced in 2020, and I don't love that, but they both went undefeated and won their Grade 1 races with gusto. No one else, save for maybe C Z Rocket, had a case that could stack up to that.

Female Sprinter
1. Serengeti Empress
2. Bell's the One
3. Glass Slippers

First, let's address the elephant in the room: Where's Gamine?

My policy for Eclipse voting is if the glacially-paced gears of horse racing's justice system are fast enough to pop a horse for a positive drug test and disqualify them from a race, they're off my ticket regardless of what they do for the rest of their campaign. When Gamine was taken down from her Oaklawn Park optional claimer earlier this year due to a lidocaine positive, she ceased being eligible for year-end honors in my eyes.

I didn't vote for La Verdad in 2015 when she was a contender in this division after she got taken down from the G2 Honorable Miss Stakes for a clenbuterol positive. She ended up winning the Eclipse anyway by eight votes over Wavell Avenue. If I were to venture a guess, Gamine will take this trophy home by a much wider margin, regardless of what I think, but I won't be part of it.

So, that leaves us with a closely matched race between Serengeti Empress and Bell's the One. Bell's the One bested Serengeti Empress by a nose in the G1 Derby City Distaff, while Serengeti Empress nosed out her foe for second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. If we're pretending Gamine doesn't exist, that's a draw in my eyes. Serengeti Empress had an additional Grade 1 sprint win in the Ballerina, while Bell's the One only had a Grade 3 win to counter, putting the decision to rest.

Male Turf Horse
1. Channel Maker
2. Zulu Alpha
3. Instilled Regard

Filling out the award winners in this division is often a bleak affair, given how much time North America's turf males spend beating each other up, then losing to fillies and Europeans when the lights are the brightest, but this might be the least convincing group of contenders I've seen in any division since I've had a vote.

Let's get this over with. I don't tend to put European-based horses on top unless their case is so convincing that I have no other choice, and that didn't happen this year. Channel Maker was the only horse in the division with two Grade 1 wins, Zulu Alpha won a good Grade 1 in the Pegasus World Cup Turf and never threw a clunker, and Instilled Regard's spot could have gone to a lot of different horses, but I liked his big wins more than the other contenders. Next.

Female Turf Horse
1. Rushing Fall
2. Tarnawa
3. Starship Jubilee

I've seen a lot of votes go for Tarnawa, and I wouldn't be mad if she won it, given the strength of her globetrotting campaign and her impressive win against males in the Breeders' Cup Turf. However, as I laid out, I prefer to give it to a domestic horse if at all possible, and Rushing Fall came a hard-trying neck in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf away from a perfect campaign. The only thing missing from Rushing Fall's resume is an Eclipse Award, and I think she gets it here.

Steeplechase Horse
1. Abstain
2. Abstain
3. Abstain

I've had people say I should have my Eclipse vote taken away for abstaining from the steeplechase category every year. They don't seem to realize I abstain out of respect. Nothing in my job requires me to take even a passive interest in the steeplechase races. I know none of the players, the races are often held at venues I'm not familiar with in terms of geography or esteem, and I'm not aware of the unwritten class system that can separate one Grade 1 race from another (like how winning the Kentucky Derby means more than winning the Malibu Stakes). It's an entirely different culture.

If a group of basketball writers were brought in to decide the Eclipse Awards, people would erupt, and rightfully so. It would be disrespectful to the hard work done by an entire industry to have someone outside the circle decide who among them was the best. That's why I leave the steeplechase division to the people who know what they're doing, and don't let my uninformed vote interfere with that. Someone will get a trophy whether I vote or not.

Owner
1. Godolphin
2. Klaravich Stables
3. Gary Barber

Unless a partnership is practically synonymous with each other (like Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence were for a long time), I tend to see this award as one for individuals over groups. Barring outstanding circumstances like a Triple Crown winner, I look for solid high-level success in an Outstanding Owner candidate, with enough depth to fill out the ranks. Godolphin got its Grade 1 bona fides with probable champion Essential Quality and Fair Maiden, while finishing among the nation's leaders by wins, graded wins, and earnings. I could have put Klaravich Stables or Gary Barber in the top spot and slept just as well at night, but the blue team just stood out a little more for me this year.

