HORSE RACING Cigar facing big payday
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from March 1996.
Brought to you by
While the desert kingdom of Dubai is undergoing its worst rainy season since records were first kept in 1968, and a light rain fell on the waterlogged emirate Wednesday morning, meteorologists expected the precipitation to stop.
With a brisk wind blowing, the soft, sandy surface of the Nad Al Sheb track was expected to be in good shape for Wednesday night's 1 1/4-mile (2-kilometer), dlrs 4 million Dubai World Cup race.
Six other horses from the top international field also worked out lightly, including American-based thoroughbreds L'Carriere and Soul of the Matter and Britain's Pentire.
Cigar, America's 1995 Horse of the Year, was going after his 14th straight win in his first race under the lights and first outside America.
Jerry Bailey, Cigar's veteran jockey, predicted the horse would stick to his tradition of holding back at first, then break away on the track's unusually lengthy 3-furlong homestretch.
"I'm not expecting a vicious pace in the race. I think it will be moderate" Bailey said in an interview. "I think Cigar will be second or third early, but a lot depends on his frame of mind."
The field for the race, with odds listed by Ladbrokes of London, was: Cigar (1-1); Halling (4-1); Pentire (9-2); Tamayaz (7-1); L'Carriere (12-1); Soul of the Matter and Danewin, both (14-1); Larrocha (28-1); Needle Gun (40-1); Torrential (50-1); and Lively Mount 80-1.
L'Carriere, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Virginia Kraft Payson, finished second to Cigar in the 1995 Breeders' Cup Classic and has seven wins in 18 career starts.
Soul of the Matter, a 5-year-old who won the 1994 Super Derby, is owned by singer-songwriter Burt Bacharach and trained by Richard Mandella.
