Funny Cide
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| Funny Cide | |
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Funny Cide at Saratoga, September 1, 2006 |
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| Sire | Distorted Humor |
| Grandsire | Forty Niner |
| Dam | Belle's Good Cide |
| Damsire | Slewacide |
| Sex | Gelding |
| Foaled | 2000 |
| Country | USA  |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | WinStar Farm |
| Owner | Sackatoga Stable |
| Trainer | Barclay Tagg |
| Record | 38:11-6-8 |
| Earnings | $3,529,412 |
| Major Racing Wins, Awards and Honours | |
| Major Racing Wins | |
| Bertram F. Bongard Stakes (2002) Sleepy Hollow Stakes (2002) American Classic Race wins: |
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| Racing Awards | |
| New York Breeders' Award for Champion Two-Year-Old (2002) U.S. Champion 3-Year-Old Male (2003) Champion New York Horse of the Year (2003 & 2004) Presidents' Award for becoming the first New York-bred to win the Kentucky Derby (G1) and the first gelding since 1929. NTRA "Moment of the Year" (2003) |
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| Honours | |
| Funny Cide Street in Napa, California Funny Cide written and performed by Blue Hand Luke. |
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| Infobox last updated on: December 9, 2007. | |
Funny Cide (b. April 20, 2000) is a Thoroughbred race horse who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2003. He is the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby and the first gelding to win it since 1929 (when Clyde van Dusen took home the roses).
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[edit] Early years
Bred at Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt's WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, he was foaled at the McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbred Farm, owned by Joe and Anne McMahon in the upstate New York town of Saratoga Springs. By Distorted Humor (a Mr. Prospector line sire), he is out of the winning, but short-lived, Belle's Good Cide by Slewacide by Seattle Slew.
Funny Cide was a member of one of Distorted Humor's first American crops when his stud fee was $10,000. (Distorted Humor's fee for the year 2008 is now $300,000 for a live foal.)
Twelve days premature and arriving around 10:30 pm, he was the third foal born in the McMahon barn. Anne McMahon said, "We see so many foals now, it's hard to remember them all. But I remember Funny Cide. He came out proud. He arched his neck as soon as he could stand."
Funny Cide was originally purchased in August of 2001 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga preferred yearling auction in Saratoga Springs for $22,000 by Tony Everard. With the average sale of a yearling running about $43,000, Everard saw the colt as a bargain, a horse he could train at his New Episode Training Center in Ocala, Florida, for a fast financial turnaround. As Everard said, "He was a little bit on the immature side but he had a good frame and a big, deep girth. He was also a ridgling (meaning one testicle had not descended), and they usually sell cheaper." From the start, Everard and his wife, Elizabeth — it was she who took Funny Cide under her wing — saw something special in the horse. So soon as he was gelded ("Best," said Everard, "to do this early. The undescended testicle hurts them, and they don't learn as they should."), Funny Cide's ability quickly progressed.
[edit] Sackatoga Stable
| Quotation |
| "Funny Cide has the heart of a champion. This horse is all heart." (from 'Starter Analysis') |
| Steve Fugitte |
Sackatoga Stable (the name is a blend of Sackets Harbor and Saratoga) all started one night when Jack Knowlton suggested to his high school friends that they buy a horse. When Sackatoga Stable, concentrating on New York breds, asked the trainer Barclay Tagg to "find them a good horse," Tagg recommended Funny Cide. He'd seen him snapped up by Everard at the 2001 sales and he too recognized his potential. Tagg had wanted to buy him from Everard before, but he couldn't find a client who would meet Everard's price: at the time, $50,000. But the Sackatoga Stable consortium was flush with money after their mare, Bail Money, was claimed for $62,500 at Gulfstream Park. Tagg purchased the gelding for $75,000 in a private transaction in March of 2002.
Conceived in Kentucky, born in New York, taken as yearling to Florida for training, and then beginning his racing career at the Belmont Park race track in New York, it's the village of Sackets Harbor, New York, pop: 1200 (from which most of his owners hail) that bills itself as the popular gelding's "hometown."