Breeder
1. WinStar Farm
2. Godolphin
3. Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds

My criteria is a little more fluid in this category than others. I like to reward a small breeder if they can pull multiple major stars out of a small broodmare band, but short of that, I've got to lean on the numbers and the big wins. WinStar Farm was responsible for the top two in my champion 3-year-old female voting – Swiss Skydiver and Shedaresthedevil – who accounted for the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Oaks respectively. None of the other major players could match that duo, and that's before we add Grade 1 winners Global Campaign and Paris Lights to the fold.

Jockey
1. Irad Ortiz Jr.
2. Joel Rosario
3. John Velazquez

Irad Ortiz hit the big double of winning some of the sport's biggest races in 2020 while also showing up to work every day to compile impressive numbers. He netted two Breeders' Cup races and the Pegasus World Cup, while also comfortably leading the nation by both wins and earnings while racing on North America's top circuits. This decision was tougher than it sounds, but if the object of the game is to win races and make money, Irad did it the best.

Apprentice Jockey
1. Alexander Crispin
2. Yarmarie Correa
3. Santos Rivera

It was a tight race between the top two. Crispin finished second in the jockey standings at the long Delaware Park meet, and third during one of Laurel Park's meets, while also picking up a win in the First State Dash Stakes at Delaware Park. Correa won the riding title at Thistledown's long meet and is currently holding strong in the standings at Mahoning Valley Race Course. As much as I love the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic circuit is deeper water, and the stakes win helped put Crispin on top.

Unrelated, since it was in an Arabian race and doesn't count in the Eclipse voting, but Crispin was also responsible for one of the best rides I've seen all year, both in the skill of the thing and the caliber of the horses he beat to do it. Remember what I said about different cultures in horse racing? Trust me when I tell you how big of an effort this was in the scope of Arabian racing.

Trainer
1. Brad Cox
2. Chad Brown
3. Steve Asmussen

Brad Cox won four Breeders' Cup races, including two of the biggest prizes: the Distaff and the Juvenile. He also took home the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, La Troienne, and Breeders' Futurity, and he was near the top of the list in just about any meaningful category out there. Chad Brown had a ton of Grade 1 success, but a general lack of variety beyond turf races in those wins and a quiet Breeders' Cup put him in the place position. Steve Asmussen's giant barn put up its usual bulk numbers, and he had several Grade 1 trophies to fill it out at the top.

Horse of the Year
1. Authentic
2. Improbable
3. Monomoy Girl

If Authentic won the Breeders' Cup Classic, he was going to be Horse of the Year. If Improbable had won the Classic instead of running second to Authentic, he would have been Horse of the Year. If they both flopped and an upset winner took it, it would be hard to put a horse with just four starts on top, but Monomoy Girl would have certainly been a big one in that discussion.

As it stands, Authentic got hot at the right time when the Kentucky Derby was still going to be in May, he stayed hot over the summer when the Derby moved to September, and he blossomed into a star when it mattered most late in his campaign. Looking at the whole of the season for anyone with a serious bid at the title, nobody else made sense in the top spot.

The post Making Claims: Nevills Defends His Eclipse Awards Ballot appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘Thinking Big’: Young Spanish Trainer Alvaro Soto Takes Aim On Saudi International With Oriental

Spanish trainer Alvaro Soto is aiming to fly the flag for his country with his star horse, Oriental in the $500,000 Saudi International Handicap on Feb. 19, 2021. The 2100m (about 1 5/16 miles) race, a new addition to The Saudi Cup meeting, is open to horses trained in countries not included in the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities' Part One nations.

Oriental was horse of the year in Spain in 2019 having joined Soto from his old boss Carlos Laffon-Parias, a Spaniard based in Chantilly, France. He had been used as a lead horse for the top-class Recoletos, who won two French Group 1 races before retiring to stud at the end of 2018.

