Flashback: Funny Cide makes Jockey Club Gold Cup statement

The story of Funny Cide is one for the ages — an amazing tale of humble beginnings and extraordinary success.

The unheralded New York-bred made headlines when he upset the 2003 Kentucky Derby, becoming the first gelding to prevail in the “Run for the Roses” since 1929. His 10 owners, racing under the name Sackatoga Stable, were everyday middle-class men (many of them old school friends) who used their profits in the claiming game to purchase Funny Cide for $75,000. They would have been happy with a decent state-bred runner. Instead, they wound up with a Derby winner.

The saga of Funny Cide rose to even greater heights when the gelding dominated the Preakness Stakes by 9 ¾ lengths, giving him a shot at immortality in the Belmont Stakes. A victory would have made Funny Cide the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. But over a sloppy track at Belmont Park, the fairytale took a disappointing turn when Funny Cide faded to finish a distant third.

Sixteen months later, some of the magic surrounding Funny Cide had faded away. His post-Triple Crown exploits had been largely unproductive. Over next 10 starts, Funny Cide won only two races — a minor allowance event and the Excelsior Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G3). Against Grade 1 company on racing’s greatest stages, Funny Cide struggled to compete. His apparent disdain for Belmont Park also entered discussions following a fifth-place finish in the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) and a third in the Suburban Handicap (G1).

So you could say the stakes were high when Funny Cide returned to Belmont Park on October 2, 2004, to contest the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1). The 1 ¼-mile race attracted a competitive field, including the graded stakes winners Evening Attire, Newfoundland, Bowman’s Band, a trio of runners who had defeated Funny Cide in the past. The 3-year-olds Love of Money and The Cliff’s Edge also brought graded stakes-winning form to the race.

What’s more, trainer Barclay Tagg indicated before the Jockey Club Gold Cup that only a victory would earn Funny Cide a ticket to the prestigious Breeders’ Cup Classic. Another defeat, and Funny Cide would return to state-bred company.

“It’s going to come down to this race,” said Sackatoga Stable managing partner Jack Knowlton in the October 2, 2004, edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal. “It’s a huge race, kind of a fork in the road.”

To keep competing against the best — and reiterate his ranking as a genuine Grade 1 competitor — Funny Cide would have to make a decisive run over the same track where his Triple Crown ambitions had been dashed the year before.

The horses left the starting gate at 5:45 p.m. on a showery afternoon, and Funny Cide — breaking from the far outside post position — flashed early speed under regular rider Jose Santos, racing up to challenge Love of Money for the lead through fractions of :24.01, :47.65, and 1:11.62. Newfoundland was also up on the pace, while the stretch-running The Cliff’s Edge bided his time at the back of the pack.

Funny Cide seemed perfectly positioned to challenge with a half-mile remaining, but then the gelding began to retreat. As Newfoundland pounced to the front, Funny Cide dropped back between horses, falling a length, then two lengths, and finally three lengths behind the leaders, even as Santos urged him to keep going.

“Funny Cide is stopping,” remarked track announcer Tom Durkin in his call of the race, seemingly writing off the fan favorite as a fading non-factor. Indeed, with The Cliff’s Edge rallying quickly alongside, Funny Cide was back to fourth place at the top of the stretch.

Then a strange thing happened: Funny Cide battled back.

Refusing to yield any further, the Kentucky Derby winner bulled his way back between Newfoundland and The Cliff’s Edge, tenaciously regaining lost ground as pacesetter Love of Money gave way. At the eighth pole he was right in the thick of the race, just a half-length behind Newfoundland and still finishing strong.

Durkin sounded incredulous — “And Funny Cide, who dropped back to third on the far turn, is coming again!”

Just before the sixteenth pole, Funny Cide stuck his head in front, and as the finish line loomed he forged ahead of Newfoundland to flash under the wire in front by three-quarters of a length. “Funny Cide has won with unwavering determination!” Durkin said.

“It’s a great victory. I was hoping we would be able to reverse what happened last year,” Knowlton told the Associated Press.

Perhaps Funny Cide did have a disdain for Belmont Park. By the time he retired in 2007, his record over Big Sandy stood at just 1-for-9.

But if this is true, then Funny Cide’s redemptive victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup is all the more remarkable. When the stakes were high, he reiterated his talent and re-proved his class with a gutsy victory under challenging circumstances.

J. Keeler Johnson is a writer, videographer, handicapper, and all-around horse racing enthusiast. A great fan of racing history, he considers Dr. Fager to be the greatest racehorse ever produced in America, but counts Zenyatta as his all-time favorite. You can follow him on Twitter at @J_Keelerman.