FUNNY
CIDE Click here for more photos |
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| (5/3) Funny Cide fights to
thrilling Derby upset! Sackatoga Stable's "gutsy gelding" in the words of track announcer Tom Durkin of NBC, has never run a bad race, and in the 129th Kentucky Derby on May 3, he stunned much of the sports world with a game length and three-quarters victory over 2.50-to-1 favorite Empire Maker. The relentlessly competitive bright chestnut became the first New York-bred to win "The Run for the Roses" and the first gelding to capture the event since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929. The winning time for FUNNY CIDE, who went off as the 12.80-to-1 seventh choice among 16 starters, was 2:01.19, which ranks among the 10 fastest Kentucky Derbys ever run. There were no mitigating circumstances, no freak occurrences during the race, and no weird order of finish -- at least for those who knew what Funny Cide was capable of -- with the favorite placing second and the second choice, 6.30-to-1 Peace Rules from Empire Maker's stable, finishing third. And there were no excuses, as Funny Cide came out of the gate bumping with 10th choice Offlee Wild on his outside before using his natural speed to advance into fourth position as the 16-horse field charged under the wire the first time in 22.78 for the opening quarter. Rounding the first turn, jockey Jose Santos allowed Funny Cide to move past Eye of the Tiger (by New York sire American Chance) into third place, as 29.30-to-1 Brancusi set the pace all the way to the second turn with fractions of 46.23 and 1:10.48, followed by Peace Rules. That pace did in Brancusi, who eventually faded to last. Making a bold outside move to the roaring approval of the fifth largest Derby crowd ever (148,530) was Empire Maker, who went from eighth to third under the urging of Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, but turning for home, Peace Rules held a half-length lead over Funny Cide. Driving down Churchill Downs' exhausting quarter-mile stretch, Peace Rules on the inside and Funny Cide on the outside fought it out for a furlong, but the New York-bred finally put his head in front at the eighth pole. Two lengths back on the outside was Empire Maker, but Funny Cide was not to be denied. The "gutsy gelding" who had experienced his first "gut check" against New York-bred Spite the Devil (winner of Aqueduct's Grade 3 Withers an hour earlier) and had come again on the rail in both the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and Aqueduct's Grade 1 Wood Memorial (against Empire Maker) dug in. Switching back to his left lead, Funny Cide lowered his head slightly and held Empire Maker at bay, with the favorite making no serious headway through the final strides. Victory in the $1,100,200 Grade 1 event increased Funny Cide's earnings by $800,200 to $1,239,385, making him the 16th New York-bred millionaire and ranking him ninth on the list of New York-bred money earners -- right behind Victory Speech ($1,289,020), who finished 10th in the 1996 Kentucky Derby with Santos aboard. Funny Cide's record is now 4 - 2 - 0 in seven starts, which includes wins in Belmont's Sleepy Hollow and Bertram F. Bongard Stakes as a two-year-old and second-place finishes in the 2003 Grade 1 Wood Memorial and Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. He was voted Champion New York-Bred Juvenile Male for 2002 -- but curiously was left off the Experimental Free Handicap for 2002 even though he was an undefeated multiple stakes winner as a two-year-old. The gelding is the first Kentucky Derby winner for trainer Barclay Tagg, who started off training steeplechasers, and the first Derby winner for jockey Santos, who had ridden in six previous Kentucky Derbys. Bred by the Kentucky-based WinStar Farm, LLC of Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt and foaled at Joe and Anne McMahon's McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, Funny Cide was sold for $22,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 2001 Saratoga preferred yearling sale. He had been gelded early because of being born with a non-descended testicle, but P. A. (Tony) Everard of Ocala Florida, who had purchased him at Saratoga, noticed the big New York-bred was working well -- as did trainer Tagg, who was in Ocala to see yearlings sent to Everard's farm. Sackatoga Stable managing partner Jackson Knowlton of Saratoga Springs and Sackatoga partner Gus Williams of Delmar also had heard about Funny Cide and had remembered him at the Saratoga sale, and eventually the decision was made to buy him for $75,000. Sackatoga Stable is comprised of six former high school friends from Sackets Harbor -- on the northern coast of Lake Ontario about 20 miles west of Watertown -- plus two other partners. It currently owns a total of three horses. By 2002 leading freshman sire Distorted Humor, Funny Cide is the first runner produced from Oklahoma-bred Belle's Good Cide, a Slewacide mare who was an open allowance winner at Remington Park and finished fourth in two stakes. Belle's Good Cide was sold for $100,000 at Keeneland's 2000 January mixed sale when she was carrying Funny Cide and is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Belle of Cozzene ($522,455) and to other stakes winners Quackerbell ($111,918) and Zee Oh Six ($107,025). Tagg, who admittedly is reluctant to run horses in competition where they might be over their heads, was noticeably reticent on the winner's stand about disputing earlier claims from the Empire Maker camp that Funny Cide had run second to a horse "not really trying" in the Wood. "I couldn't not bring him (to the Kentucky Derby)," he had said before the race. "He deserves a shot. I have too many other things going on," Tagg had continued. "I've been too busy to sit back and say, 'Oh, gee whiz, we're in the Kentucky Derby.'" Jockey Santos was more effusive: "People just didn't believe in this horse because he is a gelding," remarked Santos. "This is an excellent horse. We're coming back with the Kentucky Derby trophy, back to New York, back home. Managing partner Knowlton was gracious in victory on the winner's stand: "We're the little people," Knowlton acknowledged. "We only have three horses -- all of them New York-breds -- but this is a great day for New York and for the New York program." |
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 Photos: ©Skip Dickstein |
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 Photos: ©Skip Dickstein |
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 Photos: ©Skip Dickstein |
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 Photos: ©Skip Dickstein |
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 Photos: ©Skip Dickstein |
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 Photos: ©Skip Dickstein |
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 Photos: ©Skip Dickstein |
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