Having won two of Spain's biggest mile races in 2019 – the Gran Premio Gobierno Vasco and Gran Premio de la Hispanidad – as well as one of Morocco's top prizes, the 1 1/2 mile Grand Prix de la Sorec, Oriental was hampered by breathing issues earlier this year.

Madrid-based Soto is now confident he has solved those problems and he will give the 6-year-old a run on Dec. 30 before hopefully preparing him for the Saudi International Handicap.

Soto said: “He's in great form. He could have run two weeks ago but I was waiting for this race. I think it's going to be a very easy race because it's on the all-weather and all-weather races in Spain are not strong.

“In the morning Oriental is doing things I saw last year – I didn't see them at the beginning of this year. He's been galloping with a filly who won by six lengths last week and he was very easy beside her. I'm full of hope.”

Soto might only be 29 years old, but he has packed a lot into life so far with little room for anything but racing. His father owned horses in Seville, where Soto grew up, and he started riding out racehorses in his early teens after having started off with showjumpers. After riding 15 winners as an amateur jockey he turned to training in Madrid three years ago. He now has 22 horses in his yard.

Soto said: “My whole life has been racing. When I was at school I was always riding. I used to go to the racetrack in the morning and then on to school at 9:00 a.m. It was the same when I was at university studying business. I had a very good relationship with Carlos Laffon-Parias as he is from Seville also. Our families are good friends so every summer I went to him in Chantilly.”

The link with Laffon-Parias has certainly been a fruitful one as it led to him snapping up Japanese-bred Oriental after he had won a Listed race at Craon, France in September 2018.

He explained: “When I came back to Spain I met M'Hammed Karimine, a Moroccan owner who was looking for a good horse. I saw Oriental work and said 'you have to buy this horse – you are going to have a great time with him'.

“I knew he was a very good horse and we only had to change his mind as he had been the lead horse for Recoletos. I think we've done it. He was expensive but he won two of the best mile races in Spain last year and he was runner-up behind a good French horse in the other. He won in Casablanca, Morocco, over 1m4f. That's why I think he can be very useful in Saudi Arabia.

“He is very competitive from a mile up to 1m4f. The race is very good for him. He's also a good traveler. To go to Casablanca last year, he had to travel for 18 hours and his behavior was amazing.”

Travelling horses to the Middle East is nothing new to Soto. He took runners to Qatar and Dubai when pupil assistant trainer to Marco Botti in Newmarket, England.

Having also spent time as assistant to Laffon-Parias, he was tempted back to Spain to start training three years ago. He is fiercely ambitious and sees the Saudi International Handicap as a chance to show what he can do on racing's world stage.

Soto added: “We would love it if we were invited to Saudi Arabia for the International Handicap. This is the type of opportunity I'm looking for – it is very important for my career. Everyone will be at The Saudi Cup meeting and everyone will be watching. It's very important to go to these type of races to meet people.

“I'm always thinking big. If you don't think big you don't go anywhere. I started training to be involved in these sort of races. It's why I decided to make my life about racing. This is what makes me get up at 5:00 a.m. every morning – in the cold, on Sundays. I love horses and I love training – I don't like anything else more than racing.

“For me, it would be amazing to go to Saudi Arabia but I wouldn't be going there to make up the numbers, I'd be going because I think Oriental can be very competitive. If we could win, personally for me it would be very important and it's also very important for Spanish racing. In Spain we only have 600 horses – that's like two yards in Newmarket!”

Organized by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia and run at the King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, The Saudi Cup is a two-day festival of international racing headlined by the USD$20m Saudi Cup – the world's most valuable race.

Established in 2020 with the second renewal set to be run on Saturday February 20, 2021, The Saudi Cup day card carries a total prize purse of $30.5m and features dirt and turf races for the highest caliber of racehorses in the world.

A full card of racing on the preceding Friday includes an International Jockeys Challenge which sees seven female and seven male jockeys compete as individuals as well as the $500,000 Saudi International Handicap for horses trained in IFHA-registered Part II and III racing countries.

