CIGAR RETIRES

According to published reports, Allen and Madeleine Paulson, owners of 1995 (and probable 1996) Horse of the Year Cigar, announced that their champion has been officially retired and will go to stud at Paulson's Brookside Farm in Versailles, Ky. Cigar will appear at the National Horse Show at New York's Madison Square Garden on Saturday, and will say a final goodbye to his public Nov. 12 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. 'Cigar loves the attention and he desrves it,' Madeleine said. 'He may not have the spring in his foot he used to have, but I'm so proud of him and grateful for everything he's given us.'

The New York Police Department will escort Cigar from Belmont Park to Madison Square Garden, where several streets will be roped off. The Budweiser Clydesdales, bagpipers and the New York Knicks' cheerleaders will be attendance, as will Bill Cosby, who is expected to appear on horseback in the Garden. Cigar is scheduled to be paraded at 1:45 p.m.

Cigar won 19 of 33 career races, 18 of 22 on dirt. he raced at 13 different racetracks, winning at 10. He made his mark on the racing world with a record-tying 16-race winning streak, which began Oct. 28, 1994 and ended Aug. 10, 1996. he won 15 stakes races, with 11 Grade I victories. He defeated the best the world had to offer in the inaugural running of the $4 million Dubai World Cup, March 27.

Cigar's third-place finish in this year's Breeders' Cup Classic, worth $480,000, propelled him to the top of the all-time Thoroughbred earnings list, with career earnings of $9,999,815. Japan's Narita Brian, sidelined in May but still active, has converted earnings of $9,794,563.

CIGAR IS NUMBER ONE VOTE-GETTER

Cigar topped the final TRC National Poll once again, making it 74 consecutive weeks at the top spot. He has been the leading vote- getter every week in both 1995 (41 polls) and 1996 (33). Easy Goer spent 30 non-consecutive weeks at number one in 1989 while Best Pal had 24 straight appearances at the top in 1992.

LeROY NIEMAN NAMED OFFICIAL DERBY ARTIST

World-renowned artist LeRoy Nieman has been named the official artist of the 1997 Kentucky Derby, to be run at Churchill Downs, May 3. Nieman will at the Louisville, Ky., track on Nov. 13, to unveil the official Kentucky Derby artwork. 'It has long been our goal to have an artist of this caliber associated with the Kentucky Derby, said vice president of marketing, Kevin Marie Nuss. Nieman will design the artwork that will be used on the Derby and Kentucky Oaks tickets and programs.

KEENELAND GETS ITS FIRST ANNOUNCER

Keeneland, in Lexington, Ky., built in 1936, has named Kurt Becker as its first-ever announcer. The track was the only major racecourse in North America without an on-track call of its races. Becker last called Thoroughbred races at the three Chicago-area tracks in 1993, and has been on NASCAR's national radio coverage team since. Becker will also take over the race-calling duties at Churchill Downs.

BAY MEADOWS SOLD

Patriot American Hospitality, Inc., has entered into a binding agreement to purchase the Bay Meadows Operating Company and the California Jockey Club for $33 per share. The transaction is worth an estimated $195 million and is subject to approval by the shareholders of the companies. Patriot American Hospitality owns 42 hotels.

DOWN UNDER RACING CATCHING ON UP HERE

The advent of simulcasting has opened the doors to international racing to be imported to the U.S., with Australia and Hong Kong leading the way. Australian racing is now taken at more than a dozen racetracks and numerous off-track locations. With the Melbourne Cup being run, Monday, Nov. 4 (Nov. 5 in Melbourne), many tracks are signing on for the day and planning parties in conjunction with local Australian groups.

One is the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Australia-America Chamber of Commerce in Denver, which will hold a party for 100 at Arapahoe Park in Aurora, a suburb of Denver. Partygoers are asked to dress as they would if they were on-track at Flemington, 'everything from top hats to rugby shorts,' said Sheryl Jones, a director of the Chamber of Commerce. Jones recently came back from Australia with posters and decorations especially for the party. Arapahoe, in common with many of the other tracks which will simulcast the race, is opening on its usual dark day.

