Barry Bonds’ pursuit of the home run record may upset baseball purists, but it’s a lovefest versus what’s happening to racing fans with 2003 Preakness Stakes winner Funny Cide.
Funny Cide was finally retired Friday, shortly after winning a modest stakes race at one of the nation’s remote tracks. The 7-year-old gelding earned $3.52 million before he was finally rested when sliding to nearly the bottom ranks of racing.
So what’s the postrace plan for the Kentucky Derby-Preakness champion who revived the sport with long shot classic victories? He’s now a stable pony. What, there weren’t any Central Park carriages needing a horse?
Shameless — a Derby-Preakness winner deserves a grassy field for a true retirement. Sorry if that’s not making anyone money, but $3.52 million should buy some oats.
Funny Cide is a gelding, which means there isn’t any stallion money so the owners kept running him. He finished with a mediocre record of 11 of 38 and declining historical value by the day. Fortunately, Funny Cide was never injured because trainer Barclay Tagg did an excellent job handling the gelding, but racing gets a double black eye for leaving this colt on the track when no longer capable of competing anywhere near the top level. Derby-Preakness winners shouldn’t be the headliners at fairgrounds.
Funny Cide often galloped badly against the best before continuing to lose in even less lucrative races. He ended by winning a $100,000 stakes on July 4 at Finger Lakes, which is like Bonds finishing his career in the Mexican winter league.
Sackatoga Stable was once a cute story of a few Saratoga, N.Y., residents paying $75,000 for Funny Cide and riding to the Derby in a school bus. Too bad the innocence was corrupted. Co-owner J.P. Constance’s comments to The Associated Press finally showed some horse sense over retiring Funny Cide — even if it was long overdue.
“We’re all sad,” he said. “They are afraid he might injure himself, and we just don’t think that’s fair. There’s no sense in pushing him any further. … But we’re happy for Funny Cide. He went out a winner.”
Not exactly. Being a stable pony means herding other horses around the track for morning exercise. Some horse lovers will contend Funny Cide is happier trackside than on the farm. Somehow, I really doubt it.
The gelding should be donated to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., where fans visit famous horses like John Henry and Forego. Who knows — maybe the owners can even take a tax write-off and make more money off him.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Contact him at [email protected].
