Funny Cide (horse)

Won Sleepy Hollow Stakes (USA-R, 8FD, Belmont)
Won Bertram F. Bongard Stakes (USA-R, 7FD, Belmont)

2003:

Won Kentucky Derby (USA-G1, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
Won Preakness Stakes (USA-G1, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
2nd Wood Memorial Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Aqueduct)
2nd Louisiana Derby (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Fair Grounds)
3rd Belmont Stakes (USA-G1, 12FD, Belmont)
3rd Haskell Invitational Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Monmouth)

2004:

Won Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (USA-G1, 10FD, Belmont)
Won Excelsior Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G3, 9FD, Aqueduct)
2nd Massachusetts Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Suffolk)
2nd Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G2, 10FD, Saratoga)
3rd Donn Handicap (USA-G1, 9FD, Gulfstream Park)
3rd Suburban Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, Belmont)
3rd New Orleans Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Fair Grounds)

2006:

Won Dominion Day Stakes (CAN-G3, 10FD, Woodbine)
Won Kings Point Handicap (USA-R, 9FD, Aqueduct)
2nd Excelsior Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G3, 9FD, Aqueduct)
3rd William Donald Schaefer Handicap (USA-G3, 9FD, Pimlico)

2007:

Won Wadsworth Memorial Handicap (USA, 9FD, Finger Lakes)

Honors

Eclipse Award, American champion 3-year-old male (2003)
New York-bred Horse of the Year (2003, 2004)
New York-bred champion 2-year-old male (2002)
New York-bred champion 3-year-old male (2003)
New York-bred champion older male (2004)

Assessments

Rated at 122 pounds on the International Classifications, 11 pounds below overall highweight Hawk Wing and 5 pounds below the top dirt horse, Candy Ride, but tied with Empire Maker for best among 3-year-old males on dirt.

Rated at 116 pounds on the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings of 2004, 14 pounds below overall highweight and top dirt horse Ghostzapper.

As an individual

As a youngster, Funny Cide was intelligent but headstrong, fractious, and difficult to ride. He was gelded at 2 because he was a ridgling; as Tony Everard explained, ridglings often experience pain in the undescended testicle when asked to race at speed around a turn, and gelding prior to racing resolves the problem before the horse starts refusing to exert himself for fear of pain. A hard puller at exercise, Funny Cide was determined when in racing action. He did not appear to handle hot weather well, and his form following the middle of his 3-year-old season may have been compromised by a respiratory infection he experienced at that time that aggravated a preexisting medical condition. He missed much of his 5-year-old season due to back problems. As a retiree, he was reasonably cooperative with his handlers but was not particularly sociable with humans, although he liked being near other horses. He enjoyed mints, carrots, bananas, and Hilton Herballs but has to have his sugar intake limited for medical reasons.

Connections

Foaled in New York at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Funny Cide was bred by WinStar Farm. He was a US$22,000 purchase for Tony Everard from the 2001 Fasig-Tipton New York August sale. Everard, in turn, sold Funny Cide (then an unraced 2-year-old) to Sackatoga Stable, a partnership group headed by Jackson Knowlton. The gelding was trained by Barclay Tagg and was regularly ridden at exercise by Tagg’s partner and assistant, Robin Smullen. The horse was ridden to his Classic triumphs by Jose Santos. Following his retirement from racing, Funny Cide worked as Tagg’s stable pony for a little over a year before being sent to the Kentucky Horse Park. He died of colic at the Horse Park in July 2023.

Pedigree notes

Funny Cide is inbred 5x5 to the unbeaten European champion Ribot, a three-time champion sire on the English/Irish combined list. He is a half brother to Rockcide (by Personal Flag), dam of 2012 Monmouth Cup Stakes (USA-G2) winner Rule (by Roman Ruler) and multiple Grade 3 winner Matrooh (by Distorted Humor).

Funny Cide was produced from Belle’s Good Cide, a winning daughter of the Seattle Slew horse Slewacide (a good regional sire in Oklahoma). She is a half sister to multiple Grade 3 winner Belle of Cozzene (by Cozzene), to listed stakes winner Quackerbell (by Quack), and to multiple restricted stakes winner Zee Oh Six (by Alphabet Soup).

