By Kelsey Riley
Reliving some of the sport's greatest moments over the past week through my colleagues' favourite Breeders' Cup memories has not only raised a ton of goose bumps and nostalgia, but has also reminded me think that 1) the Breeders' Cup has far outdone itself in providing some of the crowning moments in racing history, and 2) how lucky we are well into the 21st century to be witnessing some of the sport's greatest-ever performances. Many will yearn for the bygone “glory” days of the sport in the 60s and 70s; I, for one, think we've had it pretty great in the 90s and 2000s.
For one of our final TDN Breeders' Cup Memories, I'm going to go back into the vault to re-live Cigar (Palace Music)'s win in the 1995 Breeders' Cup Classic (video).
Full disclosure, I actually hadn't discovered racing at this time and so my memories of this race are limited to the coverage I've been able to dig up in hindsight. When I first tuned in to racing in the early 2000s, one of my favourite hobbies was to spend hours watching old Breeders' Cup races, and reading the coverage. Not surprisingly, I found Cigar's Breeders' Cup Classic particularly captivating: the horse was crowning a perfect 10-for-10 season, stamping himself an undeniable champion. Isn't that what the event is all about?
Equally responsible for my fascination with the race was the legendary Tom Durkin's call. It was executed perfectly at every point and built the drama throughout: “Jerry Bailey with a hard hold of the pent-up power of Cigar, restrained in third.” “Cigar wants to go to the lead but Jerry Bailey says no, not yet.”
“Cigar makes his move, and he sweeps to the lead with a dramatic rush!” And how about that amazing three-furlong display of power by the great champ? “The unconquerable, invincible, unbeatable Cigar”, indeed!
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