The Saudi Cup is charged with raising awareness of horse racing in the country, encouraging participation among men and women. It also aims to promote Saudi Arabia at international level, acting as a marker for the Kingdom's transformational journey, encouraging tourism and investment.

The post ‘Thinking Big’: Young Spanish Trainer Alvaro Soto Takes Aim On Saudi International With Oriental appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘No One Else Like Him’: Cigar Remains Invincible For Jerry Bailey

Consistent success is a good way to earn sports immortality.

Consider the University of Miami Hurricanes' football team winning 34 straight games from 2000-03; the 2003-04 New England Patriots capturing 21 consecutive games over a span of two seasons; or the UCLA Bruins winning 88 straight games for the late John Wooden.

The ability to consistently remain victorious is the tallest of asks for any athlete.

When Allen Paulson's Hall of Famer Cigar won 16 straight races against the best horses of his generation, which at the time tied the all-time win streak set by Citation, he was cemented as an all-time great.

A total of 11 Grade 1 victories across six racetracks, a perfect 1995 season with ten victories [eight of which were Grade 1 wins], and a record-breaking lifetime bankroll of $9,999,815 highlight Cigar's long resume as one of the most noteworthy lists of accomplishments in horse racing history.

But the collection of trophies wasn't the primary factor in Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey forming such a close bond with the two-time Horse of the Year.

“It was his personality. He was just so cool,” Bailey said. “Early on after his first two or three races, I knew he was something special.”

Bailey had been a household name in the racing world prior to Cigar's campaign, having ridden for 19 years at that point. A 56-time Grade 1-winning rider before becoming the regular rider of Cigar, Bailey had piloted 1993 Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero, 1991 Preakness and Belmont winner Hansel as well as multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Fit to Fight.

Yet, Bailey's connection with Cigar was not what one might imagine. In his words, it was very similar to the relationship between a doctor and a patient.

“It was difficult to form relationships with the horses, because you either get taken off a horse or take off to ride a different horse,” Bailey said. “There were few long-lasting relationships with the horses, so it was hard to have close relationships with them. That's how I looked at it. I liked horses a lot, but I didn't have relationships with them. I would go to work, do my job, ride the horses and then go home.”

But along came Cigar, and Bailey's love and appreciation for the horse saw new heights.

It didn't happen overnight, however.

Cigar broke his maiden on dirt at Hollywood Park in May 1993 for West Coast-based trainer Alex Hassinger, Jr., but raced on grass in each of his next seven starts. He was then transferred to the care of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who gave Bailey the leg up in Cigar's third start for new connections, finishing seventh on the grass in September 1994 at Belmont Park.

Hall of Fame riders Julie Krone and Mike Smith had a turn aboard Cigar for his next two starts before Bailey returned to the saddle.

“It was a case of musical jockeys,” Bailey said. “We all knew Bill thought that he was a better horse than he was showing.”

Cigar made a triumphant return to dirt under Smith in October 1994 and displayed astronomically different dimensions, garnering a 104 Beyer Speed Figure going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct. It would be the last time Cigar would race without Bailey on his back.

“I was riding at the Meadowlands that night when Mike called me up and said, 'He ran off the TV screen',” Bailey recalled. “Mike had committed to riding Devil His Due in the NYRA Mile. Ten days to two weeks before the they took entries for the race, I called up my agent [Bob Freize] and said, 'Make sure you talk to Bill Mott and tell him that we're available'. He won the NYRA Mile and that performance confirmed what Mike said to be true.”

Cigar strolled home a seven-length winner over Devil His Due in the 1994 NYRA Mile.

In January 1995, Cigar picked up where he left off with a Gulfstream allowance win and solidified his legitimacy with a 2 ½-length score in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap the next month.

After another Gulfstream Park triumph in the track's Grade 1 namesake race, Cigar took his show on the road, winning five more Grade 1s over four different tracks.

The ultimate test awaited Cigar in the year-end Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic, where he would put an 11-race win streak on the line over his home track of Belmont Park.

