Funny Cide Archive

Additional Funny Cide related stories might be found at the 2003 Triple Crown/ Preakness/ Derby news archive.

Please understand that as time goes on some links might become inactive. We have no control over that.

They are listed in chronological order by day/date as they appeared in their various publications with the latest being at the top of the list.

>> Complete Jack Knowlton [Funny Cide] Triple Crown diary series

5/12/03 Saratoga celebration in honor of Funny Cide winning the Ky Derby

Eat yer heart out, Clemens! Jose Santos burns one in -- throws out first pitch at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night

Haskin: A letter to Barclay Tagg

Tagg confirms Haskell is next target... Funny Cide heading to the shore, "Yes, definitely."

Even though he lost his Triple Crown bid, Funny Cide is the best thing to happen to the business side of horse racing in a long time

Sackatoga partner Mahan talks about the last couple of days... "Cot Campbell knew my name!"

On the school bus Sat morning... "Beer! Beer!" come the calls from the middle of the bus to the back... "The horse has to be hydrated," owner J.P. Constance says, "and so do we."

Hundreds of fan letters have made their way to the mailboxes of Funny Cide's owners

Sackets Harbor faithful at home on Belmont Day

Sat 6/7:

Smullen sibs head to NY to support Robin... "I’m not worried about the race, I just want to see my sister."

Triple Crown bidder's rise-from-nowhere story touches national chord

Funny Cide is 'the best thing to happen to racing'
Chileans take pride in jockey as Funny Cide goes to Belmont

Kerrison: Santos' life a wild ride

Comment: Tagg expert at protecting his horse

Plonk hangs out with the Sackatoga gang

Agent a big part of Santos' succcess

Racing karma is on his 'Cide'

Fri 6/6:

Sackatoga's horses haven't all been talented... "Ohhh, Cartoga. He finished sixth once in a five-horse race."

Funny Cide rules in Sackets Harbor, thanks to group that formed stable: "Honestly, the idea never was that we'd actually make money."

Sackatoga partners have no plans to expand stable

Funny Cide's sire benefits from Triple Crown run: "For Distorted Humor, this year has been like being called up from Manhattan Community College to Harvard."

Distorted Humor share sold for $450K

In a way they could never have imagined, the residents of this pretty little village on the eastern edge of Lake Ontario are being taken for a ride by Funny Cide

Partner Mahan enjoying Funny Cide’s trot through history... "I’m not a Bob and Beverly Lewis, the type of horse owners who have a new superstar colt every year, so I’m really enjoying all of this."

Asst trainer Smullen a big part of the team: "It's all been a little overwhelming. But I enjoy it because it's great to be part of a good story."

The five men and the Belmont horse of hopes: "We're America."

Funny Cide's Triple Crown bid could create the buzz sport needs

Santos has enjoyed most of the ride... Jockey, family In the spotlight as Belmont nears
Funny Cide's trainer a long way from Penn State

Profile: Joses Santos... Fellw jock Rich Migliore, 'What I admire most is the guy who shows up every day and does his job and works hard, even when things aren't going well, and that's exactly what Jose has done."

Bluegrass pride for Funny Cide... Even in Kentucky, they're rooting for NY-bred

Bozich: Only Tagg could call Triple Crown try 'a distraction'

Price: If Funny Cide wins the Belmont it'll be because he's been getting the breaks and has been talented enough to take advantage of every one of them

No media for Funny Cide until after the Belmont

Tagg trying to keep himself, Funny Cide calm as Belmont draws near

Thurs 6/5:

For six buddies it's the ride of their lives: "We know it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. We know come January we'll be clipping articles from newspapers, and all you reporters from Baltimore and everywhere else won't even remember who we are."

Jose Santos Jr is racing's favorite kid... Mother, "He doesn't know how large he's become."

Funny Cide: He's a marketing machine on four golden legs

Sackatoga dreamers: "I had not been to a track," Pete Phillips said. "I had never bet. Larry (Reinhardt) had been to the track once, and my brother Mark had never been."

Funny Cide, a party crasher of epic proportions. Shouldn't someone have seen this coming?

Santos stays cool: The rest of us would call this pressure; Santos calls it a day's work

McPeek: Tagg's strategy boosts Funny Cide's hopes

Wed 6/4:

Santos is taking sudden fame in stride... "This is the maximum for a jockey."

A Funny Cide to Secretariat: Disparate horses share many traits

To some folks in the industry, the best thing about Funny Cide's Triple Crown bid is possibility that he will keep on running long after Sat's race

Rise to prominence by Funny Cide brings attention to the farm of his birth in NY... Colleague, "They're the hardest-working group I've ever seen."

