Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Cigar, who turned 7 in January and was voted racing's top horse in 1995 and 1996, failed to make any of the 36 mares bred to him pregnant.
Ashford Stud farm announced the news Wednesday, but stopped short of saying Cigar is sterile.
"Some horses that come off the racetrack are slow to start," farm manager Barry Simon said. "Rather than for rumors to start, we decided to go ahead and make the announcement."
Simon said today that 16 of the mares bred to Cigar had been tested and none was pregnant. He said that figure was expected to increase as more ultrasound tests are performed in the next 10-20 days on the other mares.
"We have that lag time for more tests," said Simon, who declined to say how many mares have been bred to Cigar.
If tests show the horse is sterile, Cigar could return to racing.
"I guess we'll see what happens," Allen Paulson, who owned Cigar during his racing career, told the Daily News in New York. "I wouldn't want to comment on that. I'd have to think about it."
The News said it was not clear if a decision on racing Cigar again was Paulson's to make. After Paulson retired Cigar, the horse was sold to Ashford Stud in a sale valued at $25 million.
"All I can say is that it's a shock," Paulson said. "We were counting on his babies awful badly."
Fertility specialists saw Cigar on Wednesday and will send their report to insurance companies. The horse's stud fee is $75,000.
Cigar ended his career at age 6 as the richest horse ever, just shy of $10 million. He was retired to stud after he finished third in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 26 at Woodbine in Toronto.
It was his second consecutive loss and third in four races since the end of his record 16-race winning streak, which equaled the modern record of Citation. The streak included a 10-for-10 record in 1995.
Cigar won an allowance race on the dirt on Oct. 28, 1994, at Aqueduct, then didn't lose again until he was second to Dare And Go in the Pacific Classic on Aug. 10, 1996, at Del Mar.
The streak included a victory on Feb. 11, 1995, in which Holy Bull broke down. A year later, Cigar traveled to the Persian Gulf and held off Soul of the Matter to win the Dubai World Cup on March 27.
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