ECLIPSE AWARDS CAN'T PASS ON CIGAR.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

Cigar can no longer be accused of never carrying weight. Thursday, when the 1995 Eclipse Awards were announced, the superhorse not only carried jockey Jerry Bailey, he carried trainer Bill Mott and owner Allen Paulson to championships as well.

Cigar was voted the outstanding older male unanimously. And his supporting cast swept the major awards for humans.

"Anytime you hook up with the Paulsons and Bill Mott, you've got a good chance to come out a winner," said Bailey, showing his team spirit after winning his first Eclipse.

It's the first time a jockey, trainer and owner connected to one dominant horse have swept the Eclipses since 1986, when Pat Day, D. Wayne Lukas and Eugene Klein rode Horse of the Year Lady's Secret's coattails.

Cigar's Horse of the Year title will be announced at the Eclipse Award dinner Feb. 9 in San Diego.

Bailey's and Mott's championships came at the expense of Gary Stevens, who was the regular rider for Eclipse-winning 3-year-old colt Thunder Gulch, 3-year-old filly Serena's Song and 2-year-old filly Golden Attraction, and Lukas, who trained those three horses.

Stevens, seeking his first Eclipse, and Lukas, trying for his fifth, were second in voting by turf writers, Daily Racing Form staffers and track executives nationwide. And neither vote was close; Bailey was named on 65 percent of the ballots, Mott 60 percent.

"Though I'm disappointed, I truly feel happy for Jerry and know he's very deserving," Stevens said at Santa Anita. "I had a banner year, and it took another banner year to beat me. By no means do I feel I was robbed of something."

Stevens, 32, had been an Eclipse contender in 1990 but lost to Craig Perret. He was more upset that time.

"I'm older, more mature, and I've learned to place more heed on my own feelings, rather than what other people think," Stevens said.

Bailey's mounts earned a record $16.3 million in 1995. But if you take Cigar's $4.8 million out of that, then Stevens ($14.5 million) had a more lucrative year, mainly because he led the nation in stakes winners.

"(But) you can't take Cigar out of the picture," Stevens said. "People say, 'Anybody could have ridden that horse.' But I guarantee you, if he'd gotten beat, 90 percent of the criticism would have gone to Jerry Bailey. I believe he deserves all the credit he gets."

Lukas has trained the winners of 19 Eclipses. Strangely, the only two years in which he trained more than two champions, 1988 and 1995, he was denied the award himself.

Lukas said Thursday: "I put on a few pounds over the holidays, and my tux doesn't fit anyway."

Cigar, who won 10 straight races, including the Breeders' Cup Classic, received all 306 votes for champion older horse.

In other voting, all of it one-sided, Eclipses went to Northern Spur among turf horses; Possibily Perfect among turf females; Maria's Mon among 2-year-old colts and geldings; Inside Information among older females; Not Surprising among sprinters; Lonesome Glory (for the third straight year) among steeplechasers; and Ramon Perez among apprentice riders.

A committee selected Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms as outstanding breeder.