There were still several obstacles against him, however. He drew post 10 in the 11-horse field, which included accomplished runners Unaccounted For, Star Standard, defending champion Concern, Tinners Way, as well as Group 1 winner Halling from Europe. Cigar would also be asked to contest over a muddy main track, which he had never done before. All of his victories on the main track had been over fast going.

Cigar broke sharply from his outside post, and Bailey let him do a little running to secure a favorable position.

“From the ten post, I had to let him run a little bit to be four wide and not seven wide,” Bailey said.

But while Bailey wanted to save ground, Cigar had different plans. Bailey tried as hard as he could to keep him in behind horses, but Cigar was moving so aggressively that he had no choice but to let him make a premature move around the far turn.

“The feeling was going out of my fingers, they were completely numb. He was pulling that hard,” Bailey said. “From the gate, he had the idea, 'You said go, now let's go'. I saw Unaccounted For and just like that he went from the four-path to the rail.

“He beat most horses by the time the field approached the far turn,” Bailey added. “When you're out on the track, you just know. They were struggling to keep up and my horse is going 80 percent. Most horses he ran against he had beat by the time they got to the far turn. He was just so good and so talented. He had a high cruising speed. He wanted to be on the lead in every jump of the race and every point of call. He was basically a brilliant miler that Bill got to go a mile and a quarter.”

Cigar proved victorious by 2 1/2-lengths over L'Carriere in the Breeders' Cup Classic and was dubbed by NYRA track announcer Tom Durkin as the, “unconquerable, invincible, unbeatable Cigar” in one of the most iconic race calls of all time.

With 1995 Horse of the Year honors wrapped up, Cigar proved himself the best horse in the country. But Cigar was much more than that for Bailey. The newly minted Hall of Fame jockey found himself going above and beyond the “doctor-patient” type of relationship he had with previous horses, even taking his 3-year-old son Justin to visit the champion the morning after the Classic.

“I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could. I would go back to the barn just to be around him and just to watch him graze,” Bailey said. “I took Justin back to the barn the morning after and that was a special moment. He was so gentle and calm when he wasn't on the track.”

Despite the perfect 10-for-10 season, there were still some who doubted Cigar.

“There were naysayers,” Bailey said. “Some people thought, 'Okay, Cigar is legit, but what happens when another horse looks him in the eye?'”

Cigar answered that question with authority when he travelled to the Middle East for the inaugural running of the $4 million Dubai World Cup in March 1996. Cigar established clear command at the top of the stretch, but Soul of the Matter loomed large and powered his way to even terms.

But Bailey said he wasn't fazed, knowing how much his horse had left.

“I was trying to save as much as I could for as long as I could. When Soul of the Matter came right up to Cigar, I was still in reserve mode,” Bailey recalled. “I could feel that motor get going again. I knew that he might get by me, but he wasn't going to beat me. He might have gotten a head in front of me for a jump or two, but I could feel Cigar reengaging and I knew he had enough to do it.”

After a repeat win in the Massachusetts Handicap and a 3 ½-length victory in the specially-designed Arlington Citation Challenge at Arlington Park, Cigar tied the 16 consecutive win record of 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation. But Cigar's memorable run came to an end after shipping to California for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic when second to longshot Dare and Go.

“At that point, he had some miles in him. He went from Florida, to Dubai, to Massachusetts, to Chicago and now Del Mar,” Bailey said.

Bailey said his plan in the Pacific Classic was to keep Cigar in striking range to that year's Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup winner Siphon, who was sure to be the pacesetter.

But it was a little too close for comfort as Cigar gave way in mid-stretch, thus putting an end to his winning streak.

“I asked him more than he could do,” Bailey said. “For the next two to three years, I ran that race in my mind a hundred times a year.

“I rode a horse named Geri for Mott and Paulson in the Hollywood Gold Cup that year and lost to Siphon,” Bailey added. “Siphon got away early that day and it was my intention to not let him get away. In the Pacific Classic, Corey Nakatani was on Dramatic Gold and he was intent on trying to lock me in behind Siphon. I thought that at some point he would back off, but he didn't.”

