Cigar accounts for rivals

Cigar gained his 11th consecutive victory when beating Unaccounted For in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Saturday. The manner of the five-year-old's one-length victory did not convince everyone, however, and was not the perfect prep race for the Breeders' Cup at Belmont on 28 October where he faces Godolphin's Halling.

There was British interest in the race as Thunder Gulch, the Kentucky Derby winner owned by Michael Tabor, ran like a tired horse and laboured his way into fifth.

On the continent, there was a British one-two in the Group One Premio Vittorio di Capua at Milan yesterday. Geoff Wragg's Nicolotte, ridden by Michael Hills, was always in control to beat Peter Chapple-Hyam's Prince Arthur by a length and three-quarters.

n The Lambourn trainer Charlie Mann announced his retirement from the saddle after he partnered It's A Snip to a length and a quarter triumph over Vinny in the infamous four-and-a-quarter mile Velka Pardubice Steeplechase in the Czech Republic yesterday.