[edit] Barclay Tagg finds his "Big Horse"
Once a steeplechase jockey, Funny Cide's trainer Barclay Tagg, who grew up in Abington, Pennsylvania, and won his first race in 1972 at old Liberty Bell Park, is a journeyman who'd been laboring in the racing scene for over thirty years. The victory by Funny Cide made Tagg the first trainer to win the Derby in his first attempt since Cam Gambolati saddled Spend A Buck to win the 1985 Derby.
Ray Paulick of Blood-Horse said of Barclay Tagg, "He has some characteristics uncannily like hall-of-famer "Silent" Tom Smith, the trainer of Seabiscuit. He takes care of his horse, doesn't rush into anything or run him when he shouldn't. I like that about Tagg. Like Tom Smith, he's his own man and will put the horse first. I wish we had more trainers out there like him."
[edit] Early races
The chestnut gelding trained by Barclay Tagg and ridden by jockey Jose Santos, made his two-year-old racing debut at Belmont Park on September 8, 2002. Running away from the New York field, and under a hand drive, he easily won the six furlong race by fifteen or more lengths. It was then that Tagg knew he had something more than just a "nice horse" to keep his consortium of owners happy running in New York allowance races. Twenty-one days later, Funny won his first seven furlong restricted stakes race, the 25th running of the Bertram F. Bongard Stakes, under another hand drive, and by a similar margin. In the Bongard, his Beyer Speed Figure[1] was 103. No two year old in the country had run faster.
His third winning effort as a two-year old was his first try at a mile, the restricted Sleepy Hollow Stakes, also at Belmont Park. Under a very hard hold by Santos, he was, for the first time, challenged for the lead (by Spite the Devil), but proved he could not only be rated (held back in a certain position waiting for the best time and place to make a move), but easily had enough grit to hold off such challenges. It also proved he could handle longer distances.
By October of 2002, Funny's jockey, Jose Santos, believed this horse would be his "Derby horse." Even so, Funny Cide was overlooked by both press and handicappers in that year's crop of up-and-coming Derby colts and fillies. There was considerably more press coverage of Empire Maker, as well as his stablemate, Peace Rules, both horses trained by Robert J. Frankel.
The trainers raced Funny Cide only three times as a two-year-old.
At three, Funny Cide ran in the one and one-sixteenth mile long Grade III Holy Bull Stakes. Breaking from post position 13, he hit the gate, then raced wide for the entire trip. He came in 5th in a field of strong horses, including Offlee Wild. In the Grade II Louisiana Derby, he faced Peace Rules, Kafwain and Badge of Silver. Staying close to the pace, he rallied in the stretch, dropped back, and then came again along the rail. Finishing third after Peace Rules, he was bumped up to second at the disqualification of Kafwain. But it was his strong second place showing against Empire Maker (ridden by Jerry Bailey) in the one and one eighth mile Grade I Wood Memorial on April 12, that clinched his entry into the Kentucky Derby. Funny Cide lost the Wood by a short neck and was pressing Empire Maker at the wire, even after New York Hero early on bore out very wide, taking the gelding with him and losing him his early momentum. Even so, Funny earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 110 for the Wood.
[edit] 2003 Kentucky Derby
Ignored by virtually everyone,[2] Funny Cide, the narrow New-York bred longshot gelding won the 2003 Kentucky Derby running between the strong double entry of Frankel's Empire Maker (again with Jerry Bailey in the saddle) and Peace Rules ridden by Edgar Prado but neither of them could catch him. He won the Derby by 1 3/4 lengths over the favorite Empire Maker, paying $27.60 for every 1 dollar bet to win, in front of a crowd of 148,530 in the stands.
2:01.19, Funny Cide's time, is the 10th fastest time in the history of the Kentucky Derby.
