Cigar Street does not get his name because he is a son of the recently deceased Hall of Fame horse Cigar. Unfortunately Cigar was proven to be infertile in the breeding shed. He does carry Cigar in his bloodlines though, because his dam Arcadiana is a half-sister to him . Cigar Street is a big, powerful and beautiful looking colt who’s shown flashes of brilliance at times but unfortunately whose racing career has been riddled with injuries. Now at the age of 5 and having won The Homecoming Classic at Churchill Downs on September 27th, beating Departing with a 104 Beyer, his hall of fame trainer Bill Mott (interestingly Cigar’s former trainer) is now pointing him to this November’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. What he has in his favor is that his main foes are just three years old and he comes into the race more fresh than his rivals as well. His stalking style suggests he may have a favorable trip with a bunch of speedy types signed on for the race. Let’s look at Cigar Street’s past performances and royal breeding to see what makes him a very live longshot. I’m sure that there are many fans of this sport who would love to see Cigar Street add on another Breeders’ Cup Championship to Cigar’s amazing legacy.
Racing Career To Date:
Cigar Street broke his maiden in his second start as a 3 year old, winning by 13 lengths at the Fairgrounds. He soon became one of that spring’s Derby buzz horses. He followed up that performance with a strong 4th place in the Louisiana Derby in only his third race where he ran into a lot of traffic in defeat. But in that race he suffered a fractured left hind leg that put him on the shelf until late December, crushing his Triple Crown dreams. Upon return to racing he reeled off 3 straight wins at Gulfstream Park. 2 of his wins came in allowance races and then he was the impressive winner by 2 lengths in The Grade 3, mile and three sixteenth Skip Away Stakes in which he earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. In that race he beat Take Charge Indy (won his next start in the Alysheba at Churchill Downs by 6 lengths) and Pants On Fire (Grade 2 and Grade 3 winner in races soon after it). He then suffered the second injury of his career, a fracture to his right hind leg. This sidelined him another 17 months. He returned to racing this past August at Saratoga with a close second in an allowance race off the shelf. In his most recent effort, he moved into stakes company and won the Homecoming Classic at Churchill Downs with a 101 Beyer Speed Figure, beating a nice horse in Departing. In it he raced comfortably off the pace in second before using a big, powerful move to pass horses at the 6 furlong mark and easily holding off all comers for a 1 3/4 length victory. This is what trainer Bill Mott had to say after the race. ” We certainly had the Breeders’ Cup Classic on our mind, but Saturday wasn’t a ‘Win and You’re In’ race. So we’ll sit down and talk to the connections and see what our next move will be, but I wouldn’t rule the Classic out at this point. He ran a great race. That was his second start back and we obviously didn’t think he was ready to go to the Jockey Club Gold Cup, so we really weren’t sure what he would do going into Saturday. But we were impressed with his performance and I think he’s moving forward like we had hoped.” So overall Cigar Street has 5 wins and 1 place out of 8 starts with earnings of $283,908. You can definitely see signs of brilliance in the races he has run in. We will never know what kind of horse he may have turned out to be though because of the injuries that have hit him at key points throughout his racing career. Now let’s take a look at his bloodlines to see why I think they are in a league of their own.
Pedigree:
Sire Line:
Cigar Street is sired by Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Kentucky Derby Champion Street Sense. Street Sense was truly spectacular on the racetrack and created great drama in many of his most important victories. He was the 2006 Eclipse Champion Two Year Old Male and had career earnings of over 4.3 million dollars. As a young sire he has already produced 30 stakes winners, including 2 Grade One winners in Sweet Reason (Acorn Stakes and Test Stakes) and Aubby K (Humana Distaff). His dad, Street Cry, unfortunately recently passed away as well. To date, he has 17 grade/group 1 winners and 84 stakes winners worldwide. He is best known for producing 3 time champion and the only filly to ever win The Breeders’ Cup Classic, the great Zenyatta. He had Grade One winners at short distances (Street Boss, Here Comes Ben) and very long distances (Shocking-winner of the 2 mile Group One Melbourne Cup). Street Cry earned over 5 million dollars while racing, with his signature victory coming in the 2002 Dubai World Cup. Cigar Street’s 3rd sire, Machiavellien, was the leading French 2-year-old of 1987 and one of Europe’s leading stallions. In summary, Cigar Street’s sire line gives off plenty of brilliance and class.
Dam Line:
As stated earlier, Cigar Street’s dam is Arcadiana, a half-sister to the legendary Cigar. An earner of over 10 million dollars, Cigar won 11 Grade One races including the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic and the 1996 Dubai World Cup. He also at one time reeled off 16 consecutive victories. Arcadiana’s mother, Solar Slew (dam of Cigar) also produced Mulca, a multiple grade 2 winner in Puerto Rico. Solar Slew was sold for a total of $4,495,000 in her four purchases at major sales. Cigar Street’s 3rd dam, Gold Sun, won a Group One in Argentina and was a champion filly of her generation while racing in that country. Cigar Street hails from female family number 2, which includes horses such as Go For Wand, Northern Dancer, Phar Lap, With Approval, and the great Secretariat. As far as class goes, the mares littering Cigar Street’s distaff family have a bucket load of it.
Dam Sire Line:
Cigar Street’s dam sire is Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer Deputy Minister. In 1981 he was named Horse of the Year in Canada and was the Eclipse Champion 2 Year Old Male in North America. He also was a superstar in the breeding shed. Deputy Minister not only sired 80 Graded Stakes winners, but he was the broodmare sire of 108 stakes winners. He was the leading broodmare sire in North America in 2007. He is known to have given off a good amount of stamina on to his offspring. His 2nd dam sire is Vice Regent. He too is a Canadian Hall of Famer and was Canada’s leading sire for thirteen years. He was also the dam sire of Victory Gallop (winner 1998 Belmont Stakes) and Captain Steve (winner 2001 Dubai World Cup). He also gave off a nice amount of endurance to his progeny. Cigar Street’s 3rd dam sire is Northern Dancer, who The National Thoroughbred Racing Association calls “one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history”. Cigar Street’s dam sires produced a plethora of graded stakes winners-bottom line. It also looks like distance is of no concern for him. Even his jockey for his win in the Skip Away Stakes, John Velazquez, said that Cigar Street, “could run all day”, after the race.
Final Analysis:
At this year’s Breeders Cup Championship there will be a lot of buzz surrounding four 3 year old horses: Shared Belief, Bayern, California Chrome and Tonalist. They will garnish a lot of the betting public’s money. But my numbers tell a different story. Since the inaugural running of the race in 1984 only 30% have been won by a 3-year-old. On top of that, only 1 out of 10 favored 3-year-olds have won the race. I understand that Cigar Street has run only 8 times in his career, but he has the body and the mind of a 5 year old horse which is a feather under his cap. Bill Mott has brought him around off of his latest injury very patiently, not trying to enter him in races that would be too taxing on him or would ruin his confidence. This will be the 3rd race of his current form cycle which is always nice and he is a fresh horse relatively speaking to the other competitors who have been running all year long. I feel once again that the pace scenario of the race will be an advantage for him because he is a stalker and should sit nicely off of swift fractions. Cigar Street’s Beyer Speed Figures are not that far below some of the favorites in the race. And what a story it would be if he was to be crowned Breeders’ Cup Champ: a longshot winner, carrying on both the legacy of recently deceased Street Cry and Cigar, and coming back from two horrible injuries to finally reach his great potential. Now there’s something any racing fan could fall in love with!
Regal Bloodlines 