Troubled Years
At four, Funny Cide started in the Massachusetts Handicap on July 3, 2004, earning a 110 Beyer Speed Figure. The finish was a three-way photo at the wire between runner-up Funny Cide, the winner Offlee Wild, and The Lady's Groom. Funny Cide defeated Evening Attire after a stretch duel in the 2004 Excelsior Breeders' Cup Handicap, and was then beaten by him in the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap. The highlight of his troubled four-year-old season was winning the 1¼-mile, US $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in October against Evening Attire and The Cliff's Edge. In the Gold Cup, he earned a 112 Beyer. Except for Real Quiet in 1999, for many years no other horse who had won a three-year-old classic had gone on to take another Grade 1 race as an older horse—except Funny Cide.
During Funny Cide's four-year-old season, he was beset with respiratory problems. The race was held at the Santa Anita track when a major forest fire raged nearby, darkening the air with hot soot. During his five-year-old season he had back problems, undiagnosed until he had raced out of the money in several graded races. Tagg decided to rest Funny Cide for the last half of the season.
Read more about this topic: Funny Cide
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