Mon, Jun 09, 2003 page20

• Empire Maker saddens Funny Cide

  BELMONT STAKES Funny Cide's shot a the Triple Crown was spoiled on a rain-soaked track as the winner began to emerge on the far turn. Ten Most Wanted was second

  • AP
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  Funny Cide's improbable run at the Triple Crown ended in the mud at the Belmont Stakes, splashed aside by a rival who wasn't about to let a gelded nobody become part of racing royalty.

  Empire Maker caught Funny Cide on the far turn and beat him soundly, a defeat that left racing still longing for its first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. That stretch is now the longest in history.

  

  Funny Cide, second from right, with jockey Jose Santos, leads the field of six horses in the back stretch of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York on Saturday. From left to right the horses are: Ten Most Wanted with rider Pat Day, Empire Maker with Jerry Bailey, Dynever with Edgar Prado, Funny Cide, and Scrimshaw with Gary Stevens. Empire Maker won and Ten Most Wanted was second, with Funny Cide, the Triple Crown candidate, fading to third.

  PHOTO: AP

  Despite a steady rain, Funny Cide drew the second-largest Belmont crowd, 101,864, who hoped to see the New York-bred join the likes of Triple Crown winners Secretariat and War Admiral. It was not to be.

  Instead, he became the fifth Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner in the last seven years to come up short in the 2.4km Belmont.

  This time Empire Maker turned the tables on Funny Cide, who upset trainer Bobby Frankel's colt in the Kentucky Derby. The colt ran up alongside Funny Cide and jockey Jerry Bailey cruised home in the slop, holding off closer Ten Most Wanted by three quarters of a length.

  Funny Cide, sent right to the lead by jockey Jose Santos, finished third, five lengths behind the winner. The first gelding to challenge for the Triple Crown never seemed to handle the sloppy surface. Empire Maker gave Frankel his first win in a Triple Crown race. The Hall of Famer was 0-9 in the series, but had come close twice before in the Belmont. Medaglia d'Oro was second last year, and Aptitude was the runner-up in 2000.

  In the days leading up to the race, Frankel relished the role of spoiler, saying, "I hope everybody hates me after the race -- then I'll know I did well."

  Bailey said he knew he had Funny Cide beat "from the top of the backside."

  "I knew he'd wear himself out," he said.

  Santos' son and daughter were tearing up before the horses even entered the starting gate. And after the chestnut ran out of gas in the stretch, the jockey's wife consoled Jose Jr. and told him, "It's OK."

  Empire Maker, owned by Saudi prince Khalid Abdullah, bruised his foot Derby week and finished 1 3/4 lengths behind Funny Cide. He skipped the Preakness, but was "dead fit" for Belmont, Frankel said.

  "You know he's the best horse," Frankel said. "He pulled up but then he took off when that other horse [Ten Most Wanted] challenged. I wanted the race to shape up like that."

  Funny Cide's trainer Barclay Tagg was disappointed he couldn't deliver a Triple Crown.

  "I feel bad for all the people who were behind him wanting him to win this," Tagg said. "I was pretty confident."

  Funny Cide put in a sizzling final workout Tuesday, leading to speculation that he might have left his best race on the track.

  Tagg said that wasn't the case.

  "I really truly think that had nothing to do with it," he said. "You never know what they're going to do in mud."

  Though thoroughbred racing is still without a Triple Crown winner, it may have gained a rivalry. Empire Maker owns a 2-1 advantage over Funny Cide, having won the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 12.

  The two could meet again in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga in August. Empire Maker, the 2-1 second choice, returned US$6, US$3.70 and US$2.80. Ten Most Wanted, ridden by Pat Day, returned US$5.80 and US$3.20.

  Funny Cide, the even-money favorite, paid US$2.70. Dynever was fourth, followed by Supervisor and Scrimshaw.

  Funny Cide broke cleanly and moved right to the lead passing the grandstand as the crowd cheered on their New York hero. Scrimshaw was second along the inside, with Empire Maker running smoothly in third. Along the backstretch, it appeared Funny Cide started fighting Santos and that's when Bailey knew he was looking at a victory.

  "He was pulling on Jose, and my horse was relaxed," Bailey said. "The key to running a mile-and-a-half is to get your horse to relax."

  Midway through the final turn, when Empire Maker took control, it was clear there would be no Triple Crown winner.

  Funny Cide's defeat extended the Triple Crown drought to a record 26 years. Secretariat won the in 1973, 25 years after Citation.

  Empire Maker, not Funny Cide, was supposed to be the big Triple Crown threat this year. He won the Wood and took the Florida Derby by nearly 10 lengths and was the clear favorite to win the Kentucky Derby.
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