Whispers of the past: Cigar's streak ended in Classic

By: JEFF NAHILL - Staff Writer | Saturday, August 19, 2006 11:45 PM PDT ∞

DEL MAR ---- The silence of the crowd was deafening.

That's the biggest memory for many who witnessed history 10 years ago in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, when Dare And Go ended Cigar's 16-race winning streak, one shy of breaking Citation's North American record.

When eight thoroughbreds, including Lava Man and 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, enter the starting gate today for the $1 million Pacific Classic, there probably won't be 44,181 fans crammed into every nook and cranny of the racetrack, but there will be plenty of people who remember that fateful day in 1996.

"Never in the history of the game has there been a quieter finish of any race," said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club president Joe Harper.

Said Alex Solis, Dare And Go's jockey: "It was good memories for me, but it's the only time I've ever been booed and called all kinds of names after winning a race."

No one was calling himself more names than losing jockey Jerry Bailey.

"They said it was deafening quiet," said Bailey, who was at Del Mar on Saturday for a book signing and will be part of ESPN2's coverage of the race today. "All I remember is being heartbroken and really blaming myself."

Bailey blamed himself for letting the California jockey colony determine his fate instead of riding his own race for his owner, the late Allen Paulson of Rancho Santa Fe, and trainer Bill Mott.

"I knew Siphon had speed," Bailey said. "I was concerned about him getting away. I knew I had a target on my back for a long time. I was concerned about Corey Nakatani, who was on Dramatic Gold, because he made it hard for me to win in Chicago when he floated me wide. I was concerned he was going to box me in behind Siphon. In hindsight, I let Cigar try to keep up to too fast a pace.

"I knew long before the wire that I had asked him to go too fast early and still win."

And as Dare And Go came down the stretch you could hear a pin drop. The only ones rejoicing were the people going to the mutuel windows to collect their $81.20.

"As the race set up, you could see what was going to happen," Harper said. "About the half-mile pole, I'm going, 'oops.'

"I remember Gov. Pete Wilson was going to give the trophy away and he said, 'Now what do we do?' I said, "Well, I guess we have a winner, just not the one we thought it would be.' "

Solis certainly was happy. Well, maybe not as much as should have been.

"To be honest, Cigar looked unbeatable," said Solis, "but you have to go out there and find a way to win the race.

"It was one of the rare races when you study the (Daily Racing) Form and it went the way you visualized the race would unfold. It happened exactly the way I hoped it would shape up and I got a little bit more help when Dramatic Gold went up with Cigar.

"It was an incredible feeling at the five-sixteenths pole when I asked him, he came running and I thought I was going to win the race. At the eighth pole, I blew by him and it was the first time that I heard a track so very quiet.

"No one gave me a hard time (about winning). Whenever I would go to other states to ride, they would say, 'You're the guy that beat Cigar.' It's not so much a negative any more. At the time it was.

"The next day I was very happy. I looked at the paper and I thought, 'This was a really big deal.' Later on in life, people are going to see it in a positive way and part of history."

Del Mar campaigned hard to get on the Cigar victory tour.

"We weren't sure where that horse was going to go next after Chicago," Harper said. "I remember when (owner) Allen Paulson called me and said 'I'm going to bring him home.' I said, 'Allen you have a lot of homes. I hope it's the one in Del Mar.'Ý He said, 'Yes.'

"The whole thing was such a great deal. The day he came in, the whole helicopter coverage from the Ontario airport with his head sticking out of the van. It was like the horse was his best PR guy. He would stop for the cameras and put his ears up on his own.

"It was like Seabiscuit was back."

But Seabiscuit won his big Del Mar match race against Ligaroti in 1938. Cigar didn't make it to the winner's circle in his big race.

Does Bailey still have ill feelings when he steps foot at the seaside oval?

"After that I came back, won a couple of stakes and a Pacific Classic (aboard Pleasantly Perfect), so I sort of cleansed the soul and washed away some of the bad memories I had of that day," Bailey said.

And that's all everyone has left is the memories of that day.

"It was a great day," said Harper, "probably not for the Motts and the Paulsons, but it certainly was a great day for Del Mar."

-- Contact staff writer Jeff Nahill at (760) 740-3550 or jnahill@nctimes.com.

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