Ride to the top: Jose Santos remembers all of it: the nights of cocaine and parties, the suspensions and broken bones, the accusations

Washington state industry people rooting for Funny Cide... "There's a lot of racing interest in this horse rather than some horse that somebody paid a million dollars for. So I think it's very good. It's great."

WinStar Farm owners enjoying the ride by proxy... "Even though we didn't own the horse we owned him in our hearts."

Horse racing has its savior: Funny Cide could bring glory to himself and the sport of thoroughbred racing for as many as three or four years

Born in NY, reared in FL, and now perhaps bound for glory

Tues 6/3:

Alternately shedding tears and shouting in jubilation, Jose Jr. watches as Dame Fortune envelopes his hero, his dad

West: Barring injury -- and the entire horse racing industry is knocking on wood -- Funny Cide is going to continue racing for years

Saratogian Q&A with Jack Knowlton

Funny Cide's thrill ride offers some interesting, if not exact, parallels to Seabiscuit

Everybody's on the bandwagon! Minnesota company proud to supply Funny Cide's feed: "For us, being a small company, it's been nice to be part of that -- to be helpful in that regard."

In racing Mecca, city embraces history-making homegrown... "Saratoga Springs is going nuts at this time."

Funny Cide unforgettable from Day One

Mon 6/2:

Funny Cide photo gallery

West: Funny Cide's journey -- Humble to historic

Funny Cide putting spotlight on NY breeding farms... Joe McMahon, "Breeders have to be eternal optimists in the world to keep thinking the next one's going to be better than the last one."

The fun side of owning Funny Cide... Regular guys chase a possible dream

Funny Cide's trainers Tagg, Smullen seem inseparable, "We live together and work together, and we like it that way."

Sackatoga: 'Hicks From Sticks' now racing's elite, "It's a true blessing."

Recap internet Q&A with Sackatoga partner Jon Constance

SoCal writer conducts Q&A with Funny Cide himself: "I'm not one for trash-whinnying, but . . . I settled accounts with Empire Maker pretty good in the Derby."

Sackets Harbor is a one-horse town... Somebody could make a pretty good movie up here

Another installment in the NY Post series 'written by' Funny Cide... "Can we get the other half dozen or so brave souls standing in my way and put them in the gate already? I've got a Triple Crown to win."

Tale of two bids: Funny Cide's try all things War Emblem's wasn't

Gelding steps onto rare ground of Triple Crown... The saga of Funny Cide is a fairy tale

Spring of revivial?... Funny Cide's quest, Seabiscuit's tale help boost the Sport of Kings

Funny Cide could have long career, "After this is all over, we still have a racehorse. And we still have a racehorse next year and the year after that. Right now, the bottom line is that he's earning a lot of money and we're having a ball."

Tagg will put the clamps on media access to his star next weekend

Twist of Fate: Connecticut families intertwined in sale and ownership of Triple Crown contender Funny Cide

Tongue firmly in cheek, Saratoga scribe says Funny Cide success is a Hollywood conspiracy

Florida scribe jumps on Funny Cide bandwagon: "Give me the pleasure of being your lead donkey as you race to the first Triple Crown in 25 years."

Funny Cide must avoid any funny business... Bad luck at Belmont has stopped runs at Triple Crown before

Funny Cide story turns Tennessee sports writer on to horse racing... "Interested in horse racing? You bet."

West: Funny Cide is the American Dream

True sports fans should be hoping for a crowning achievement at Belmont

In hoofprints of giants... Funny Cide reminiscent of several all-time greats

Funny Cide: This strapping, chestnut gelding has become America's Horse.

Funny Cide's connections will carry good luck charm from Secretariat

Beyer: Besides the David vs. Goliath aspect of this showdown, the Funny Cide saga has other engrossing elements

From the horse's mouth: Funny Cide gives interview to NY Post, "You're wrong, Bobby. And I'm gonna prove it."

Racing's two gift horses: Funny Cide, Seabiscuit

John Henry is still king of the geldings

Kelso's handlers like Funny Cide... Hanford, du Pont feel kinship with gelding chasing Triple Crown

Md firm provided shoes for Seabiscuit, also manufactures the footwear for Funny Cide

Comment: Gather around the TV [for the Belmont] and watch a real sports hero

Miami-Herald: What will be left in the litter from Funny Cide's parade, even if the colt wins Saturday? History suggests any impact would be short lived.

Profile: Barclay Tagg... "[The Kentucky Derby] made me feel like the last 30 years were finally worth the grind."

Could cloning be in Funny Cide's future?

Santos: "I'm very confident that you guys are going to see history."

