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| May 20, 2003 | Tuesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1424 |
Funny Cide heads for Triple Crown
BALTIMORE, May 19: After victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, Funny Cide now hopes to conquer the graveyard of recent Triple Crown dreams — Belmont Park.
Four colts since 1997 have entered the longest of the three races harbouring hopes of becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed turned the trick in 1978 and all four have succumbed to the Belmont’s gruelling 1 1/2 miles.
“As long as he handles everything like he did the last few weeks I can’t see any problem with it,” Funny Cide’s trainer Barclay Tagg said on Sunday. “But you always have to wonder with a horse.
“Sometimes you think they’re doing well and they fall apart on you. They are athletes and we put them under a lot of stress.”
Funny Cide is an unlikely Triple Crown hopeful but after his stellar Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins, it is becoming difficult to doubt this chestnut colt.
Ridden masterfully by Jose Santos, he overwhelmed the entire field on Saturday to win the Preakness by an astonishing 9 3/4 lengths, the race’s largest margin of victory since 1873.
But in Belmont on June 7, the gelding must face some well-rested colts.
Empire Maker, the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby, will join the pack at Belmont after skipping the Preakness.
Also joining the party at Elmont, New York next month will be Atswhatimtalknbout, the fourth-place finisher in the Derby, and Dynever, who has won three straight stakes races.
Neither raced at Pimlico on Saturday and should be ready for a prime effort in the Belmont.
“There’s going to be some fresh faces in (the Belmont), and our horse will have gone through a pretty good campaign by then, so that’s a concern,” Tagg said. “But hopefully he’ll come out of this well, and he seems to handle it all well.”
Purchased for just $75,000 as a two-year-old, Funny Cide hopes to become the first gelding to win the Triple Crown and, if he succeeds, it will be at his favourite track.
The New York-bred Funny Cide is unbeaten at Belmont Park, winning three races there last year by a combined 24 lengths.
“He likes the track and he trains on it every day,” said Tagg. “And he ran well on it last year. But he doesn’t seem to mind almost any track.
“You’d like to have four or five weeks, but he’s a big, stout horse and seems to be handling everything well,” he added. “I think the three weeks will be fine.”
Tagg said he has “no clue” how Funny Cide will handle the Belmont’s distance, but has “a feeling he’ll handle it rather easily”.
“Everyone’s been such naysayers on this horse being a distance horse that I’ve always been a little guarded in my opinion,” Tagg said.
“So far he’s proven he can do it, but adding another quarter-mile on to it, anything can happen.”—Reuters
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