ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608120132
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DEL MAR, CALIF.
SOURCE: Associated Press
DARE AND GO ends the horse's record-tying winning streak at 16 races in the Pacific Classic.
``Fantastic,'' young Alex Solis Jr. said after his father rode the horse that beat The Horse.
But to Dad, the upset victory of Cigar by Dare and Go in the Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar was ``kind of sad. Cigar was a hero to us on the race track.''
The defeat of Cigar snapped a 16-race winning streak and left him tied with Citation for the longest victory string by a North American-based horse this century.
``The streak is over, but there's still races to be won,'' said Cigar's trainer, Bill Mott. ``He's still a great horse. I wouldn't back down in ranking him up there with the best.''
To winning trainer Richard Mandella, the victory was ``as good as it gets.''
Both Mott and Mandella said a lightning pace figured prominently in Cigar's upset by a horse who paid $81.20 to bettors.
``Pace makes the race and obviously it had something to do with the outcome today,'' Mott said.
Siphon led the six-horse field through three-quarters of a mile in 1:09 1/5, with Cigar second the entire time. Cigar was a head in front when they reached the mile in 1:33 3/5 and was 31/2 lengths back when Dare and Go completed the 11/4 miles in 1:59 4/5.
``I could see when they went into the three-eighths pole [at the middle of the final turn] that Cigar had hooked Siphon and that there was a serious battle that was going to tell on one of them,'' Mandella said. ``Then I looked up to see who had enough to finish and Dare and Go was moving up.''
Jerry Bailey had Cigar in front as they straightened for home, but Dare and Go flew by on the outside. It was obvious by midstretch that Cigar was going to lose for the first time since finishing third in a grass race Oct. 7, 1994, at Belmont Park.
``I'm as responsible as anybody for the way the race came out,'' Mott said. ``Naturally, I'm disappointed we lost. I'm disappointed in that I didn't plan the race differently.''
Bailey sent Cigar right after Siphon, the wire-to-wire winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup.
``Maybe I asked too much of him early in the race,'' said Bailey, who rode Cigar in all but one of the races of the winning streak. ``I'm certainly not putting the blame on him. If the blame comes my way, I'll take it, because I'm the one that made the decision.''
``I didn't think it was a killer pace, but when I got to the three-eighths pole I thought if someone was going to come at me, I was going to be in trouble today.''
Mott also thought pressure applied by Dramatic Gold, who was just behind and outside Cigar for the first three-quarters of a mile, affected the outcome.
Cigar, who paid $2.40 and $2.10, finished seven lengths in front of Siphon ($2.10), who was followed by Dramatic Gold, Luthier Fever and Tinners Way, the winner of the Pacific Classic the previous two years who was pulled up. Each starter carried 124 pounds.
Cigar's loss had to be a bitter disappointment for owner Allen Paulsen, who lives in Rancho Santa Fe, just north of Del Mar. Mott said Paulsen's only reaction after the loss was, ``Too bad.''
The victory by Dare and Go, whose place and show prices were $7.60 and $2.10, was a big one for Mandella, whose Soul Of The Matter came within a half-length of beating Cigar in the $4 million Dubai World Cup on March 26.
Soul Of The Matter was scheduled to race in the Pacific Classic but went lame in a workout on Wednesday and probably will not race again.
Mandella said the 5-year-old Dare and Go, owned by Lapresle Farm, had problems in two ankles earlier this year.
The victory by 5-year-old Dare and Go was his second in six starts this year, and the $600,000 first-place money from a $1 million purse boosted his earnings to $1,547,356.
The $200,000 place money pushed Cigar's bankroll to $9,019,815 and made him the third horse to surpass $9 million. The other two raced in Japan.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Dare and Go (right) pulls away from Cigar during theby CNBPacific Classic on Saturday in Del Mar, Calif. Cigar's winning
string ended at 16 races, tied with Citation for the longest streak
by a North American-based horse this century. color. KEYWORDS: HORSE RACING