As the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course ramps up, one of the most popular racehorses in New York history is being remembered fondly this week. New York-bred Funny Cide died over the weekend at age 23 at a farm in Kentucky. The fan favorite nearly won the Triple Crown in 2003 as an unheralded gelding — who brought the group of old high school buddies from Sackets Harbor who jointly owned him to the heights of the sport.
Sackatoga Stable's Jack Knowlton spoke with WAMC’s Ian Pickus about Funny Cide’s life and legacy. He says there are plans to honor Funny Cide at Saratoga Race Course, just miles from the New York-bred gelding’s birthplace.
Well, you know, yesterday was a sad day when we learned of his passing, but he brought so much to my five high school friends and I that formed Sackatoga Stable and by the time we had Funny Cide as our eighth horse, we had 10 partners and nobody who got involved ever expected anything remotely like what he accomplished to happen. I mean, we were just guys that got lucky to hook up with trainer Barclay Tagg and bought Funny Cide for $75,000 after we didn't buy him for $22,000 in the New York bred sale at Saratoga the previous summer, and he touched all our lives and changed them forever. The opportunities that I've had personally to operate Sackatoga Stable following the success of Funny Cide, and fortunately, 17 years later, along came Tiz The Law, that had a lot of major accomplishments of his own. So, we pride ourselves on having New York-breds and really Funny Cide broke the glass ceiling, any horse that can win the Kentucky Derby, no matter what state it's bred in, at that point people take notice and I think he gave a big boost to the New York bred program we've continued to support it and hoping that as time goes on it will continue to get better and better.
It was such a great story back in 2003 with you guys on the bus and the surprise Kentucky Derby victory. When did you realize you had something special in this horse?
Well, Barclay felt all along, even before he bought him that this horse had a chance to be something special. And it was really after his second race, the Bongard Stakes at Belmont, that he ran a high buyer speed figure and was co-highest of that year so far and won convincingly and only a second star to seven Furlong stake down there. Barclay said, 'You know this horse, this might be good enough to get on the Kentucky Derby trail.' And we ran him one more time, a mile race against New York-breds at Belmont in the Sleepy Hollow stake. That was the beginning of the reality check. When we went to Florida he had a tough first race, he had 12th post in the Holy Bull but we didn't lose any faith. We took him to Louisiana, and he ended up third, got moved up the second after a Baffert horse had a positive. Then ran a great race at the Wood Memorial and that was what our plan was all along. If he was good enough to be very competitive in that race and Barclay said after that, 'I guess we’ve got to go to the Kentucky Derby.'
People obviously spend their lives dreaming of winning the Derby. What did it feel like?
Well, I think just getting to the Derby. I mean, the walk from the back side through, you know, 130,000 or140,000 people with your horse, that's the thrill of a lifetime to get in the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby. And for us, we felt that he was a legitimate candidate. We've only gotten beaten by about three quarters of a length by Empire Maker, who was favorite for the Derby in the Wood Memorial and that we’re one of the top four horses and had a shot. Jose Santos gave him just an absolutely perfect ride and the conditions were all set and he performed. Then he goes to Baltimore at the Preakness and performed even better. That is actually the best race numbers wise that he ever ran and then the craziest three weeks of my life, leading up to the Belmont and the opportunity, potentially, for a New York bred to break the 25-year streak where there was no Triple Crown winner.
Right, and he finished third in that race, which was very heartbreaking for a lot of folks who wanted to see the Triple Crown. Can you tell us what he was like? People talk about the personalities of horses that are very competitive or successful. What was he like around the barn?
He was tough. I mean, the only person that could gallop him was Barclay’s assistant trainer Robin Smullen. He was not a horse that was a lovey-dovey kind of horse. He was tough. I mean, he would let you know that he was the boss and you try to get too close to him and they take a nip at you. But, you know, he mellowed at Kentucky Horse Park. I’d see him every year when we’d go down for the Kentucky Derby. Last time was in May this year, and they had him out the grassy area and he was nibbling grass, and they had kids feeding them peppermints and people taking pictures with him. So, he had kind of mellowed out a bit, but Robin was describing him, he was he was a tough hombre to deal with as a racehorse.
How did he change your life? When you look back on the 2003 run, and then his years racing after that, what did it mean to you?
Well, he put Sackatoga on the map and once Funny Cide came along Sackatoga was not only a state known entity, but nationally and even internationally. So, that really kind of kick-started the next generation of Sackatoga stable.
