Good-bye, New York! Beloved Kentucky Derby Winner Funny Cide Will Retire to Kentucky Horse Park

by Fran Jurga | 26 November 2008 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

Funny Cide at Belmont Park, originally uploaded by wRock and Racehorses.

Horse lovers in New York will be in mourning this Thanksgiving. The Kentucky Horse Park announced today that beloved Funny Cide, winner of the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) will become the newest resident of the Kentucky Horse Park when he packs his bags and moves south on December 5.

Since his retirement as a race horse in 2007, the eight-year-old gelding has been used as Barclay Tagg’s stable pony on the track in New York and Florida. According to Barclay, “The rigors of racing and training for several years have started to cause him mild discomfort recently as he continued working on a regular basis as my stable pony.”

Funny Cide was an overachieving New York-bred racehorse who captured the imagination of New York racegoers and the nation. No one ever told him that New York breds were not supposed to win the Kentucky Derby, but win he did...and the Preakness...and other graded stakes. His popularity with New York horse lovers and betters grew as he aged, and some people turned out at Saratoga just to see if they could catch a glimpse of him in his retirement, being ridden by trainer Barclay Tagg in the early morning light.

Funny Cide Facts: Funny Cide (Distorted Humor – Belle’s Good Cide, by Slewacide) was bred by William Casner and Kenny Troutt’s WinStar Farm in a collaborative venture with McMahon Thoroughbreds of Saratoga Springs, New York where he was foaled, raised and then sold as a yearling for $22,000 at the August 2001 Fasig-Tipton NY Bred Preferred Yearlings Sale. He was later purchased privately as a two-year old by Sackatoga Stable for $75,000. For them he went on to earn $3,529,412 and an Eclipse Award as Champion Three-Year-Old Colt, becoming the highest-earning New York-bred in history for trainer Barclay Tagg, under Jose Santos. His nine stakes wins also included the prestigious Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1).

Funny Cide has his own website, FunnyCide.com, and a fan club.

The public is invited to the Kentucky Horse Park for Funny Cide’s Welcome Reception on Friday, December 5 at 2 p.m. Funny Cide will join another Kentucky Derby winner, Alysheba, who came to the park in October.

I hope they don't make fun of his New Yawk accent! And I hope he never loses it!

Thanks to Sarah Andrews (Rock and Racehorses) for her great photo of Funny Cide at Belmont Park with assistant trainer Robin Smullen up.

A Year Later: The Ultimate Retired Racehorse

One year ago today, I was looking at a map to see where in the world Finger Lakes Racetrack was. It turned out to be in western New York state, and too far for a day's drive.

I knew there was a good chance that the Wadsworth Stakes to be run there on the Fourth of July would be won by one of my favorite racehorses of all time, the over-achiever New York bred, Funny Cide.

I also knew there was a good that that it would be his last race, and that is how it turned out. He went out of the racing game with a blanket of flowers around his neck and a deafening roar of the crowd in his ears. And over $3 million in earnings to the big chestnut gelding's credit.

Funny Cide didn't go to a farm. He didn't go to the Kentucky Horse Park. I can think of about a million people who would have offered him a stall (including me) but his trainer, Barclay Tagg, had other plans.

Funny Cide went to work. For the past year, he has still been getting up early. He was still shipped to Florida for the winter. He still feels the bit between his teeth each morning, still needs the liniment by mid-morning.

But it's a western bridle, and there's a thick cushy saddle pad because Funny Cide is now the stable pony for Barclay Tagg Racing Stable. He works every morning, and he is learning a new angle on racing.

Everywhere he goes, whether at Gulfstream in Florida this winter, at Belmont in New York now, or at Saratoga when he moves north in a few weeks, everyone knows his name.

No one's forgotten him and the thrill of the ultimate underdog winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003. Funny Cide is a good news story for the troubled sport of racing. He's sound. He's healthy. And he's in full view, out in front of the public, where a champion can do some good.

We need you now, Funny Cide! Keep doing what you're doing!