[edit] 2003 Preakness Stakes
Blood-Horse magazine's Steven Haskin wrote: "Pimlico stakes coordinator David Rollinson had to go out and recruit Preakness Stakes horses when it looked like only six or seven were going to run. All was calm that first week after the Derby. Then, Empire Maker was officially declared out, leaving only six confirmed starters. Then Midway Road came in. Then all hell broke loose when the Miami Herald’s bogus story and photo of Santos cheating in the Derby appeared. Empire Maker suddenly jumped back in, his Triple Crown hopes alive once again. Hours later, when the inferno began to subside, he was back out. Then Peace Rules officially came in. Sometime, in between all that, Champali jumped back in after being in, then out. Then Kissin Saint and Alysweep came in. Then Indian Express came out. Then Rollinson popped a couple of Advil and braced for week two." Week two was like week one, now also including the in and outs and ins of New York Hero, Ten Cents A Shine, Foufa’s Warrior, and During. As Haskin goes on to say, all this confusion could have been avoided if all involved had known how Funny Cide was going to run in the Preakness.
Vanned in at the last moment by Tagg (who before this had only watched the race from the rooftop of the Pimlico Barns) and stabled in Mary Eppler's barn on the backside of the track to keep him calm and out from under the press, this time Funny Cide was the bettor's favorite. On a cold wet day in May, he burst from post position 9 (only Layminister in 1910 and Canonero II in 1971 won from 9), the runaway winner of the 2003 Preakness Stakes at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course. His time was 1:55:61, and he took the race by 9 3/4 lengths, the second largest margin in Preakness history. In the Pimlico Preakness, with its sharp turns and hard fast track, Funny earned a remarkable Beyer Speed Figure of 114. As Funny was the only New York bred to have ever won the Kentucky Derby, he was only the third New York bred to win the Preakness. The other two were Margrave in 1896 when the Preakness was run at Gravesend Race Track on Coney Island, New York, and Jacobus in 1883.
Now Funny Cide, the narrow New York bred gelding, was in the running for the Triple Crown.
[edit] 2003 Belmont Stakes
Four days before the Belmont Stakes, in what was meant to be only a breeze, Funny Cide took control from Tagg's excercise rider/girlfriend Robin Smullen, and ran perhaps too hard and too fast. Rumors began to spread that he might have ruined his chances for the third leg of the Triple Crown. It rained all day before the Belmont Stakes, the most grueling of the three races and a quarter mile longer than the Kentucky Derby. Rain or no rain, New Yorkers came to the track in record numbers, only to see Jose Santos ride Funny too close to the rail where the slop was deepest (called a "dead rail"), as well as fighting too hard to rate him. Funny Cide finished third in the slop behind a fresh Empire Maker and a fresh Ten Most Wanted, both horses having skipped the Preakness Stakes. Frankel expressed himself a happy man to have spoiled such an exciting run by such an exciting horse. "It may be mean," he said, "but I'm glad I did it."
As a side note, Tagg got a measure of revenge later that year, when his horse, Island Fashion, won the Alabama Stakes. Her victory denied a $2 million Triple Tiara bonus to the owners of Spoken Fur, which was trained by Frankel.
Immediately after the race Tagg said Funny Cide hadn't taken to the track. An odd comment, considering Belmont was Funny Cide's home track and he trained over it almost ever day, rain or shine.
In an article published in March of 2007, one read: Looking back, Tagg wonders if Funny Cide's 9 3/4-length victory in the Preakness and his overly fast workout the week before the Belmont weren't the results of an on-edge horse who had little left for the final leg of the Triple Crown. Tag was quoted as saying, "He didn't need to have his adrenaline popping through his head every time a bunch of people came running down the aisle way." That same year dual classic winner Funny Cide, once again up against Frankel and Empire Maker, won the Eclipse Award for 3 Year Old Male of the Year. He's only the second New York bred to ever do so, the first being Saratoga Dew, who was named Champion 3 Year Old Filly of 1992.
[edit] Troubled years
Horses don't reach their full height and weight until they are five. At four, Funny Cide flashed his old form in the Massachusetts Handicap on July 3, 2004, earning a 110 Beyer Speed Figure. The finish was a thrilling three way photo at the wire between runner-up Funny Cide, the eventual winner Offlee Wild, and The Lady's Groom. He beat Evening Attire in a final stretch duel in the 2004 Excelsior Breeders’ Cup Handicap, and was then beaten by Evening Attire in the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap. He nearly won the Grade 1 Suburban Handicap. But the highlight of his troubled four-year-old season was winning the October 2, 2004 86th running of the very prestigious and very grueling one and one quarter mile million-dollar Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park against the likes of the very honest campaigner Evening Attire and very promising young colt, The Cliff's Edge. In the Gold Cup, he earned a 112 Beyer. Other than Real Quiet in 1999, for years no other horse who has won a classic in his third year has gone on to take another Grade 1 race—except Funny Cide.