"If you'd ask is Funny Cide better, pedigree-wise, to go a mile or a mile and a half, you'd have to say a mile," Bailey said. "The fit [in the Belmont] is better for Empire Maker than Funny Cide."

You could say Frankel has unfinished Funny business... "I mean, the race is great, but I'd run against (Funny Cide) for $50,000."

Opinion: Author Nan Mooney, "For reasons that are hard to finger, I'm not sure I want Funny Cide to win the Triple Crown."

Beyer takes a look at racehorse ownership in light of the recent success of Sackatoga Stable

Profile: Pinhooker Tony Everard who bought Funny Cide for $22K and sold him for $75K

Behind the scenes, Funny Cide's groom and hot walker... Jockey Santos, "We are taking all the glory. But those two guys are very important."

Funny Cide's impact on the game is being felt in an entirely unexpected way - he's attracting people interested in becoming racehorse owners for the first time

The in-Cide story: 19-year-old led Derby winner onto the track... "The horse almost pulled me out of my saddle a few times."

Funny Cide partner interested in mule cloning story... "I sort of laughed it off but I got to thinking about it, so I am meeting with a couple of the other owners [last night] and I will see what they say."

Tagg puts kibosh on Funny Cide Woodbine match race idea... "Personally I'm against match racing."

"Can this horse win the Triple Crown?" and "Does horse racing need a Triple Crown winner?"... This is the year when the answers go from "no" to "yes."

Funny Cide is a buddy to the stable help... "He likes being with us, and we like being with him."

Saratoga holds Thurs evening salute to Funny Cide

Funny Cide proves to be a big winner with merchandisers, as his rags-to-riches appeal outsells Yankees' apparel

A Cauthen connection to Funny Cide: Steve's younger bro Doug is prez of WinStar, home of sire Distorted Humor... First Triple Crown since bro's on Affirmed "would be great for us and great for the sport."

Get ready for Funny Cide mania: The racing gods have outdone themselves with another script about a people's horse

Funny Cide sharp in Wed am work

Funny Cide partner slated for Sat appearance at CT OTB

What you missed... It's a week and a half late but we've got the vidcaps showing the Preakness finish NBC cut away from

The Jose Santos internet Q&A

Knowlton has been a steady guiding force through magnificient Triple Crown run

USA Today: Sackets Harbor going horse crazy

Mainstream press loves the Funny Cide story... God bless 'em. But they're not always too well-versed in the sport. For instance, in a story about Funny Cide being gelded: "I don't know how many times a horse can 'mate' in a given year, but even if it's only once a week..."

Sackatoga group enjoying the ride... Weren't exactly embraced by Bluegrass uppity-ups. "It was a little stuffy, it was obvious who we were and who they were. There was this woman who was asking a lot of questions and then, all of a sudden, I heard her say: 'Oh my gawd, one of them is a teacher.' "

Sackatoga group happy to lend voice to 'I Love NY' campaign... "We are fully aware that our 15 minutes was extended another 15 minutes by winning the Preakness. It will never hit an hour, but we got the chance to do this."

The first in a series of NY Post articles 'written by' Funny Cide: "I was reading some back copies of The Post, about how War Emblem, Silver Charm, Real Quiet and Charismatic all came here with a chance to make history and left empty-handed. I don't think that's going to happen this time."

Good timing played a big role in Jose Santos being the jock for Funny Cide... "Actually, we asked Edgar's Prado's agent first, and he was preoccupied working another horse."

The greatest irony of the Funny Cide story was how it didn't come from those highly paid corporate types who've been scratching their heads for ways to make horse racing popular

The 25-year gap sounds startling, until you watch them around their stable. Tagg, 65, and Smullen, 40, are two like-minded workaholics with an abiding love for horses

Funny Cide: A tonic for horse racing

Barclay Tagg gets some advice from an appropriate source... Penny Chenery, "Keep your horse sound. You have to be gracious and helpful to others and with the press. Keep your horse straight and happy."

Comment from CNN/SI: Funny Cide's compelling story could resurrect racing

McMahon of Saratoga, in the limelight as the foaling place of Funny Cide... Owner, "It's like the guy who says he's going to be a baseball player and turns into Mickey Mantle."

Funny Cide's success a boost to both owner-partnerships and NY-breeding industry

Connections of past Triple Crown winners rooting for Funny Cide

The story of Funny Cide begins on the front porch at 107 Hounsfield St. in the waterside village known best until now as a battle site in the War of 1812...

Caterer/Funny Cide partner having a great time... "Funny Cide doesn't owe us a dime. He’s made $2 million for us ... and he’s been a billion dollars worth of fun."

