CITATION VS. CIGAR : WITH A VICTORY, ONE LEGEND WOULD SUPPLANT ANOTHER.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

Citation, the horse and the name, is thoroughbred racing's Wilt, its Howe, its Babe, its Red Grange. Cigar is the sport's Jordan, its Gretzky, its Hammerin' Hank, its Joe Montana.

The great, old names never die, but they all get pushed down page in the record books sooner or later. And ``later'' arrives at Del Mar this afternoon, when Cigar will be odds-on to win a 17th straight race and break Citation's 46-year-old record for consecutive victories by a U.S.-based horse in this century.

A track-record crowd of more than 40,000 is expected to watch Cigar and jockey Jerry Bailey face five other stakes winners in the $1 million Pacific Classic. The opponents include 1994 and '95 Pacific Classic winner Tinners Way and recent Hollywood Gold Cup winner Siphon.

Few in the packed grandstand, the trackside beach chairs, the temporary bleachers and the infield will be old enough to compare Cigar to Citation, the 1948 Triple Crown winner whose 16 straight wins bridged a year-long injury absence and spanned the nation from New York and Maryland to Santa Anita.

For those who have seen both horses race, nostalgia may be overpowered by Cigar's staggering success since trainer Bill Mott and owner Allen Paulson gave up on the horse's turf breeding and he began to dominate the nation's biggest dirt-track handicaps.

``I don't remember any particular race (of Citation's) that drew as much attention as this race,'' said Noble Threewitt, 85, the oldest trainer tending a barn at Del Mar this summer.

Threewitt spoke early Friday morning on his barn's second-floor balcony, overlooking the track where a get-acquainted, 1-1/4-mile gallop by Cigar at 7 a.m. drew a crowd of about 500.

``I wish there was some way you could truthfully and scientifically determine who was the best horse, but you can't,'' Threewitt said.

Both horses faced the best of their era, but Threewitt thinks Cigar's 16 in a row is a more impressive streak than Citation's.

``Cigar has run against better horses,'' Threewitt said flatly. ``I think we have more good horses now than they had then.''

Certainly there are more horses racing now - three times as many as during the post-World War II years.

Which isn't the only difference between racing then and now that makes horse-to-horse comparisons difficult.

Horses' training and racing schedules are more lenient now, and travel is more convenient, so Cigar hasn't faced endurance tests quite like Citation, who often worked out on alternate days and who raced - and won - between the Preakness and Belmont stakes.

Cigar's connections have picked and chosen his races to work around fatigue and minor injuries, but that's not so much a criticism as a job description.

Cigar, who is 6, also has accomplished his streak while racing entirely against 3-year-olds and up, whereas eight of the first nine races of Citation's string were restricted to 3-year-olds.

Also, Citation's string, in the middle of a 32-for-45 career, included a walkover, the 1948 Pimlico Special in which nobody lined up against him. But does that detract from or add to his legend?

All this analysis used to bother Mott.

``But you realize it's probably good,'' Cigar's trainer said. ``Everytime you hear somebody say something negative (about Cigar), you have five people come back and defend him. It's probably balanced in his favor.''

So, apparently, are the conditions of today's 1-1/4-mile race, in which each horse will carry 124 pounds. Nine of Cigar's 16 straight victories were handicaps; he carried as much as 130, the runners-up as little as 107.

Also, Cigar appeared to be in great shape Friday morning when exercise rider Gerard Guenther put him through a two-minutes-a-mile gallop in front of dozens of popping flashbulbs. Del Mar officials closed the track to other horses for the 10 minutes he was out.

Cigar has never raced on the Del Mar main track, although he recorded a first and a second on the turf course in 1993.

``He seemed like he went very well around the racetrack,'' Mott said. ``He's eating very well, training very well, and he looks as good as any time this year.''

Mott said he has braced for the possibility of Cigar losing ``probably since the second race.''

``It's hard enough to win three or four races in a row before you run into an excuse or a field you can't beat,'' Mott said. ``A horse who wins six in a row is a pretty darned good horse. To add 10 to that is pretty incredible.''

Betting on Cigar to lose may be futile, and betting on him to win is unlikely to return more than a 20-percent profit. Del Mar's parimutuel tickets today will be decorated to commemorate the occasion. When Cigar won the Arlington Citation Challenge near Chicago on July 13, souvenir hunters were said to account for more than $150,000 of the $2 wagers on the favorite.

Cigar is 1-5 on the morning line. Two of today's opponents have faced him before - Dramatic Gold, who finished second by 3-1/2 lengths in the Arlington race, and Bobby Frankel-trained Tinners Way, second by 3-1/2 in the '95 Hollywood Gold Cup and seventh by 14 in the '95 Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont Park.

Those horses and Siphon, trained by Richard Mandella, and Dare and Go are qualified to win a race like this if Cigar has an off day - which hasn't happened in 673 days. The deserving long shot is Luthier Fever, in the race to collect a $500,000 bonus from the MGM Grand Casino as the lone horse to start this year's Santa Anita Handicap, Gold Cup and Pacific Classic.

The trainers of Cigar's opponents know they'll be cast as villains if they win.

``If I win this race (today), it will be my biggest thrill in racing,'' said Frankel, who is going for his fifth straight Pacific Classic but has been overshadowed by Cigar this week. ``I wouldn't love anything else more. I'm not going to be a fake and say, `Oh, I hate to break his streak.' Cigar ain't puttin' no food in my mouth.''

``I'd feel terrible - for about a second,'' Mandella said.

``I'm looking forward to doing it,'' said David Hofmans, trainer of Dramatic Gold. ``What's the use of being the champ if nobody tries to beat you?''

COMPARING THE STREAKS

Cigar Citation

Races won 16 16

Jockey Jerry Bailey Eddie Arcaro

First win Oct. 28, '94 April 17, '48

16th win July 13, '96 Jan. 11, '50

Stakes 14 13

Tracks 9 9

Earnings $8,720,200 $647,595

Avg. field 8.3 5.4

Biggest margin 8 lengths 11 lengths

Smallest margin Half length 1 length

High weight 130 126

Low weight 111 117

Low odds 1-101-20

High odds 8-1 2-5

1-1/4-mile best 1:59 2/5 2:01 2/5

Note: Statistics cover only the span of the winning streaks.

Source: Daily Racing Form 

PACIFIC CLASSIC

The race: 1-1/4 miles, for 3-year-olds and up, with a $1 million purse, $600,000 to the winner. Each horse will carry 124 pounds.

The field: 1. Tinners Way (Eddie Delahoussaye); 2. Dare and Go (Alex Solis); 3. Siphon (David Flores); 4. Cigar (Jerry Bailey); 5. Luthier Fever (Brice Blanc); 6. Dramatic Gold (Corey Nakatani).

Where: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Interstate 5 and Via de la Valle.

When: 3:37 p.m., the sixth race on a 10-race card starting at 12:30 p.m.

TV: ESPN coverage begins at 3 p.m.

Tickets: Reserved seats are sold out. General admission is $3.

Parking: Gates open at 9:30 a.m. Plan to arrive early as roads to the track can get congested.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Chart, Box

Photo: (1--color) Gerard Guenther rides Ciga r as they cool down at Del Mar after a Friday warmup.

(2--color) With a victory today, Cigar would be regarded as one of the greatest horses ever.

Associated Press

Chart: COMPARING THE STREAKS (see text)

Box: PACIFIC CLASSIC (see text)