Even 25 years later, Cigar holds the highest sentimental value of any horse Bailey has ridden throughout his 30-year career.

“I wasn't ever really all that nervous when I was on him before a race because he was just that good,” Bailey said. “Not only was he good, he was consistent. His style of running was the most you could ask for. He had great speed, acceleration, and there wasn't a situation in a race that he couldn't get you out of. He had so many tools and gears. Good horses can win over broken glass and he didn't care. I don't think he liked Suffolk all that well, but he still won over the surface twice.”

When Cigar retired at the end of 1996 following a third to Alphabet Soup in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Woodbine, Bailey had piloted the horse to 16 of his 19 lifetime victories.

“They just wound up being a good fit,” Mott said of Bailey and Cigar. “It seemed like he always put him in a position to win.”

Mott said Cigar's talent was a combination of both physical as and mental superiority.

“He had the ability, but he also had the mindset to do it,” said Mott. “He showed up every time. If he had any issues or he wasn't feeling good, he ran through it anyway. As Allen Jerkens said, 'the very good ones will win, even when it's not their best day.'”

But what resonated the most for Bailey was Cigar's gentle demeanor around the barn.

“The only other horse I've seen that was like that was [2015 Triple Crown winner] American Pharoah,” Bailey said. “He loved being showed off and being with people.”

After proving infertile as a stallion, Cigar spent the rest of his days being shown off to fans visiting the Hall of Champions at the Kentucky Horse Park, where he was stabled alongside all-time greats such as John Henry and Da Hoss until he passed in October 2014 at the age of 24.

“There really was no one else like him,” Bailey said.

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Cartier Awards To Be Shown On Sky Sports Racing

With COVID-19 preventing the traditional ceremony from taking place, this year’s Cartier Awards will be broadcast on Sky Sports Racing from 8 p.m. on Nov. 20.

Laurent Feniou, managing director of Cartier UK, said, “In what has proved to be a year in which so many people have faced exceptional challenges, I am delighted for the Cartier Racing Awards to be broadcast on Sky Sports Racing. Despite the cancellation of our traditional dinner and ceremony at The Dorchester, we are thrilled to have the racing public join us to watch the Cartier Racing Awards presentation this year. Thank you very much to Sky Sports Racing for stepping in and generously offering to broadcast the presentation of the Cartier Racing Awards.”

Rob Dakin, head of racing for Sky Sports Racing, said, “We have always been very happy to give the Cartier Racing Awards significant coverage over the years and stepping in to broadcast the presentation of the awards in 2020 was not a hard decision for us to take. Sky Sports Racing broadcasts many highlights of the Flat season in Europe, headed by Royal Ascot and our exclusive coverage of French racing. With the Cartier Racing Awards celebrating the very best in European Flat racing, it feels like a very natural partnership. I am confident that our innovative broadcast will appeal across the spectrum of racing’s stakeholders and it is great to be able to support Cartier’s longstanding sponsorship of these prestigious awards.”

The nominations for the Cartier awards were also unveiled on Friday. They are as follows:

Horse of the Year: Addeybb (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), Battaash (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Cartier Older Horse: Addeybb, Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), Ghaiyyath and Magical.

Cartier 3-Year-Old Colt: Kameko (Kitten’s Joy), Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}), Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal) and Siskin (First Defence).

Cartier 3-Year-Old Filly: Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), Fancy Blue (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Wonderful Tonight (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}).

Cartier Sprinter: Battaash, Dream Of Dreams (Fr) (Dream Ahead), Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead), Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB}).

Cartier Stayer: Galileo Chrome (Ire) (Australia {GB}),

Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}), Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Wonderful Tonight.

Cartier 2-Year-Old Colt: Battleground (War Front), Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Van Gogh (American Pharoah).

Cartier 2-Year-Old Filly: Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never), Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), Pretty Gorgeous (Fr) (Lawman {Fr}) and Tiger Tanaka (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}).

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