Funny Cide's story has Gulfstream link: The money used to purchase Funny Cide came to its owners through the claiming process at Gulfstream

Jackpot! $2 Funny Cide Derby win ticket sells on ebay for $578!

'Interview' with Funny Cide -- Q: "Speaking of your jockey, Jose Santos, there was some controversy regarding the Derby?"... A: "Hey, I've had enough shocks already. That time they took me to the vet for surgery, they assured me I was going in to have my tonsils removed."

Pricci: Funny Cide chase is nothing but magic... Even for hard-core horseplayers, this saga is no longer about dollars

Funny Cide website upcoming... As are hats, photos -- and even a beer from an upstate brew pub

It's a wild ride... Funny Cide owner, "I've had a love-hate relationship with Bob Baffert from afar. Then we're all sitting in the same box, and suddenly we win the Derby, and he tells us to just go to the winner's circle, he'll watch our things for us... He's been just tremendous."

Voice of America: All eyes will be on a four-legged, chestnut marvel named Funny Cide when he steps into Belmont Park June 7

Triple Crown head-scratcher: Another year, another horse from left field... Why was the latest Big Horse once again the Invisible Horse when the Triple Crown chatter began last winter?

Finley: Saturday belonged to Jose Santos... The smile was back on his face. Good for him

Steve Haskin's Preakness Story: Funny Cide fairy tale continues

Hard to compare Funny Cide to last four who tried for Crown

Beyer: It's time to take Funny Cide seriously... Solid chance to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in '78

Jack Knowlton's Preakness diary: "What do you do the morning after winning the Preakness?"

Drape: Three weeks from now, the chances are good that Funny Cide, a NY-bred gelding, will become the 12th Triple Crown winner

NY Post's sports TV scribe lambastes NBC for botching Preakness finish: "It's impossible to imagine that during NBC's pre-race Preakness production meeting a plan to not show the horses as they finished second and third was proposed."

Early look at possible Belmont field

Ziegel: Off-the-record pre-Preakness quote from top trainer, "This is not a hellacious field. It's the kind of year" - the kind of off-year, he meant - "where you get a Triple Crown winner."

Record Belmont crowd expected... Reserved seat tix already popping up on ebay

Funny Cide returned home to his barn at Belmont in the wee hours of yesterday morning, and was fresh as a daisy - or a black-eyed Susan... Asst trainer, "I was absolutely stunned because he licked his feed tub clean."

What's going to be neat beyond whatever happens in the big race next month is the possibility of what might be in store in big races for years and years after that... Because this horse is gonna run

Tagg optimistic going into Belmont... "He's had plenty of exercise now, and I'll probably just work him twice [before the Belmont]."

Many agree, a great racing story is developing... Steve Cauthen, "A great story is unraveling, and I hope it ends with a Triple Crown."

Finley: Rested Empire Maker a threat in the Belmont

Izenberg: Triple Crown? You can hear hoofbeats on the wind and sense magic in the air

Silencing the critics: Funny Cide smashes NY-bred myths

Beyer: [Funny Cide] is a formidable threat to sweep the Triple Crown as he heads to Belmont for an epic showdown

Kerrison: In three weeks, New York City is going to play host to one of the biggest horse races in its history

Funny Cide romps in second jewel... The David of Louisville had become the Goliath of Baltimore... Santos, "I've been riding 27 years and this is the best horse I ever rode in my life."

Belmont victory would reap $5 mil bonus for Funny's folks

The Sackatoga story is quickly becoming one of those real-life fairy tales that racing seems to inspire

Funny Cide wins vindication and more fans with Preakness win... Bob Baffert, "It was fun watching and listening to the crowd respond to Funny Cid e when he drew off like that. I'm getting off the trail at this bus stop and rooting for Funny Cide to win the Triple Crown."

Brunker: Gelding faces too many hurdles to win Triple Crown

Funny Cide: They might have to make a movie about this horse, too. Consider the plot lines...

Roses and black-eyed susans 'reign' at website of farm that foaled Funny Cide

This is the ugly girl winning Miss Universe, the motorcycle gang crashing the debutante ball, the peasant being crowned king. And it makes you want to stand up and cheer

The sport needs a Triple Crown winner, a horse the public will embrace... If [Funny Cide] can beat the Belmont field, he has a chance to become the face of horse racing.

It's sensational... Because horse racing suddenly carries the common man's touch on highest ground instead of just at the betting windows

For the second time in as many Triple Crown races, a bright yellow school bus brought the Funny Cide contingent to the track... And the Belmont? "I think in some way, shape, or form, we'll find a yellow school bus. We don't want to break tradition."

Funny Cide Triple Crown: It's so far-fetched that it just might happen

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