Belle’s Good Cide and her siblings are out of the unraced Little Current mare Belle of Killarney, whose full sister Summer Paradise is the dam of stakes winner Gayla’s Pleasure (by Marfa). The sisters are out of the Grade 3-placed Graustark mare Cherished Moment, whose half sister Previous Pumpkin (by Our Captain Willie) is the dam of listed stakes winner She’s Always Right (by Metfield)

Books and media

Footage of Funny Cide’s Preakness win can be accessed in Chelsea Lowman’s article of May 15, 2018, “Preakness Past: Funny Cide and His Merry Band,” at The Racing Biz (https://www.theracingbiz.com/2018/05/15/preakness-past-funny-cide/).
A video clip on Funny Cide’s life at the Kentucky Horse Park can be seen at https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/videos/100014/funny-cide-still-draws-a-crowd.
Funny Cide: How a Horse, a Trainer, a Jockey and a Bunch of High School Buddies Took on the Sheikhs and Bluebloods . . . and Won was released in 2004 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons. The book was written by the Funny Cide Team with Sally Jenkins.
A Horse Named Funny Cide is a 2006 children’s book released by Putnam Juvenile. It was authored by the Funny Cide Team with illustrations by Barry Moser.

Fun facts

Funny Cide was the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He was also the first gelding to take the Run for the Roses since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929. For these accomplishments, his Kentucky Derby win was named the 2003 "Moment of the Year" by the New York Racing Association.
Funny Cide was conceived in Kentucky but was foaled in New York so that he would be eligible for the increasingly lucrative New York-bred racing program.
Sackatoga Stable got its name from combining the names of its partners’ hometown, Sackets Harbor, and Saratoga (where they wanted to race).
Funny Cide was the first starter in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes for Barclay Tagg.
Following the Kentucky Derby, the Miami Herald ran a story alleging that Jose Santos had carried a “battery” (an illegal device designed to give a horse an electrical jolt to encourage it to run faster) during the Kentucky Derby. The allegation was based on a photograph taken during the Derby gallop-out that supposedly showed Santos with the device in his hand, but closer examination revealed nothing except Santos’ rather unorthodox grip on his whip and the Q-Ray bracelet which he wore for arthritis. Santos was cleared by the Churchill Downs stewards on May 12 after a 72-hour ordeal during which he was hounded by the press. Santos later filed defamation charges against the Herald, which were settled out of court.
In June 2004, the New York Turf Writers’ Association awarded Funny Cide its President’s Award in token of the favorable publicity brought to the New York Thoroughbred industry by his Derby and Preakness victories. They also awarded Jose Santos the Red Smith “Good Guy” Award for his grace and sportsmanship in coping with the false accusation brought against him by the Miami Herald.
Funny Cide was honored with a “Funny Cide Retirement Party” by the New York Racing Association on August 19, 2007, at Saratoga. Proceeds from sales of beer at the party benefited the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. Later, Funny Cide made appearances at Saratoga in 2013 and 2015 to support efforts to rehome off-track Thoroughbreds.
Funny Cide moved to the Kentucky Horse Park in December 2008, becoming one of four Kentucky Derby winners to have taken up residence there. (The others are Alysheba, Bold Forbes, and Go for Gin.) After Cigar died in October 2014, Funny Cide was given his stall and paddock at the Hall of Champions.
In 2010, Funny Cide was voted the New York-bred Horse of the Decade by the New York Breeders’ Association.
Funny Cide was honored with a statue at Saratoga Springs, which was unveiled in August 2012.
Like former Kentucky Horse Park resident John Henry, Funny Cide enjoyed being hand-walked around the park.
Funny Cide’s companion in the barn during his racing days was a cat named Freckles.
Funny Cide continued having respiratory issues after his 3-year-old season and was eventually diagnosed as lacking the normal number of respiratory cilia in his throat and bronchial passages, possibly due to pneumonia when a foal. These hair-like structures normally catch excess phlegm and sweep it back out before it reaches the lungs, but Funny Cide had too few to get the job completely done when his phlegm production steps up due to weather conditions or respiratory irritants. Breathing treatments with a nebulizer and plain water eased his symptoms at those times.
Funny Cide’s extreme popularity among New York racing fans is reflected by products and memorabilia, which have included Funny Cide wine and Funny Cide Lite beer, bobbleheads, buttons, caps, and T-shirts.
Following Funny Cide's death, half his ashes were interred behind the Saratoga clubhouse on August 28, 2023. The other half were given to Sackatoga Stable managing partner Jack Knowlton, who indicated that they would be divided between interment sites at the Kentucky Horse Park and at McMahon Thoroughbreds of Saratoga, where Funny Cide was born.

Photo credit

Photo taken by Jessica Morgan at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2011. Used by permission.

Last updated: August 27, 2023