CIGAR ECLIPSES EVERYONE THIS YEAR.

Byline: Kevin Modesti

You think Bob Dole is disgusted by the polls? It's a good thing Cigar doesn't read the newspapers.

A couple of weeks ago, a New York reporter surveyed 50 turf writers nationwide, likely voters for thoroughbred racing's year-end Eclipse Awards, on a hypothetical question: If Skip Away, the nation's top 3-year-old, defeated Cigar, the world's leading horse, in the Breeders' Cup Classic, which of them should be Horse of the Year?

Twenty-five said they would vote for Cigar. Twenty-five went for Skip Away.

That's a controversy waiting to happen, and at least a couple of writers made sure it did.

Bob Mieszerski, the Los Angeles Times' perceptive racing writer and handicapper, opined:

``Actually, the choice would seem obvious if the sophomore beats his older rival once more. That would give him a 2-0 edge in head-to-head meetings and Cigar would have finished 1996 with three losses in his final four starts, although owner Allen Paulson suggested a few days ago that the 6-year-old may run once after the Breeders' Cup before he is retired.''

Jay Posner, the San Diego Union-Tribune's thorough, award-winning writer, expressed a similar opinion with more bite:

``And the results of the poll spoke volumes about the intelligence of the voters,'' he wrote.

``Quick, someone get their names and take away their vote. On what basis would Cigar have deserved the award over Skip Away? A second straight loss to his younger rival would have given Cigar a record of five wins from eight starts this year. Meanwhile, Skip Away would have been 7 for 13 . . .''

Well, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the New York paper's survey question will remain hypothetical.

Skip Away won't run today at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack in the Breeders' Cup Classic, the main event of the seven-race Breeders' Cup, the Sport of Kings' annual coronation.

Skip Away, whose owner would have had to fork over $480,000 to make him eligible for the $4 million race, wasn't entered because he missed a workout while trainer Sonny Hine was in the hospital with a painful kidney stone.

(Which might be the first valid excuse of Hine's career.)

The 3-year-old's absence all but guarantees that Cigar, whether he wins the Classic or not, will be named Horse of the Year, making him the first repeat champion since Affirmed in 1978 and '79.

That raises a question: Will the 25 writers who would have voted for Skip Away say that Cigar - earner of $4.4 million this year - backed into his title?

Look, in many racing seasons, Eclipse Award voters can be fairly accused of stupidity. Too many of them vote for personal favorites, for ``big-name'' horses whose time is past, and for Breeders' Cup winners without seasonlong credentials.

But the Skip Away supporters seem to have gone too far in the other direction, overanalyzing the past performances, missing the forest for the trees.

First of all, picking champions is not like picking winners. A championship should be based on a full season's performance, while handicapping is typically based on a horse's current form.

So it wouldn't have been illogical for Cigar to win the Horse of the Year title even if he lost to Skip Away in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (at Belmont) and the Breeders' Cup and Skip Away was the better horse now.

Should losing three of his last four races have disqualified Cigar from the championship? Not if you consider his entire season, which included Grade I victories in the Donn Handicap (in Florida) and the Woodward Stakes (at Belmont), in the $4 million Dubai World Cup (over an international field) and in a $1 million race created to lure him to Arlington International (near Chicago).

Does anybody think Skip Away, a 3-year-old whose best Triple Crown finishes were seconds in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, could have hung with Cigar before he grew up during the summer?

For that matter, what if Dare and Go, who upset Cigar in the Pacific Classic (at Del Mar), beats him in the Breeders' Cup today? Then Dare and Go would be 2-0 against Cigar in 1996. Would the Skip Away voters go for Dare and Go despite a modest 3-for-8 record?

Giving Skip Away the Horse of the Year title would have sent thoroughbred owners and trainers a message that is truly perverse in an era when the sport needs good horses to keep racing. The message would have been: Retire your horse as soon as he's done enough to win a trophy. Don't risk ending the season in a 1-for-4 slump and blowing a championship.

The message to would-be racing fans, too, would have been a strange one: That horse we've been telling you is one of the greatest of the century . . . actually he's not even the best this year. But, please, don't think our sport is too complicated!

Sentiment should be left out of both handicapping and awards voting, but can the 1996 horse-racing season be remembered as anything but the year of Cigar?

He stretched his winning streak to 16 races, matched the great Citation, earned front-page coverage and ESPN ``SportsCenter'' attention for races beyond the traditional Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont and Breeders' Cup, inspired a biographical book, and drew 45,000 fans to Del Mar.

All that was before most people knew what a Skip Away is.

I've made my Breeders' Cup picks: Hidden Reserve (in the Juvenile Fillies) to upset Storm Song and Sharp Cat in her third career start; Lit de Justice (in the Sprint) to chase down Honour and Glory; Jewel Princess (in the Distaff) to go 3-0 against Serena's Song this year; Spinning World (in the Mile) to continue the success of European horses and Northern Dancer bloodlines in the Breeders' Cup's shorter turf race; favored Ordway (in the Juvenile); and Swain (in the Turf) to outkick entrymate Singspiel.

But in the Classic, I won't bet.

I'll just root for Cigar to write a victorious final chapter to a season that has been, undeniably, his.

MEMO: Kevin Modesti's column appears in the Daily News four days a week.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Cigar gets plenty of attention from tr ainer Bill Mott, left, and assistant Tim Jones.

(2) After a workout, trainer Bill Mott, center, leads the grooms in giving Cigar a bath prior to defending his Classic title today.

Associated Press