2003 KENTUCKY DERBY

HORSEPHOTOS/NTRA

FUNNY CIDE WINS 2003 KENTUCKY 

DERBY 

KENTUCKY DERBY OFFICIAL RESULTS

MAY 3, 2003

KENTUCKY DERBY

GRADE I

CHURCHILL DOWNS; LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

FOR THREE YEAR OLDS

ONE AND ONE QUARTER MILES

MAIN TRACK: FAST

FUNNY CIDE

Winner

129th Kentucky Derby

Jockey: Jose Santos

Trainer: Barclay Tagg

Owners: Sackatoga Stable

Chestnut Gelding

Sire: Distorted Humor (Forty Niner)

Dam: Belle's Good Cide (Slewacide)

OFFICIAL ORDER OF FINISH

Scratches: Sir Cherokee 

22.78, 46.23, 1:10.48, 1:35.75, 2:01.19 

See below for complete Derby recap:

FUNNY CIDE ON TOP OF THE EMPIRE AS FIRST NEW YORK BRED TO WIN THE ROSES

May 3, 2003

Churchill Downs

Louisville, Kentucky

Today was supposed to be the day Bobby Frankel was to win his first Kentucky Derby and his three-year-old derby favorite, Empire Maker, crowned king of the three-year-olds.  The way the Derby card started it looked as if Frankel would have the day of a lifetime.  Jerry Bailey guided Frankel’s, Aldebaran, to victory in the fifth race, the Grade II $200,000 Churchill Downs Handicap.  Then in the seventh race, the Grade III $100,000 Citgo Distaff Turf Mile Stakes, Jose Valdivia, Jr. guided home Juddmonte Farm’s, Heat Haze, to give Frankel his second winner on the card.  In the eighth race, the $200,000 Grade I Humana Distaff Handicap, Bailey booted home Juddmonte’s four-year-old chestnut filly, Sightseek, giving Frankel his third winner on the card with the same connections best chance going into the day, Empire Maker, still to run in the tenth race on the card, The Kentucky Derby.  

The long week was almost over and Frankel was on top of his game.  After endless questions of his three-year-olds fitness after bruising a foot earlier in the week, the colt worked this morning and seemed to have no ill effects from the injury.  Frankel had reason to be confident, and why shouldn’t he?  The colt was regally bred by Juddmonte, sired by Unbridled and out of the dam Toussaud.  Frankel has been talking about his star for the better part of two years and today was to be the day.

Besides the morning line 6/5 favorite, Empire Maker, this years derby was full of sub-plots.  Starting in post two with Supah Blitz making his 16^th lifetime start and carrying only the fifth woman jockey in Derby history, Rosemary Homeister, Jr., in the irons.  Then there was Atswhatimtalknbout, the underachiever from California who many thought could close late to win this race.  Some of those believers were led by minority owners Steven Spielberg and his Hollywood friends, who bought an interest in the colt shortly before the Santa Anita Derby.  Who could forget Buddy Gil, who won the Santa Anita Derby, but never got the respect he deserved because he was a gelding and the last time a gelding won the Derby was in 1929 when Clyde Van Dusen wore the roses.  And why not set your clock by trainers, Baffert and Lukas, who were represented by Scrimshaw, Ten Cents A Shine and Indian Express and continued their streaks of annual Derby starters.

Yes, there were a number of good stories going into the race, but flying below the public and the media’s radar was a gelding by the name of Funny Cide, trained by Barclay Tagg and ridden by Jose Santos.   There was media hype all week long leading up to this race but you hardly ever heard the name Funny Cide.  Partly because his trainer decided to keep his starter at Belmont Park and work on Tuesday before shipping into Churchill on Wednesday.  Many looked at his race in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct three weeks ago and thought it was a good race beaten only a half-length by Derby favorite Empire Maker, but many that day including this writer believed if asked Empire Maker could have opened up daylight and ran away and hid had Bailey asked him for any such run.  Bailey instead got the Juddmonte homebred home without using up all the gas in the tank, saving the colts energy for the Derby.  If that wasn’t enough Frankel’s second string Peace Rules beat Funny Cide by three and three-quarter lengths at the Fair Grounds in the Louisiana Derby back in March.  Frankel had hinted all week that he didn’t think Peace Rules could beat Empire Maker leading one to believe that Funny Cide would not be able to beat him either.  

