Miscellany

At Boston, Cigar easily beat five alsorans in the 56th Massachusetts Handicap to win his eighth consecutive race, earning a $500,000 bonus to go with the winner’s share of the $250,000 purse.

The 1-5 favorite ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 3/5 to win by four lengths. Cigar helped his Horse of the Year chances by collecting his fifth straight Grade I stakes victory.

At Rustenburg, South Africa, Max Brito of Ivory Coast was paralyzed with a neck injury during his team’s 29-11 loss to Tonga at the Rugby World Cup.

Brito, 24, suffered a severe blow to his fourth and fifth vertebrae and was paralyzed in both legs and his left arm, according to tournament spokeswoman Sue Nell.

In Philadelphia, Zeke Jones, Terry Brands, and Townsend Saunders entered the freestyle world team wrestling trials with hopes of reversing losses suffered one month ago at the U.S. National Championships, and all three were successful.

The threesome, along with five others, qualified for the World Championships by winning two consecutive bouts in the bestof-three Team Trial finals, which concluded at Drexel University.