Cigar was a great American Thoroughbred race horse . Thoroughbreds are horses whose ancestry can be traced to three Arabian stallions that were brought to England, probably from the Middle East, in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. Stallions are male horses that can be used for breeding .
From Oct. 28, 1994, through July 13, 1996, Cigar won 16 consecutive races, the first American race horse to achieve that feat since Citation in 1948 and 1950. Cigar retired in 1996 as the leading money winner in Thoroughbred racing history. The horse held the record until Curlin broke it in 2008. Cigar was named the United States Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996.
Cigar was born on April 18, 1990, at Country Life Farm near Bel Air, Maryland. His sire (father) was Palace Music and his dam (mother) was Solar Slew. Allen Paulson, the horse’s owner and breeder, was an important figure in American aviation, and Cigar was named for a pre-takeoff checklist performed by pilots, not the tobacco product. Cigar’s trainer was Bill Mott.
Unlike many Thoroughbreds, Cigar did not race as a two-year-old. He made 11 of his first 13 starts on grass tracks but won only once on that surface. When he was switched to dirt tracks, he began his winning streak, and he raced on dirt tracks for the remainder of his career. During his career, Cigar ran in 33 races, winning 19, with 4 second-place finishes and 5 third-place finishes. Cigar died on Oct. 7, 2014.
