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CIGAR - 1995-96 Horse of the Year
(source: Wikimedia http://tinyurl.com/kaozctv)
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What would another $187 get you? If it was the 1990s and you were Allen E.
Paulson, owner of the superhorse named Cigar, you would be the owner of a horse
that won $10 million. Instead Cigar
retired with having locked in lifetime purses worth $9,999,813, which still
stands as the top earnings for a Thoroughbred.
You may not know that I love horse racing but you have
probably gathered that I love cigars.
So, it came as some slight disappointment to learn that this magnificent
horse was not named after the object of my true favorite pastime. Instead, this horse, which had blood of 1977
Triple Crown winning grandfather Seattle Slew coursing through his veins, was named
after the aeronautical navigation fix “CIGAR”.
This nav fix happens to be out in the Gulf of Mexico about 147 miles
West Southwest of Ybor City.
Paulson named many of his horses after these five letter
waypoints and for good reason as he owned Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation,
which is still the manufacturer of perhaps the finest business jets in the world. While Cigar had a bit of a slow start in his
career, when he began to come into his own under the exceptional guidance of
Bill Mott he hit his stride and never had to look back.
While Paulson didn’t directly name his horse after the
highest form of the art of tobacco, that waypoint was named as a nod to Ybor
City and that horse was named for that waypoint. In the end Cigar can truly be our favorite
horse, or at least one of them. Great
cigars and horse racing is a pair beyond compare. The Sport of Kings lends itself perfectly to
the enjoyment of a great cigar. I
frequently smoke a toast to both.