Funny Cide

Funny Cide
Funny Cide at Saratoga, September 1, 2006
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 wins
Bertram F. Bongard Stakes (2002) Sleepy Hollow Stakes (2002) American Classic Race wins: Kentucky Derby (2003) Preakness Stakes (2003) Jockey Club Gold Cup (2004) Kings Point Handicap (2006) Dominion Day Stakes (Can., 2006)
Awards
U.S. Champion 3-Year-Old Male (2003)
Last updated on July 4, 2007

Funny Cide (foaled April 20, 2000 in New York) is a champion American thoroughbred race horse who came very close to becoming the twelfth horse to take the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in 2003.

He was bred at Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt's WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, and foaled at the McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbred Farm, owned by Joe and Anne McMahon in the upstate New York town of Saratoga Springs. His sire is the emerging Distorted Humor, a Mr. Prospector line sire (Distorted Humor currently stands fourth in the world in leading sires), and his dam was the winning, but short-lived, Belle's Good Cide out of Slewacide by Seattle Slew. In Funny Cide's pedigree, the greatest horse of the twentieth century, Man o' War, appears five times, three times through his sire and twice through his dam. In his pedigree, Funny inherited a great deal of stamina from his female family, which happens to be the same female family as his once rival, Empire Maker. And if followed back far enough, Funny boasts the blood of both the great Eclipse and the foundation sire, Godolphin Arabian.

Early years

Joe and Anne McMahon own the farm where Funny Cide was foaled

Funny Cide came from Distorted Humor's first U.S. crop when the young stallion's stud fee was only $10,000. Thanks in large part to Funny Cide's success, Distorted Humor now stands for $225,000 live foal.

Anne McMahon, on whose farm Funny was born, said to this writer: "We see so many foals, 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 (see footnote #5), 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.

(As for the Fasig-Tipton auctions: these were begun by William B. Fasig and Edward A. Tipton in 1898, and held in both New York and Kentucky. The preferred auction is for New York breds. Fasig-Tipton have included the sales of Seattle Slew in Kentucky in 1975 and Man o' War in Saratoga in 1918.)

Sackatoga Stable

Template:QuoteSidebar Sackatoga Stable (a blend of Sackets Harbor and Saratoga) all started one night when Jack Knowlton suggested to his high school chums that they buy a horse. J.P. Constance, now a co-owner recalls it happened at a Memorial Day party in 1995, where, "...our senior partner, our managing partner, Jack Knowlton, brought the idea up. One of the partners started running with the ball, quizzed everybody at the party. Because we had a few too many brewskies, we waited a couple of days and met on my front porch. And the deal was, if you're interested, bring a checkbook; if you're not interested, stay home." Nobody stayed home. They all coughed up $5,000 as starter money and bought a few second-tier horses. Any earnings went back into the partnership.

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.

(Henry Clay, a member of Congress and secretary of state under John Adams, is said to have been part owner of Buzzard, the first racehorse in America owned by a syndicate.)

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."

Barclay Tagg finds his "Big Horse"

Robin Smullen, asst trainer, with Ki Longfellow, funny-fan

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. During those thirty years he'd worked seven days a week and had exactly three vacations from a career that consisted of much less than stellar horses. There were times when he felt like a waystation on the way to the glue factory. And then there was Funny Cide. Funny Cide was and is Tagg's "Big Horse," a term trainers use to describe the horse that takes them all the way to the big races.

Referring to his discovery of Funny, he says, "That's all I do. I don't play golf. I don't go bowling. I don't go to Disneyland. I just take good care of the horses and wait for something good to happen. It took me 30-some years but this lovely thing came along." He also likes to say, "A million things have to go right to win a race. Only one thing has to go wrong to lose it."

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. (Back in the Seventies, he was once an assistant trainer to Hall of Famer Frank Whiteley when Whiteley was working with the filly Ruffian, ranked 35th in the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century. Now Tagg has an assistant, Robin Smullen.)

Barclay Tagg at the Saratoga track, 9/1/06

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."

Funny Cide's Early Races

This chestnut gelding, — trained by Barclay Tagg, ridden by jockey Jose Santos, and owned by a consortium calling itself Sackatoga Stable — 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 (see external links for horse racing terms), 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 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 years old, Funny Cide ran in the one and one-sixteenth mile long Grade III Holy Bull Stakes. Breaking from post position 13 and raced wide throughout two turns, 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. In that race he finished a game third after Peace Rules, but was moved 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 America's most prestigious race, 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.

2003 Kentucky Derby

Ignored by virtually everyone, Funny Cide was the longshot winner of 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. Drawing Post No. 6 on a "fast" track, neither of them could catch him; he won it by nearly two lengths over the favorite Empire Maker, paying $27.60 to win, in front of a crowd of 148,530.

Funny Cide's time of 2:01.19 is the 10th fastest in Derby history.

