GOLDEN GLIMPSES #45

CIGAR: NOT ONLY HORSE OF YEAR, BUT HORSE OF CENTURY

A champion in defeat.

A horse who tries every time, not one who can occasionally finish up the track, like Skip Away and Dare and Go.

Any horseman worth his spurs would recognize that, and Santa Anita racing secretary Tom Knust concurs, even though after Cigar's narrow defeat in the Breeders' Cup Classic, he has likely run his last race and will not be lured to Santa Anita for one more go at glory.

Santa Anita had representatives at Woodbine Saturday, with the hope they might make Allen Paulson an offer he couldn't refuse.

But don't bet on it now.

The defeat did not diminish Cigar's achievements, certainly not in the eyes of the 50-year-old Knust.

"I was as impressed with his three losing races as I've been with any he's won," Knust said.

"This is just my opinion, but I don't think any horse I've seen run could have done what Cigar did this year, and that's from Dubai on.

"And where are the horses that ran against him in Dubai (Soul of the Matter, beaten a half-length by Cigar in Dubai, never raced again and an injury forced his retirement)? Cigar has so much heart and so much ability. In his three losses, any other horse would have been up the track somewhere."

Sounds like he'll get Knust's vote as Horse of the Year.

"I've seen Spectacular Bid and John Henry and good horses like that, and I don't think any of those horses could have accomplished what Cigar has. I think he's right up there with the best horses I've ever seen run.

"He's a great horse, but it seems to me he's had a hard campaign. You can't take anything away from him.

"Cigar tries no matter what, and he's accomplished so much already, I really don't think there's any more for him to prove. He's a great horse. He'll be Horse of the Year, and he might be Horse of the Century."

BEEP ME -- Juvenile son of Phone Trick ran winning race in defeat when dropped to realistic level. Similar effort gets the candy.

THISNEARLYWASMINE -- Chris McCarron had one mount last Thursday, and one of the nation's top money riders didn't show up for nothing. He rode this 2-year-old son of Capote to a front-running victory over 2-5 favorite In Excessive Bull, and did it while breaking from the No. 1 post. Enough gas in the tank for repeat victory.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, with a well-documented history of substance abuse and personal problems, has not ridden at Santa Anita since last Thursday. Word is the 34-year rider is holed up in San Diego where his fiancee's grandfather is gravely ill. "He'd rather be there than stay here and ride," said his agent, Jerry Ingordo. "That's him. The stewards have called me and I've told them the story. Patrick says he'll return Monday." . . . Eddie Delahoussaye on victories in four Breeders' Cup races by Southern California-based jockeys: "We're not the only place that has top riders. Eastern riders can come out here and win races also. Within the top seven or eight riders here, it comes down to who gets the (best) horse. If they get the horses, they're gonna produce. There's nothing special about it. They're just top riders." On why the Hall of Fame rider decided to stay home: "They wanted me to ride Lakota Brave (in the Sprint), but I knew he was a bad gate horse. (Alex) Solis was going to be there, so I reminded (trainer) Bruce (Headley) that Alex had ridden him before and he knows the horse. I knew it was gonna be a tough race. Lakota Brave beat Letthebighossroll, but he's an $80,000 horse. In his time, Lakota Brave was a nice horse, but you're looking at a lot tougher horses in the Breeders' Cup. You have to have everything go right for you . I didn't have any other mounts. I could have picked up some 20-1 shots, but I didn't want to go for that." Lakota Brave finished fifth, beaten some four lengths . . . ESPN is the prototypical TV sports news show, but it displayed inexcusable ignorance in its Breeders' Cup report, to wit: the graphic on Corey Nakatani read "Cory;" Jenine Sahadi's name was pronounced "Saheedi," and the announcer said Da Hoss went from last in the 1995 Mile to first this year, when, in actuality, Da Hoss was last in the 1995 Sprint. But who cares? It's only horse racing . . . Stakes-winning filly Call Now was lucky to escape serious injury when she broke through the gate before Saturday's Louis R. Rowan Handicap. Owned by donut mogul Verne Winchell, 14-1 shot Call Now unseated Goncalino Almeida, jogged a few hundred yards down the turf course, then entered the first gap she saw, which happened to hold the sponge-like webbing between the inside of the rail on the main track and the outer rail of the grass course. Suddenly, a 1,000-pound animal was performing an impromptu and dangerous trampoline act on a surface designed to break the fall of a 100-pound jockey. "She's scraped up pretty good but she looks all right," said Dan Landers, assistant to Ron McAnally. "She's got some pretty swollen legs and it'll take a week or so to heal. The poor thing. It's a good thing she's very calm. It may not have looked that way, but she's one of the few fillies who has a little bit of sense." It was Call Now's intelligence and the quick reaction of ambulance driver Johnny Carbajal that saved the day. "It's a good thing he was able to grab a hold of her," Landers said. "He headed her off. I jumped over the fence, but I wasn't quick enough." . . . If Ricks Natural Star had finished any farther back in the Breeders' Cup Turf, he wouldn't have been distanced, he'd have been lapped.

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