The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com)CIGAR HAS TRACK TO HIMSELF FOR MORNING GALLOP AT DEL MAR
Cigar, 1995's Horse of the Year and since dubbed Horse of the World for his victory in the $4-million Dubai Cup, galloped the Del Mar racetrack in regal fashion Friday morning as he put some semi-final touches to his training for Saturday's $1,000,000 Pacific Classic at the seaside course.
For the gallop at 7 a.m., following the first track renovation of the morning, the track was closed to other horses for 15 minutes.
A triumph in the Pacific Classic will give the 6-year-old son of Palace Music a modern-day record of 17 consecutive victories, and might add Horse of the Century to his growing list of honors. Cigar, owned by Allen E. Paulson and trained by Bill Mott, tied Citation's skein of 16 victories July 13 in the Arlington Citation Challenge at Arlington International Racecourse.
The big bay galloped easily around the track before a large contingent of media members and general onlookers. Regular exercise rider Gerard Guenther was in the irons. Following the gallop, Guenther steered Cigar into the paddock for several turns around the walking ring and a short stop in one of the saddling stalls.
Of the closed-track gallop for his Thoroughbred star, trainer Bill Mott said, "Del Mar offered us the option of having the track to ourselves for his gallop. At first, I thought I wouldn't do it; I didn't want to put out the other horses and horsemen here. But Bill Shoemaker sort of talked me into it. (Mott has stabled Cigar in Shoemaker's barn.) Bill said as how this was a real busy track with a lot of workers in the morning and how it would be good to take advantage of the offer. So we did it."
Of the activity and the crowds at trackside and in the paddock, Mott said: "He went real well around there. He seemed to take it just fine. He's taking it all fine. That's his nature.
"He's been handling all this attention well. He seems to go right with it. He's a bit of a show-off, I guess, and he seems to like all the people and the cameras clicking. He's good with it. It's become part of what he is."
Mott noted, also, that Cigar, who will be ridden by Jerry Bailey as usual, seemed to feel comfortable in the paddock and its surroundings, appearing very relaxed.
As for the horse's potential race into the history books Saturday, Mott said, "Off what I've seen here, and off the quality training we've been able to give him coming up to this race - all other things being equal - I would expect a good race from him tomorrow."
That may be bad news for the trainers of the five who intend to stand as roadblocks in the way of the 17th straight victory. Tinners Way, Siphon, Dare and Go, Dramatic Gold and Luthier Fever all went about their business Friday preparing for their historic challenge to Cigar.
Tinners Way, owned by Juddmonte Farms and trained by Hall of Famer Robert Frankel, galloped the track as usual as he prepared to defend a streak of his own - two consecutive victories in the Pacific Classic. The 6-year-old son of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat is coming up to the confrontation off of two races, just as he did last year. Frankel said at his barn Friday, "If I win this race tomorrow it will be my biggest thrill in racing. I wouldn't love anything else more. I'm not going to be a fake and say, `Oh, I hate to break his streak.' Cigar ain't puttin' no food in my mouth."
About the apparent lack of attention for Tinners Way, who has been established as no better than 8-1 on the morning line, Frankel said, "That's fine, let it stay that way. He's never learned to read the papers." Tinners Way, who is yet to be favored in a Pacific Classic, will be ridden again by Eddie Delahoussaye, who piloted him to his previous two wins in the race.
Siphon, owned by Rio Claro Thoroughbreds and trained by Richard Mandella, is another horse with a record on the line. The 5-year-old Brazilian-bred, who has been characterized as a Mike Tyson brawling-type, has won four straight races going back to the Bay Meadows Express on February 17. His most recent three victories, including the June 30 Hollywood Gold Cup, all have come in front- running fashion and he is expected to be on the lead in the 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic. His four wins this year have come at distances ranging from 6 furlongs to 1 1/4 miles. Siphon galloped Friday morning and is scheduled to be schooled in the paddock during Friday's second race. David Flores will ride.
Mandella's other candidate for the Pacific Classic is La Presle Farm's Dare and Go, who was fifth in the Hollywood Gold Cup and second in Hollywood Park's Bel Air Handicap July 14. Dare and Go, who will be ridden by Alex Solis, galloped Friday and will school in the paddock with his stablemate during the second race. Also, schooling with the two runners will be California's all-time money winner, Best Pal, who is under Mandella's care as he prepares for his assignment to lead the post parade for the Classic. Best Pal, the winner of the inaugural Pacific Classic, was retired in January and has taken up residence at his birthplace, John and Betty Mabee's Golden Eagle Farm in nearby Ramona.
Dramatic Gold, owned by Golden Eagle Farm and trained by David Hofmans, galloped the track Friday and went to the paddock. Hofmans said that as late as Wednesday morning Dramatic Gold wasn't a sure prospect for this Pacific Classic, a race in which he finished third in 1994. Hofmans said that the thinking was at least one of the major contenders would have to come out of the race before Dramatic Gold would be considered a prospect by him and Golden Eagle's John Mabee. When Helmsman first was withdrawn with a pulled muscle in his back, and then Soul of the Matter went down with a leg injury on Wednesday, entry day, the green light went on. Del Mar's leading jockey, Corey Nakatani, picked up the mount on Dramatic Gold after Soul of the Matter went out.