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 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 9.75 lengths, the second largest margin in Preakness history. The longest margin was Survivor's in the very first running of the Preakness in 1873, back when such things weren't accurately measured.

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 New York bred gelding, had a shot at America's Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.

2003 Belmont Stakes

Four days before the Belmont Stakes, in what was meant to be only a breeze, Funny took control from Robin Smullen, and ran perhaps too hard and too fast...way too fast. Rumors flew everywhere 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, 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."

(Later in 2003, Tagg's horse, Island Fashion, won the Alabama Stakes. Her victory denied a $2 million Triple Tiara bonus to the owners of Spoken Fur. Frankel was the trainer of Spoken Fur. For Tagg, it must have been a doubly sweet moment.)

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."

File:Eclipse award3.jpg

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.

Funny Cide is the first New York-bred horse ever to win the Kentucky Derby and the first gelding to win since 1929 when Clyde van Dusen, a son of the great Man o' War (ranked in the top 100 U.S. Thoroughbred Champions of the 20th Century as number 1), took home the roses. Funny Cide traces back to War Admiral out of Man o' War on both sides of his pedigree. He also goes back an inbred 5 X 5 to Ribot.

Funny Cide's 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, the eventual winner Offlee Wild, and The Lady's Groom. He was second to Evening Attire in the Saratoga Breeders’ Cup, and nearly won the Grade 1 Suburban Handicap. 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.

Many racehorses, due to modern breeding practices, are prone to fragile bones and delicate health. 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 struggling with his jockey who held too hard a rein.) Tagg decided to rest Funny for the last half of the season.

Back on the Track

As a gelding, Funny Cide cannot retire to stud as do many horses after their three-year-old season, for example: Empire Maker, Peace Rules, Smarty Jones, and Afleet Alex. Like many geldings (and certainly the great geldings: John Henry, the top money-winning thoroughbred gelding in racing history, Kelso, and Forego) they go on racing well into their eighth or ninth year. Kelso, for instance, won five Jockey Gold Cups en route to Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year honors from 1960 to 1964. Only two other Derby winners—Assault (1946) and Tomy Lee (1959)—have raced as long as Funny in the past six decades.

On February 2nd, 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 1st, Funny Cide flashed his old form, running a gritty game second in this year's Excelsior Breeders Cup 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.)

Funny with his exclusive hotwalker, Raunie Hart, there from the start

On July 1st, 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 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 be a grumpy old guy sometimes."

Raunie Hart, his hotwalker, claims he's spoiled. "He gets treated like a king. He thinks he's a king." Around him since he was two, Raunie says he began as a sweet even-tempered darling, but has grown too used to royal treatment. "But he is a king, so what can you do?"

Funny Cide, who was born in Saratoga Springs, has now run twice at the Spa. First in the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap two years ago when 70,175 fans showed up, and for the second time in the Woodward Stakes on September 2, 2006. Ironically, the Grade I Woodward was the only "prep" race Tagg could find at the Saratoga Meet that satisfied his needs for getting in a race before his actual goal of the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap later this year. As he said, "I'm not hunting for Grade I's anymore. I just needed a race for him. It's here. The people are here, the horse is here, and it didn't look like this race was going to be as tough as it could be. This is not our ideal race. Horses that are running in it have faltered a couple of times, so maybe we have a chance to pick up something." Funny was in contention for the Woodward, racing third, though wide, for much of the race...and then something odd happened. Completely unlike himself, he seemed to stop, fading back to finish seventh/eighth. His jockey, Richard Migliore, said he just didn't seem right. "He can pull. Today, an eighth of a mile past the wire he stopped. That's far, far out of character for him." Funny's half-brother, Flower Alley, favored to win and never in contention at all, finished in a photo with Funny. As of this writing, Tagg and Smullen are mystified, and hope nothing is wrong with their chestnut champion.

On July 4th, 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.

Retirement

Funny Cide's retirement was announced Friday, July 13, 2007.

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.

Jonty costello

"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.

Quite a few farms had asked about him, concerned for his welfare once his racing days were done. WinStar Farm, in particular, home of his sire, Distorted Humor, would have been happy to give their premiere stallion's premiere son a home.

But the track is probably Funny Cide's first choice for a home; Funny loves the races. Smullen says he will stand and watch them for hours. 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 has announced a "Funny Cide Retirement Party" to be held 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 on that $75,000 dollar investment by Sackatoga Stable. He also claims the highest earnings of any New York-bred racehorse in history.

Further reading

File:Funny boo.jpg

File:Kids Funny.jpg

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

For some time, there's been a consistent rumor that Hollywood plans a feature film based on Funny Cide's run for the Triple Crown of 2003, but whether this will actually happen seems very much up in the air.

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
• The Preakness website
• Photo finish in the MassCap
• The Jockey Gold Cup
• Funny celebrates Canada Day
• Classic career history
• Funny heads the New York bred Millionaire's Club

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