JOCKEY CLUB RELEASES 1996 REPORT OF MARES BRED

Due to new computer technology, The Jockey Club has released its Report of Mares Bred (RMB) in 1996 earlier than ever. 'Release of RMB statistics in advance of the major breeding stock sales is the direct result of technological enhancements within the Registry,' said Nick Nicholson, executive director of The Jockey Club. 'These enhancements have been vital to our ongoing commitment to make relevant industry information available in a timely manner.' Through Oct. 24, The Jockey Club had received reports for 4,445 stallions which were bred to 56,148 mares in 1996. Historical trends indicate another 400 to 600 reports will be received by the end of the year.

GEORGEFF BOOK GIVEAWAY AT HAWTHORNE

Hawthorne Race Course, in Stickney, Ill., will be giving away 5,000 copies of a work of fiction written by Phil Georgeff, the legendary 'Voice of Chicago Racing,' Nov. 9. Georgeff, who retired in 1992 after calling more than 96,000 races, will be on hand to autograph 'Thoroughbred: In A Class By Himself,' described by Georgeff as a 'personal expression of a deep love and appreciation of who should have been the greatest Thoroughbred who ever lived.' The story is about Quicksilver, a fictional horse, who was inspired by Georgeff's favorite, the great Citation.

RACING ON THE AIR

Nov. 4 Melbourne Cup, 11:00 p.m.-midnight, SportsChannel NY & Ohio
Nov. 6 Racehorse Digest, 3:30-4:00 p.m., ESPN
Nov. 7 Racehorse Digest, 1:30-2:00 a.m., ESPN

RACING TO HISTORY

Nov. 2, 1968: John Nerud-trained Dr. Fager, carrying 139 pounds, won the last race of his career, the seven-furlong Vosburgh Handicap at Aqueduct, by six lengths. Dr. Fager was subsequently named champion handicap horse, champion sprinter, turf champion and Horse of the Year.

Nov. 2, 1985: Trainer D. Wayne Lukas won his first Breeders' Cup race, the Juvenile Fillies, with Twilight Ridge, whose entrymates Family Style and Arewehavingfunyet finished second and eighth, respectively.

Nov. 2, 1991: Dance Smartly won the Breeders' Cup Distaff and passed Lady's Secret as racing's all-time leading female Thoroughbred money- earner, with $3,083,456.

Nov. 2, 1991: The Breeders' Cup Pick 7, a wager linking the seven Breeders' Cup races, was inaugurated. Wagering on the Pick 7 alone, excluding wagers made on the individual Breeders' Cup races, was $8, 526,985.

Nov. 3, 1923: Tanforan, in suburban San Francisco, opened for a 25- day, non-betting meet.

Nov. 4, 1927: Bateau was disqualified from her third-place finish in the Pimlico Futurity after her jockey, Earl Sande, used the filly to ram the future Kentucky Derby winner, Reigh Count, into the rail. Sande subsequently was suspended for his action.

Nov. 5, 1988: Miesque became the first horse to win two consecutive Breeders' Cup Championship races when she won the Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs.

Nov. 5, 1988: Julie Krone became the first female jockey to compete in the Breeders' Cup when she rode Darby Shuffle to a second-place finish in the Juvenile Fillies race.

Nov. 5, 1988: Ogden Phipps' four-year-old filly Personal Ensign concluded her racing career with a 13-for-13 lifetime record when she edged Winning Colors by a nose to win the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs. She was the first American racehorse to retire undefeated in major competition since Colin in 1908.

Nov. 6, 1946: Three fillies from Argentina arrived at Newark Airport, having made a journey of 8,250 miles, the then-longest flight ever for horses.

Nov. 6, 1973: Secretariat was paraded before 33,000 fans at Aqueduct, as his final appearance at a racetrack before retirement to stud at Claiborne Farm.

