Horse Racing's video: 1995 Breeders Cup Preview Day - NBC Broadcast

The only thing dumber than wagering against Cigar in last Saturday's Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park was betting against Notre Dame on the week the pope visited the U.S. This is a remarkable horse, and the only excuse for not having known that weeks ago is that you've been sequestered in a hotel room somewhere. On a bleak, blustery afternoon, with the air full of smoke--or was that just fog?--Cigar pushed his winning streak to 11 by romping home easily in the Gold Cup. "Sitting in the box, waiting for the race, I don't think my heart rate was any faster than if I was going to sleep," said Bill Mott, the horse's easygoing trainer. "It's not that I didn't respect the other horses, it's just that I have so much confidence in him." The race was the first meeting between the 5-year-old Cigar and Thunder Gulch, the 3-year-old whose resume includes victories in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes. The two hadn't been scheduled to meet until the $3 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 28 at Belmont. But on the Monday before the Gold Cup, trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who had been having a better year than almost everybody but Ted Turner, got a little too cocky when he looked over the weak field lined up to challenge Cigar. "There's a nationwide movement to ban smoking, anyway," said Lukas. "We're just trying to do our part." But late Saturday afternoon, Lukas wasn't laughing as he grimly watched Cigar stalk the early pace, gallop to the lead in the turn for home and need only mild urging from jockey Jerry Bailey for a one-length victory over Unaccounted For. The winner covered the mile and a quarter in 2:01.1, a more than decent time considering the deep and cuppy condition of a track that was officially rated as fast. Thunder Gulch threw in a rare dull race, struggling home fifth in the seven-horse field, 14 lengths back of the winner. The reason became obvious later in the barn, when the horse appeared uncomfortable and Lukas ordered X-rays, which revealed a fractured cannon bone in his left front leg. The injury will put an end to his career on the racetrack. https://www.si.com/vault/1995/10/16/207234/all-fired-up-cigar-blazed-to-victory-in-the-jockey-club-gold-cup-a-race-that-ended-the-career-of-thunder-gulch