Funny Cide's four year old season was fraught with respiratory problems, probably exacerbated by sending him to California's 2003 Breeders' Cup Classic race. (It's been mentioned that entering him was very much not Tagg's idea.) The race was being held at the Santa Anita track that year when a major forest fire raged nearby, darkening the air around the track with hot soot. During his five-year-old season he was plagued with back problems, not diagnosed until he'd raced out of the money in several graded races. (It's possible his back was injured in the Belmont where he ran in deep mud on a "dead rail" struggling with his jockey who held too hard a rein.) Tagg decided to rest Funny Cide for the last half of the season.
[edit] Back on the track
On February 2, 2006, Funny came alive in a one-mile money allowance race at Gulfstream Park to beat the odds on favorite, Sun King, winner of the Pennsylvania Derby and the Tampa Bay Derby, third in the 2005 Jockey Club Gold Cup, and a surging second — by the bobbing of a nose — to Invasor in the Whitney Stakes of 2006. The stakes-winning sprinter, Sir Greeley, took the race in a quick 1:32.42, but Funny was up there with him to place. His jockey, the top 10 New York Racing Association rider, Edgar Prado said, "He broke sharp and was right with those horses from the go. He never gave up. I was very happy with his race."
On April 1, 2006, Funny Cide flashed his old form, running a gritty game second in his second Excelsior Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Aqueduct. "He ran a fantastic race," top jockey Richard Migliore said of Funny Cide. "Blood and guts all the way to the wire. He's a fantastic racehorse. I wasn't looking for the lead, but my horse was keen and I didn't want to get into a fight with him. When he got alone, he idled better and when company joined him, he fought on again. It was a very game performance."
On April 30, 2006, Funny broke his losing streak by taking the Kings Point Handicap at Aqueduct. Again ridden by Richard Migliore, Funny was dead game, proving he's still full of fight. "I'm more tired from trying to pull him up," Migliore stated. "I thought I was going to have to go around again." Jon Constance of Sackets Six said, "We thought that he didn't have the heart he used to have. But it's not so. He looked around and saw that horse coming up at him — and he was gone." (He has consistently reached the high-90s in the Beyer speed figures and at one time had 11 straight races with at least a 100 Beyer figure.)
On July 1, 2006, Funny Cide led all the way to win the $200,800 one and one-quarter mile Dominion Day Stakes (G3) at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada. The race attracted hundreds come just to see Funny, crowding the walking ring when he entered the paddock, and giving him an ovation at the post parade. But his definitive 1 1/2-lengths win over a tough field brought the whole crowd to its feet. Funny Cide broke from the inside post, controlling the Dominion, and holding off two serious challenges (first from Cryptograph who finished third, and then from Nolan's Cat who placed) as he clicked off early fractions of :23.62 and :47.14. Funny is the fifth Derby winner to race at Woodbine and the first to win there since Secretariat took the Canadian International in 1973. He is also the first Kentucky Derby winner to ever win a graded stakes race at the age of six. For the past 46 years, Funny is also only one of two Kentucky Derby winners to race at all at the age of six. (The other is the 1982 winner, Gato del Sol.) Richard Migliore, riding him for the fourth time, said, "He's got a mind of his own. He's strong willed and been around long enough that he knows how he wants to do things." As for Funny's last race on May 20, 2006 at Pimlico racecourse in Baltimore, Richard had this to say: "I was going to end up four or five wide on the first turn, so I tucked in to save ground. But the dirt hit him in the face and he got mad. I tried to restrain him, then when I asked him to run, he didn't want to go. You just have to hope he's in the right frame of mind because he can act like a grumpy old man sometimes."
Funny Cide, who was born in Saratoga Springs, has now run twice at the Spa. First in the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap when 70,175 fans showed up, and for the second time in the Woodward Stakes on September 2, 2006.
