`CIGAR FOR PRESIDENT': HORSE HAD HECK OF A YEAR.

Byline: Ed Schuyler Jr. Associated Press

Even though Cigar's perfect record didn't last through 1996, he was still the poster horse of the year.

From Dubai to California, from Florida to Canada, the 6-year-old horse performed before large enthusiastic crowds - not always as a winner, but always as a champion.

He got bags of fan mail, was given police escorts and had an agent. The wheels didn't come off the Cigar bandwagon even after his North American record-tying 16-race winning streak was snapped or when he lost three of his last four starts, including the Breeders' Cup Classic in his farewell race Oct. 26.

After owner Allen Paulson announced his star's retirement to stud, Cigar was paraded down New York's Broadway. On Nov. 2, he looked out of a van trailing a team of mounted police, a bagpipers band, the New York Knicks cheerleaders and the Budweiser Clydesdales en route to Madison Square Garden, where he was honored at at the National Horse Show.

``I've never seen a horse with such a fan following,'' Paulson said. ``The letters we get are unbelievable. When we go to the racetrack, the fans put signs up: `Cigar for President,' `Marry Me Cigar.' ''

Cigar's last public appearance came Nov. 9 at Churchill Downs, where he never raced. There, he was paraded in the paddock by trainer Bill Mott and galloped through the stretch by jockey Jerry Bailey before a crowd of 12,443.

The world's richest racehorse, with earnings only $185 short of $10 million, will stand at stud in Kentucky.

Of the $4.91 million earned by Cigar on five wins, two seconds and a third in eight starts in 1996, $2.4 million came from his victory in the $4 million Dubai World Cup on March 27 in the United Arab Emirates. He missed earning $2.08 million by less than a length when he finished behind Alphabet Soup and Louis Quatorze in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Woodbine in Canada.

Cigar's winning streak was snapped Aug. 10 at Del Mark, when he finished second to Dare And Go in the Pacific Classic. On Sept. 14, he was second to Skip Away in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.

While Cigar was racing toward what appeared to be a second Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year, Skip Away assumed leadership of the 3-year-old division. Second in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, Skip Away won the Haskell at Monmouth Park, the Woodbine Million as well as the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

The star of the 3-year-old division going into the Kentucky Derby was Unbridled's Song, winner of the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial. He raced in the Derby in bar shoes to protect a quarter crack in the right front foot and finished fifth.

Plagued by the hoof injury, a fractured bone, ulcers and a fragile temperament, Unbridled's Song raced only three more times. He finished second in the Peter Pan at Belmont, ninth in the Arlington Citation Challenge won by Cigar and second in an allowance race Nov. 30 at Aqueduct. The allowance race was the colt's first start since the Arlington Citation Challenge on July 13 and his first for Nick Zito, who replaced Jim Ryerson as trainer.

The Triple Crown races were split three ways, but trainer D. Wayne Lukas won two of them to give him seven victories in the last eight Triple Crown races. Grindstone gave Lukas his sixth straight victory in the series by winning the Derby, but the string was snapped when the Zito-trained Louis Quatorze won the Preakness. Editor's Note then won the Belmont for Lukas.

The Lukas-trained Prince of Thieves, who ran in all three Triple Crown races and was third in the Derby, fractured his right foreleg in the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 2 and was euthanized.

At the Breeders' Cup, Zito had a big day. He started four horses and posted a win and three seconds for earnings of $1.72 million.

Storm Song and Love That Jazz ran 1-2 in the Juvenile Fillies, Acceptable was runner-up to the Lukas-trained Boston Harbor in the Juvenile Colts & Geldings, and Louis Quatorze finished second in the Classic.

Lukas also had a second-place finish in the Breeders' Cup when Serena's Song was runner-up to Jewell Princess in the Distaff. Serena's Song, a 4-year-old filly who beat males several times, next finished second in the Churchill Downs Distaff Handicap on Cigar's farewell day, then was retired with earnings of $3,283,388, a record for fillies and mares.

While Lukas reaped the big financial rewards, another trainer who made news was Frank Passero Jr.

Passero, a 62-year-old Canadian, won a North American-record 14 straight races at Gulfstream Park and then was accused of having stable personnel apply a substance found in cayenne pepper to his horses. On Sept. 13, all charges against Passero were dropped after a Florida administrative hearing officer ruled the confession inadmissible.