The race was supposed to do two things – offer a fitting New York swan song to locally based Cigar and provide clarity on a somewhat muddled three-year-old division. The latter was accomplished in spades, the former just slightly less so. Perhaps he was too far back. Perhaps at the age of six Cigar had lost a step. Perhaps, as he had received the baton from a gray rival, it was time to pass it on to one. Whatever the reason, Cigar’s furious late rally fell just a head shy of Skip Away, half his age and on the improve. Cigar would go on to a third place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic pushing his earnings to $9,999,815, a record at the time, and take home his second straight Champion Older Horse and Horse of the Year trophies. Skip Away was named that year’s Champion Three-Year-Old, twice Champion Older Horse, 1998’s Horse of the Year, and retired with earnings of $9,616,360. Both were inducted in to the Hall of Fame.
