Hollywood Park will give us "The Last Handicap."
History could be in the making when Cigar attempts to equal Citation's 46-year- old modern American record of 16 straight victories in the Hollywood Gold Cup on June 30. Perhaps for the last time in his career, he will be assigned weight by a handicapper.
Cigar won the Massachusetts Handicap under 130 pounds. Among the five stragglers behind him was a horse named Hogan's Goat. But in terms of class, all of 'em were goats. Cigar had a $400,000 workout.
He won by 2 1/4 lengths, but he was geared down for a quarter mile and could have won by 12 1/4. Cigar may wind up with 130, 131 pounds for the Gold Cup. What's critical is the weight assigned to his opponents. If I were a betting man (and I am, you know), I'd wager Soul of the Matter gets 124.
But unless he races next year, it could mark the last time the Matchless Cigar packs 130 or more, and the last time he gives weight to an older rival.
"It's going to be a difficult race to weight," said the man who will ultimately be responsible for Cigar's Gold Cup package, Hollywood Park racing secretary Martin Panza.
"But," he was quick to point out, "it's the last major handicap race this year, and, unless Cigar runs next year, it will probably be the last time he's weighted. If he goes down to Del Mar, the Pacific Classic is weight-for-age, so he'll drop back down to 124 pounds.
"I think the rest of the year his schedule is pretty much all weight-for-age. So the Hollywood Gold Cup will probably be his last test until the Breeders' Cup comes along." Even in that race, all older male horses carry 126 pounds.
Panza and four members of his staff will put their heads together to assign Gold Cup weights, which will be announced Sunday, June 23. It won't be easy.
"They'll give me some ideas on what they think, but the bottom line is my decision," said the 32-year-old Panza. "For a race like the Gold Cup, we'll look at the last three or four races of each horse. We'll watch them on video tape just to see if they had any trouble. That will give us a better feel for things and we'll go from there.
"It's going to be difficult to weight because of the Dubai race (in which Cigar defeated Soul of the Matter by a half-length at equal weights of 124 pounds). Soul of the Matter was so close to Cigar, and if I went by the standard of a half-length being equal to one pound, that would obviously put Soul of the Matter one pound below Cigar. But I don't think he should be only one pound below Cigar."
Ack Ack was the highest-weighted Gold Cup starter -- and winner -- under 134 pounds in 1971.
Panza is looking forward to Cigar's invasion from more than just a box office standpoint. Prior to the start of the meet, the soft-spoken Panza forecast Cigar's participation in the Gold Cup would bring an on-track crowd of 40,000 to 50,000.
"Hopefully, if it's marketed correctly, with a horse that's closing in on Citation's record, we'll get that many people. Cigar is probably one of the better older handicap horses to come around in the last 25 years, at least, maybe 50 years. So we're hoping to get a crowd that size. It should be a huge day."
On a personal note: "Obviously, anytime you get to see a great horse like that, you enjoy going to work that day. You enjoy going to the races. It gives you goose bumps.
"I've had people I haven't heard from in a long time call, asking me, 'What about this Cigar horse? When's he going to run? Can you get me passes that day?' I think a lot of people who aren't really racing fans, who perhaps come once or twice every couple years, realize this is a special horse."
FIRST INTENT -- Improved dramatically under active and successful claiming trainer Jack Carava. Should continue winning ways at newest level.
THE HOMESTRETCH: : Cigar's earnings presently are a North American record $8,069,815, and if he continues to win ($1 million Hollywood Gold Cup, $1 million Pacific Classic, $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic, with the $500,000-guaranteed Woodward thrown in for good measure), he could easily surpass $10 million . . . If 23-year-old Frenchman Brice Blanc wins the Hollywood riding title, wouldn't he be the first jockey ever to begin a meet as an apprentice, lose his bug, then continue on to win the crown as a journeyman? . . . Agent Vince DeGregory says Goncalino Almeida will resume riding on June 12. The 40-year-old Brazilian has been sidelined since suffering fractures to both legs in a spill at Santa Anita on Jan. 20 . . . When it comes to putting riders on live horses, there's no better agent than Scotty McClellan, who handles assignments for Chris McCarron and Alex Solis. McClellan's men won seven straight races last Wednesday and Thursday. McCarron started the streak on Fleeting Image ($7) in the fifth race, followed by Solis on Crafty Johnny ($4.20), McCarron on Falstaff's Issue ($24.20), Benchmark ($4.40) and Irish Brogue ($18.60). McCarron won his fourth straight in the first race Thursday, on Goulash ($5.40), and Solis won the second on Appealing Crusader ($6.40) before Laffit Pincay Jr. ended the skein by winning the third . . . A.P. Assay, the easiest winner in her debut, is expected to jump right into stakes company and should make her next start in the Landaluce Stakes on July 6. Solis never moved on the Paco Gonzalez-trained filly through the stretch and she still won by six lengths. It was the first win for sire A.P. Indy, 1992 Horse of the Year, who could become the most prolific sire of 2-year-olds since Mr. Prospector. A.P. Assay's dam is Nice Assay, and please tell me how that one got past The Jockey Club . . . David Hofmans, who sent out Cat's Cradle to beat the boys on May 31, says the Cal-bred filly could make her next start in either the the Milady Handicap on June 23 or Valkyr Handicap on June 29 . . . Hollywood's in-house promo hawking the coming of Cigar in the Gold Cup is seen mainly on its Matrix board and satellite monitors, which is unfortunate. The riveting review of Cigar's greatest triumphs, backed by the stirring music "O Fortuna," which was featured in "Excalibur," "The Omen" and "Glory," was created by broadcast publicist Tony Allevato and production coordinator Erik Edison. It was a low-budget affair, produced from existing footage. Nevertheless, it's network-quality.
The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com/alauck)