2003 Belmont Stakes
It rained all day before the Belmont Stakes, the most grueling of the three races and a quarter mile longer than the Kentucky Derby. New Yorkers came to the track in record numbers, only to see Jose Santos ride Funny Cide close to the rail where the mud was deepest (known as a "dead rail") and fight to rate him. He finished third in the mud behind a fresh Empire Maker and Ten Most Wanted; both horses had skipped the Preakness Stakes. Frankel declared himself a happy man in the role of spoiler. "It may be mean," he said, "but I'm glad I did it."
Later that year, Barclay Tagg trained Island Fashion won the Alabama Stakes. Her victory denied a $2 million Triple Tiara bonus to the owners of Spoken Fur (trained by Frankel).
Immediately after the Belmont, Tagg claimed that Funny Cide had not liked the track; however, Belmont was Funny Cide's home track and he trained over it nearly every day regardless of weather.
In an article published in March 2007, one read: "Looking back, Tagg wonders if Funny Cide's 9¾-length victory in the Preakness and his overly fast workout the week before the Belmont weren't the results of an on-edge horse who had little left for the final leg of the Triple Crown. Tagg was quoted as saying, 'He didn't need to have his adrenaline popping through his head every time a bunch of people came running down the aisle way.'"
Funny Cide won the Eclipse Award for 3 Year Old Male of the Year, the first New York-bred to do so (Saratoga Dew was named American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly of 1992).
Read more about this topic: Funny Cide
Famous quotes containing the words belmont and/or stakes:
“We use important words too frequently and they lose value; for instance, charm and great. An actor or musician often is proclaimed great when we really mean he is outstanding.”
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)
“This man was very clever and quick to learn anything in his line. Our tent was of a kind new to him; but when he had once seen it pitched, it was surprising how quickly he would find and prepare the pole and forked stakes to pitch it with, cutting and placing them right the first time, though I am sure that the majority of white men would have blundered several times.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)