Nov. 6, 1993: The Breeders' Cup was simulcast to England for wagering purposes for the first time.

Nov. 6, 1993: The official Breeders' Cup program for Breeders' Cup Day at Santa Anita Park was the first to carry the new Equibase Company's Speed Figures in its past-performance data.

Nov. 6, 1993: Lure became the fourth horse to win consecutive Breeders' Cup events when he won the Breeders' Cup Mile. The three other runners with consecutive victories were Miesque, Bayakoa (ARG) and Morley Street (IRE), the latter a two-time winner in the steeplechase division.

Nov. 9, 1957: Wheatley Stable's Bold Ruler, with Eddie Arcaro aboard, won the Trenton Handicap in a wire-to-wire victory over Gallant Man and Round Table in a three-horse race. Bold Ruler was subsequently named Horse of the Year off this performance.

Nov. 9, 1972: Secretariat worked seven furlongs in 1:25 4/5 at Garden State Park in preparation for the final race of his two-year- old season, the Garden State Stakes on Nov. 18.

Nov. 9, 1988: Laffit Pincay Jr. became the second jockey in history to win 7,000 races when he won the seventh race at Hollywood Park aboard Phone Bid.

Nov. 10, 1978: Jockey Patrick Valenzuela won his first career race, aboard Parker Petite, at Sunland Park, New Mexico.

Nov. 10, 1984: The inaugural Breeders' Cup was run at Hollywood Park. The highlight of the seven Breeders' Cup races, the Classic, pitted Wild Again, Gate Dancer and Slew o' Gold, who was the odds-on favorite despite having a well-publicized hoof injury. After a furious drive to the wire, which involved considerable bumping among the three horses, Wild Again prevailed, but Gate Dancer was disqualified from his second-place finish for interference and was placed third, behind Slew o' Gold.

CALIFORNIA CUP DAY AT SANTA ANITA
Nine races for California-breds.

Canadian Maturity Stakes, 4yo, $125,000, 1 1/4M (T), Grade IIC, Woodbine

Iroquois Stakes, 2yo, $100,000, 1M, Grade III, Churchill

Laurel Futurity, 2yo, $100,000, 1 1/8M, Grade III, Laurel

Powder Break Handicap, 3yo fillies, $150,000, 1 1/8M (T), Calder

Robert F. Carey Memorial Handicap, 3&up;, $150,000, 1M (T), Hawthorne

Stuyvesant Handicap, 3&up;, $100,000, 1 1/8M, Grade III, Aqueduct

Yellow Ribbon Stakes, 3&up; (f&m;), $600,000, 1 1/4M (T), Grade I, Santa Anita
The Yellow Ribbon is one of the most important grass races for fillies and mares and could decide the Eclipse Award for Best Turf Female. Timarida (IRE) may be the leading Eclipse candidate despite only one U.S. start. She shipped in from Europe to win the Grade I Beverly D Stakes at Arlington International, Aug. 24, and was third against males in England's Group 1 Dubai Champion Stakes, Oct. 19. She is not without competition, however. Admise (FR) was placed first via disqualification in the Grade I Oak Tree Turf Championship against males, Oct. 6. New York's Chelsey Flower won the Grade I Flower Bowl Handicap at Belmont, Oct. 12. Wandesta (GB) won the Grade II Las Palmas Handicap last time out. Italian champion Alpride (IRE) is the race's defending champion. Donna Viola (GB), a winner in France, England and Ireland, won the Group 2 Prix de L'Opera at France's Longchamp, Oct. 6.

Bunty Lawless Stakes, 3&up;, $75,000, 1M (T), Grade IIIC, Woodbine

Pocahontas Stakes, 2yo fillies, $100,000, 1M, Churchill

Selima Stakes, 2yo fillies, $100,000, 1 1/8M, Grade III, Laurel

Sport Page Handicap, 3&up;, $100,000, 7F, Grade III, Aqueduct

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