So the race goes off at 6:04 p.m., in front of the fifth-largest crowd in Churchill’s history, 148,530 screaming fans.  And roughly a minute and one-half later the New York bred Funny Cide is now challenging for the lead at the top of the stretch in racing’s biggest race.  To his inside is Peace Rules and bearing down on his outside is derby favorite Empire Maker.  How ironic that the last two times out Funny Cide was chasing these two Frankel trainees under the wire and now he was drawing off inside the eighth pole to win the run for the roses by one and three-quarter lengths in a final time of 2:01.19. 

Funny Cide’s win marked a number of firsts for the Kentucky Derby.  Bred by Win Star Farms, Funny Cide’s win marked the first time a New York Bred has ever won a Kentucky Derby.  Second, his win marked the first ever Kentucky Derby victory for his pilot, Jose Santos, and his trainer, Barclay Tagg, who was also saddling his first ever Derby starter.  And then we can’t forget that Funny Cide breaks the 74-year losing streak for geldings in the Derby.  The name Clyde Van Dusen will now be a memory as this years Derby winner is also a gelding.  Funny Cide was the seventh choice in the betting field and rewarded his followers with a $27.60 win mutuel.  For his part Empire Maker, after running a bit wide still managed to run second, out finishing his stablemate, Peace Rules, who had to settle for third. 

In the end Bobby Frankel had a bittersweet day.  He did have a day legends are made of and one some trainers can’t accomplish in an entire year.  He won a Grade I, II and III and then ran two-three in the biggest Grade I of the year, The Kentucky Derby.  But the day will probably be remember for the race he lost instead of all he accomplished which is truly a shame.  For a trainer who has won nearly every race on the planet the first Saturday in May still does not appear on his resume under the win column.  Up until a year ago a Breeders’ Cup win had eluded him also.  However, in time he will be back with another great three-year-old to take another stab at the great race.  As for Funny Cide, he will continue on to Pimlico to chase the dream of immortality in the Preakness, as now he is the only one in 2003 that has a chance at the Triple Crown.

At the start Funny Cide came out bumping with Offlee Wild for several strides before the field settled into position. Brancusi took the early lead and led the field under the wire for the first time running the opening quarter mile in swift 22.78. Peace Rules ran a half-length back in second while Eye of the Tiger ran third another one and one-half lengths back. As the field made its way through the clubhouse turn Brancusi maintained his half-length lead as Peace Rules continued on in second place. Another one and one-half lengths back in third position was Funny Cide who tucked in to draft behind the front runners while Eye Of The Tiger ran another half length back in fourth position. Post-time favorite Empire Maker was running unhurried in eighth position as the field ran down the backside. Brancusi was still on the lead at the three-quarter marker in a time of 1:10.48 as his lead had shrunk to a head.  Peace Rules was now pushing the leader from second position while Funny Cide continued rating in third position as the field entered the far turn with a half-mile to go in the Derby. Through the turn Brancusi started to fade after leading the field through the opening six furlongs.  Peace Rules was now coming through at the rail to take a half-length lead while Funny Cide was moving to his outside in second as Empire Maker was making a bold move six to seven wide as the field moved past the quarter pole into the stretch.. Peace Rules got the mile in 1:35.75.  In the stretch, Funny Cide moved up along side of Peace Rules as Empire Maker was now all out on the outside as the three leaders set down for the final drive to the wire. At the eighth pole Funny Cide put a head in front of Peace Rules, on the inside, as Empire Maker was flattening out in the lane. In deep stretch, Funny Cide started to draw off leaving Peace Rules and stable mate Empire Maker to slug it out for the place spot. At the wire, Funny Cide stopped the tele-timer in a final time of 2:01.19 to win the 129th running of The Kentucky Derby by one and three-quarter lengths. Empire Maker held off stable mate Peace Rules for second as the later managed third. Funny Cide is a three-year-old chestnut gelding owned by Sackatoga Stable, trained by Barclay Tagg and was ridden by Jose Santos.