Luthier Fever, owned by Cuadra TYT Inc. and trained by Eduardo Inda, galloped Friday morning under the eye of Inda assistant Manuel Avila while Inda was in Los Angeles being sworn in as an American citizen. Luthier Fever, who will be ridden by Brice Blanc, finished second in the Santa Anita Handicap and last in the Hollywood Gold Cup. He is the only horse in the Pacific Classic who is eligible for the MGM Grand Classic Crown participatory bonus totaling $500,000, since he has run in both the Big 'Cap and the Gold Cup.
All horses in the Pacific Classic will carry 124 pounds, and the post time is scheduled for 3:37 p.m. The race is the 6th on the 10-race card. A second stakes race, the Grade III, $104,750 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares going 6 1/2 furlongs, will be run as the day's 8th race.
On Saturday, gates open at 9:30 a.m., with first post time at 12:30 p.m.
THE CIGAR TRAINER/RIDER TEAM TO MEET FANS AT SEASIDE TERRACE
Trainer Bill Mott and jockey Jerry Bailey will meet fans Saturday morning for a question-and-answer period at the track's Seaside Terrace, near the head of the stretch, from 9:45 to 10:15 a.m.
The pair will be talking, naturally, about Cigar, the horse who will go for his 17th straight victory Saturday afternoon in the $1,000,000 Pacific Classic. Del Mar track announcer Trevor Denman will be master of ceremonies.
SOUL OF THE MATTER COMFORTABLE IN HIS STALL; STALLION DUTY NEXT
Trainer Richard Mandella reported Friday morning that Soul of the Matter suffered a torn sesamoidal ligament in the lower part of the sesamoid in his right foreleg, but that he is comfortable in his stall in the Mandella barn.
"Compared to what we thought it might be, it's on the minor side," Mandella said. Soul of the Matter pulled up lame following a half-mile workout on Wednesday in what was to be his final serious drill leading to Saturday's Pacific Classic. Early concerns were that it could be a fractured sesamoid, but further examination revealed the injury as soft-tissue damage, according to veterinarian Rick Arthur.
Mandella said ultrasound examination pinpointed the injury. "He's doing very well, now," the trainer added.
BON POINT HEADS FIELD OF SEVEN IN DEL MAR'S ESCONDIDO HANDICAP
A field of seven, headed by Juddmonte Farms' Bon Point, is set for today's Escondido Handicap for fillies and mares going 1 3/8 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
If all seven start, the purse will be $105,100, with the winner's share being $65,100. For any scratches, deduct $300 from each figure.
TEN 3-YEAR-OLDS EXPECTED FOR SUNDAY'S GRADE III LA JOLLA HANDICAP
A field of 10 sophomores, including the winners of both divisions of Del Mar's Oceanside Stakes on opening day, July 24, is expected to go to the post in Sunday's 56th running of the Grade III La Jolla Handicap for 3-year-olds at 1-1/16 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
If all start in the race, which is a prep for the Grade II, $300,000 Del Mar Derby on Monday, September 2, the purse will be $132,850, with the winner getting $82,850.
Heading the field will be Oceanside winners Caribbean Pirate and Ambivalent. That race was run at one mile on the turf.
Returning from the Oceanside, also, are The Barking Shark and Mateo, who finished second and third behind Caribbean Pirate, and Benton Creek, who was second to Ambivalent, and Belair Cozz, who finished off the board in that division.
One of the new players is the well-regarded Roar, who was purchased earlier by Will Farish and John Greeley III from Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, and sent to the barn of Richard Mandella. Roar was a serious contender for the Triple Crown races after winning the Swale Stakes at Gulfstream in the winter and the Jim Beam Stakes, a major Kentucky Derby prep at Turfway Park. His progress was slowed at that point, and he didn't make any of the Triple Crown races.
VETERAN TURF WRITER BILL LEGGETT DIES FRIDAY MORNING
Eclipse-Award winning turf writer Bill Leggett, who covered all of the major races in America for many years, died Friday in New York after a short illness.
A service will be held at St. Mary's Nativity Roman Catholic Church in Flushing, Queens, NY, Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. Quinn's Funeral Home in Flushing is in charge of arrangements.
Leggett won the Eclipse Award for outstanding magazine writing in 1979 while at Sports Illustrated, where he wrote for 30 years. Leggett was a native of Saratoga Springs, NY, and a graduate of Seton Hall University. He was a former president of both the National Turf Writers Association and the New York Turf Writers Association.
He is survived by his wife, Jane, daughters Eileen, Patricia, Maureen and Susan, and one son, Bill.
SHORE LINES: Thursday's Pick Six payoff of $849,112.60 was the second highest in Del Mar's history. There was one winning ticket, sold at Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind., where the races are taken by simulcast. The track's largest payoff is $1,039,259.20, paid September 7, 1995 .... Corey Nakatani, who leads the jockey standings so far at Del Mar, put more distance between himself and second-place Chris McCarron with four wins Thursday. McCarron posted one victory to make the figures read: Nakatani 22; McCarron 15 .... McCarron rides Bedivere in Friday's Escondido Handicap in search of his 100th stakes victory at Del Mar. The Hall of Fame rider became the seaside track's all-time stakes winner last summer, passing Bill Shoemaker's mark of 93 and ending the meet with 98.
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