Tuesday, March 25, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Now that a $25 million insurance claim over Cigar's infertility has been settled, Allen Paulson will try to buy back the two-time Horse of the Year.
"I want to provide a good home for the horse for the rest of his life," said Paulson, who does not plan to put the 7-year-old horse back on the race track. "He gave a lot to me and my family and the world."
The insurance policy, arranged through Nelson Stevenson, required the horse be bred to 20 mares twice and get at least 60 percent of them in foal to be considered fertile. None of the 34 mares bred to Cigar is with foal.
Cigar, the Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996, was retired at the end of 1996 following a career in which he tied Citation's modern-day North American record of 16 straights wins and earned just less than $10 million.
Cigar ended his career at age 6 as the richest horse ever. He was retired to stud after he finished third in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 26 at Woodbine in Toronto.
He was syndicated for breeding and sent to Ashford Stud at Versailles, Ky.
* SHOEMAKER SETTLES: An out-of-court settlement has been reached in a malpractice lawsuit filed by former jockey Bill Shoemaker against a hospital and seven doctors that treated him after a car accident. The Los Angeles Times reported in today's editions that Shoemaker would get about $2.5 million from the Ford Motor Co., but no other money from other defendants. Shoemaker, a quadriplegic since a single-car accident in a Ford Bronco II six years ago, sued Glendora Community Hospital and physicians for more than $50 million, saying their decisions aggravated his condition.
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