Roses For The Little Guys
January 5th, 2003by Jude T. Feld
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night”
Only time will tell which category will best fit Funny Cide. Regardless, when he breaks from the gate for the Belmont Stakes, he carries not only the hopes and dreams of his owners, trainer and jockey but those of the entire racing world.
Funny Cide Wins The Kentucky Derby!
Four Footed Fotos Photo
The throng of 148,530 Thoroughbred racing aficionados packed into Churchill Downs on Saturday, witnessed the dreams of six high school buddies become reality, when Sakatoga Stable’s New York-bred gelding Funny Cide, under jockey Jose Santos, overtook Peace Rules turning into the stretch and held off the challenge of favored Empire Maker, to win the 129th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Jackson Knowlton was hanging out with his old pals at a Memorial Day get-together a few years ago, when the subject turned to racing. That afternoon, Knowlton and his friends agreed to put up $5000 a piece and buy a Thoroughbred. Trainer Tim Kelly found the guys a horse, which they named Sackets Six after their Sackets Harbor high school and the six original partners. Sakatoga Stable was born.
“That was the beginning of something,” Knowlton said. “We thought if we could just get a nice New York-bred or two along the way, that would be great. Barclay Tagg, who became our trainer about four years ago, has found a couple of nice horses for us. We were kind of playing on the house’s money when we bought Funny Cide. That always makes it a lot easier.”
Funncy Cide, the first New York-bred to ever win the garland of roses was also the first gelding to win the Derby since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.
“We first saw this horse in Ocala around November of his yearling year,” Tagg stated. “He was attractive and he seemed to have a nice flowing way of moving. He just kind of caught your eye. We noticed him again during the winter and again in the spring. We liked him every time we saw him and every time we saw him, the price went up. I knew these fellows were looking for a New York-bred and he seemed like he might be the ideal thing. The price was fine and he passed the vet with flying colors so we just put the deal through.”
“Little did we know when he got to the races that we would do so well,” Knowlton stated. ‘He won his first race by 14 lengths and then a small stakes in New York by nine. We knew we had a nice horse and there was a lot of pressure to go to the Breeders’ Cup. Barclay, thank goodness, wasn’t tempted to do that. He held us back and said, ‘Look, let’s wait. I think this horse has got a shot to get on the Derby trail next year. Let’s be conservative with him.’ We followed his lead.”
“Our plan all along was to run in the Wood Memorial,” Knowlton continued. We backed up from there to set forward what we were going to do in terms of races. He ran behind two tremendous horses in the Louisiana Derby and the Wood. Peace Rules beat us in Louisiana. Empire Maker beat us in the Wood. We beat them today, when it really counted.
“This is just indescribable. I have been living a dream here for three weeks. When he raced as well as he did in the Wood, it became real that we were going to run in the Derby. I was counting the days, hoping beyond hope that something wasn’t going to happen. I’ve seen so many horses get so close and something happens along the way.”
“It is a very difficult game,” said Tagg. “I have had a lot of highs but I have had a lot more lows, everybody does. It’s kind of hard on you to get carried away on a horse that might have a swollen ankle the next morning or a bruised foot or a crack in his cannon bone. Something like that, as you have read in the paper every day coming up to this race, happens an awful lot.”
Luckily for Knowlton and his partners Gus D’Agostino, David Mahan, Lou Titterton, Eric Datner, Harold Crane, Peter Phillips, Mark Phillips, John Constance and Larry Reinheart everything went according to Hoyle.
“This past week, every thing has gone like a charm for Funny Cide,” Tagg stated. “Not one single feather got in his path. It worked out perfectly. We were just lucky that the whole plan came together. That”s all.”
“It is a thrill beyond belief,” Knowlton shared. “We are the little guys in the game. For me it’s just so rewarding that everybody who dreams of owning a horse can look at what we have accomplished. Here we are, winning the Derby.”