On July 4, 2007, lured to Finger Lakes Race Track by an extra $50,000 added to the purse, and ridden by Alan Garcia (who had given up several mounts at Belmont to ride Funny), Funny Cide came roaring around the far turn to take the $100,000 Wadsworth Memorial Handicap by three lengths and breaking his winless streak of six races. The track, which can accommodate 2,000 patrons in the clubhouse and another 4,000 in the grandstand, had an attendance of well over 12,000 people (second largest crowd since its largest of 13,000 in 1962) for Funny Cide's appearance, the first winner of a Triple Crown race to run at Finger Lakes in its 46-year history.
[edit] Retirement
On Friday, July 13, 2007, Funny Cide's retirement was announced. The collective partnership of Sackatoga, trainer Barclay Tagg, and his assistant Robin Smullen, decided that it was best to retire him on a high note with the victory in the Wadsworth and with the gelding still fit and sound. According to Jack Knowlton, managing partner for Sackatoga Stable, his future career will be at the track with Tagg. He will be used as a stable pony in the mornings, accompanying younger horses in their training. "He'll still be doing what he's done the past five years, but he just won't be racing in the afternoon," Knowlton said.
Kelso became a jumper, Sir Barton worked for the U.S. Army, Zippy Chippy, America's favorite horse racing loser, is now a stable pony at Finger Lakes racetrack ... Funny remaining near his trainers and his hotwalker and all he's ever known is a fitting "retirement."
NYRA held a "Funny Cide Retirement Party" at Saratoga Race Track on August 10, 2007.
Funny Cide is a two time "New York-bred Horse of the Year". At retirement, he had earned $3,529,412. He also claims the highest earnings of any New York-bred racehorse in history.
[edit] Further reading
Funny Cide's biography, Funny Cide: How a Horse, a Trainer, a Jockey, and a Bunch of High School Buddies Took on the Sheiks and Bluebloods... and Won, written by Sally Jenkins, was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons in 2004. ISBN 0-399-15179-6
Funny Cide for kids, A Horse Named Funny Cide, written by The Funny Cide Team, was published by Putnam Juvenile on April 20, 2006. ISBN 0-399-24462-X
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Beyer Index Figures are used for calculating the performance of a thoroughbred. It takes into account variables like track conditions as well as speed. It is widely accepted as an accurate indication of a horse's ability.
- ^ In his Starter Analysis, Steve Fugitte wrote: "FUNNY CIDE has the heart of a champion as evidenced by three stellar losing efforts in prep races. In Gulfstream's Holy Bull he drew a dreadful 13 post position and was unable to drop over at any point after hitting the gate leaving it. He still ran fifth that day and it was pure desire. Got a much cleaner trip in the Louisiana Derby but hooked a track that hated his running style. Still managed third that day and he came again gamely to secure it after looking hopelessly beaten turning for home. Hooked Empire Maker in the Wood Memorial and was beaten a scant half-length by the Derby favorite while again battling from the rail. This horse is all heart and is due to get a winning trip. Doesn't have the pedigree to stay this distance but neither did Fusaichi Pegasus or Thunder Gulch and his turf-oriented trainer Barclay Tagg knows just how to put the stamina in a horse. Posted a 110 Beyer Speed Figure in the Wood last out and will be very dangerous if able to repeat that number and work out some kind of stalking trip. Definitely in my top four and a good bet across as an alternative to the favorite."
[edit] References
- Funny Cide's official website
- Funny's pedigree
- Funny Cide, Three-year-old Male of the Year
- Funny's distaff line
- Distorted Humor - stallion register
- Tagg's website
- NTRA bio of Tagg
- NTRA bio of Sackatoga Stable
- NTRA bio of Jose Santos
- Funny Cide Kentucky Derby page
- Funny celebrates Canada Day
- Classic career history
- Funny heads the New York bred Millionaire's Club
[edit] External links
- BloodHorse July 13, 2007 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Winner Funny Cide Retired at Age 7
- Sports Illustrated July 14, 2007 'An unbelievable trip' 2003 Derby, Preakness Winner Funny Cide Retired
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