The 1996 Dubai World Cup was a

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

held at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse on Wednesday 27 March 1996. It was the inaugural running of the Dubai World Cup. The winner was Allen Paulson's

Cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

, a six-year-old

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

horse trained in the United States by

Bill Mott William I. "Bill" Mott (born July 29, 1953, in Mobridge, South Dakota) is an American horse trainer, most notable for his work with Cigar. Mott earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in 1995 and 1996. He was inducted into the Nationa ...

and ridden by

Jerry Bailey Jerry D. Bailey (born August 29, 1957 in Dallas, Texas) is an Thoroughbred Racing on NBC, NBC Sports thoroughbred racing analyst and a retired American National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame jockey. Early years Bailey was born ...

. Cigar had been the dominant racehorse in the United States in 1995, winning eight

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

races including the

Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade I Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3-year-olds and older run at a distance of on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships in late October o ...

and being voted

American Horse of the Year The American Award for Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to sanction the various awards, "Hor ...

. Before being shipped to Dubai he had added another Grade I success when winning the Donn Handicap in February. The 1996 Dubai World Cup also attracted competitors from the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan as well as four locally trained runners. Cigar took the lead a quarter of a mile from the finish and held off the challenge of

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

's Soul of the Matter to win by half a length. L'Carriere, who had finished second to Cigar in the Breeders' Cup Classic, completed a 1-2-3 for American trained horses as he got the better of a struggle with the British colt

Pentire Pentire (12 April 1992 – 20 November 2017) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Background Pentire was bred by Lord Halifax, he was purchased for 54,000 guineas by Mollers Racing, the racing stable Trust of brothers Eric and Budgi ...

for third place.

Race details

* Sponsor: none * Purse: £2,580,645; First prize: £1,548,387 * Surface: Dirt * Going: Fast * Distance: 10 furlongs * Number of runners: 11 * Winner's time: 2:03.84

Full result

* Abbreviations: DSQ = disqualified; nse = nose; nk = neck; shd = head; hd = head; nk = neck; dist = distance; BD = brought down

Winner's details

Further details of the winner, Cigar * Sex: Stallion * Foaled: 18 April 1990 * Country: United States * Sire:

Palace Music Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

; Dam: Solar Slew (

Seattle Slew Seattle Slew (February 15, 1974 – May 7, 2002) was a champion American Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who became the tenth winner of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States), American Triple Crown (1977). He is one of only ...

) * Owner: Allen Paulson * Breeder: Allen Paulson

References

{{Dubai World Cup Dubai World Cup Dubai World Cup Dubai World Cup Dubai World Cup