Tears, Hugs, Stories: Recalling Life of Funny Cide

It was a dreary, damp, humid morning July 16 at Saratoga Race Course.

If you were at Barn 15 on the backstretch of the Spa, you could add the word depressed to the description. That is the summer workplace of trainer Barclay Tagg and his staff. The mood was somber as word spread through the barn that Funny Cide , the stable star from 20 years ago, was gone.

The New York-bred, nicknamed "The Gutsy Gelding" during the 2003 Triple Crown season, died in Lexington early July 16 due to complications from colic at the age of 23.

Tagg and his assistant and partner Robin Smullen got the news from Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stables, who drove to the backside from his home in Saratoga Springs. 

There were tears. And hugs. And stories. Funny Cide, winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1), missed being a Triple Crown winner after finishing third in the Belmont Stakes (G1) on a sloppy Belmont Park race track.

"Nothing lasts forever," Tagg said, sitting in his office. "He was a tough horse, and he had everything you would want in a horse. His movement...everything was just coordinated so well. You don't see too many horses that are just perfect."

Funny Cide died at the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, which is across the street from the Kentucky Horse Park, his residence for the past 15 years. Funny Cide was the main attraction at the park's Hall of Champions, which had also been the retirement home of past champions such as John Henry, Cigar, Alysheba, and Bold Forbes.

Rob Willis, supervisor at the Hall of Champions, had been with Funny Cide daily since 2017.

"I have always said that Funny Cide was the Horse Park's most famous resident," Willis said by phone. "He was a rock star at the park, a great ambassador. People would come and see him in his paddock. They would take pictures and give him treats. He was one very smart horse, one of the smartest I have ever been around."

Funny Cide, a son of Distorted Humor, had 11 wins, six seconds, and eight thirds in 38 career starts. The gelding was retired in 2007 with career earnings of $3,529,412. In 2003, he started eight times and had just two wins, but they were two of the biggest races of the year.

He won the Kentucky Derby by 1 3/4 lengths at 12-1 odds and romped to a 9 3/4-length win in the Preakness. He was ridden in those races by Jose Santos, who would be Funny Cide's partner 21 times.

"It made me cry when I found out," Santos said by phone. "It was such an unbelievable ride we had. Funny Cide helped me to get into the Hall of Fame, that's for sure. As long as I live, I will never forget winning the Kentucky Derby with him. That was the thrill of my career."

Funny Cide's improbable journey to the Triple Crown was never lost on Tagg. When he first saw Funny Cide gallop as a young horse in Ocala, Fla., Tagg remembers this:

"The first time I took a good look at him I had my back to him," Tagg said. "I had my back to him and I turned around and watched him gallop by and I said, 'This is just what I have been looking for.' I went home and I told Robin, I told everybody, 'I found a horse that could win the Derby.' I could not believe I was saying that!"

Tagg would keep that conviction through the spring and into the first Saturday in May. Tagg, who never bets, made an exception and put $200 to win on Funny Cide in the Derby; he paid $27.60 to win.

Robin Smullen was maybe the closest of anyone to Funny Cide. She galloped him every day, was in the stall with him. She knew more than anyone what the gelding was like.

"He was a tough horse to deal with," she said. "He was not nice. He was not sweet and lovey dovey. He had people he liked and people he didn't like. I cannot even imagine what he would have been like as a colt. But he loved crowds, they hardly ever got him upset. I loved Funny Cide, but I am drawn to horses who are difficult."

Knowlton, along with five of his high school buddies from Sacketts Harbor, N.Y., and four others, owned Funny Cide and they took over the Triple Crown, traveling to Churchill Downs, Pimlico Race Course, and Belmont via a yellow school bus.

Funny Cide fever became the rage as he neared the elusive Triple Crown. And then, it was over when Empire Maker beat him in the Belmont.

"He obviously changed all our lives, me more than anyone else," Knowlton said outside of Tagg's barn. "Once Funny Cide came along, it established Sackatoga Stable as something special. I have people still today coming up to me and telling me how much they love Funny Cide,"

Funny Cide will be cremated and his ashes will be buried at the Kentucky Horse Park.