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| Spotlight Story |
 Funny Cide love fest just right
By TIM WILKIN
The Times Union
August 11, 2007
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- I've got to admit, I had never heard the Bette Midler tune "Wind Beneath My Wings" at the racetrack. But it was blaring through the sound system at Saratoga Race Course on Friday afternoon and the good ol' boys from Sackatoga Stable turned to mush.
Jack Knowlton, the Sackatoga ringleader, was standing in the Saratoga winner's circle Friday afternoon, watching his best buddy, Funny Cide, take his final bows in front of his adoring public.
Funny Cide's retirement party was held at the Spa on a cool, overcast afternoon but it was all warm and cheery for the Sackatogas when Funny Cide was paraded up and down the track with longtime exercise rider Robin Smullen sitting on his back.
People rushed to the fence to get a close look at the gelding, who turned racing upside down when he won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness. They strained to get a picture, they yelled his name, they clapped their hands.
When Bette's song reached, "Did you ever know that you're my hero?" and Funny was looking strong and regal, it hit the Sackatoga guys like a tidal wave.
"I never thought this morning that I would be crying in the afternoon," said Dave Mahan, one of the owners. "I am just so happy for the horse ... that he is retiring. I mean, the emotion you feel for what he gave us ... I think I'm gonna cry again."
And he did.
A few feet away, Knowlton was Niagara Falls, tears streaming down his cheek. He was watching his best pal being adored.
It felt good.
It felt sad.
It felt right.
"Of course, I'm a little choked up," Knowlton said. "Horses just don't get treated like this. How can anyone doubt how popular this horse still is?"
Funny Cide's retirement shindig was put on by the New York Racing Association and the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Racing Program. And they shot the works, making sure it would be a day Funny Cide's people and fans would not soon forget.
A free poster of the gelding in retirement was given out to every paid admission and then the Sackatoga guys and jockey Jose Santos sat behind tables near the jockey's room and signed them. Old news? Hardly.
"People love the story up here," said Santos, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame five days ago. "He was born, what, five, six miles from here? People love him and he looks happy, he looks great. It was the right thing, to retire him."
Knowlton would crow later on that people were standing in line for an hour and a half before getting to them. They signed the poster, they signed Funny Cide hats and shirts, even a Funny Cide bobblehead that was given out a few years ago at Churchill Downs.
Cabano from Greenwich, Conn., was standing near the end of the line at about 1:30 p.m. He said he was a fan of Funny Cide and was here to get a poster signed for his 10-year-old daughter, Catherine.
"She has all the Funny Cide buttons and shirts, anything to do with Funny Cide," he said. "I am standing in line for her. How long is this line, anyway?"
Before getting to the front of the line, the autograph hounds had to pass by a big, yellow school bus that had been brought in.
Anyone who knows the Funny Cide tale knows the blue-collar owners traveled to the 2003 Triple Crown races in that mode of transportation.
"Nice touch," said smiling Jack.
When Funny Cide came into the paddock, there were two huge gift baskets waiting for him. They were filled with apples and carrots and pears and boxes of horse treats. In the winner's circle, where Funny Cide was being soaked with adulation, he received a Rolex retirement watch.
It was made of granola and other such treats a horse would devour and Funny Cide started doing that.
Then, he was back on the track and Smullen was leading him back to the barn, where he will serve as a stable pony for trainer Barclay Tagg for as long as he can.
"I would have a hard time with it if he was going somewhere else," Smullen said. "I would have a real hard time with it. Now he gets to stay in the stable. I've thought about it and thought about it and it would be a real bad day for me if he was going somewhere else. Now he can stay as long as he can."
The only absentee at the Funny Party was Tagg, who was nowhere to be seen. Knowlton didn't know where he was, neither did Mahan. Charles Hayward, NYRA's president and chief operating officer, shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know either.
"Maybe he's out looking for our next Funny Cide," Knowlton said.
There probably won't be another Funny Cide in Knowlton's lifetime, he knows that. The Sackatoga guys know it, too. Having this big, New York-bred in their lives was special enough. Funny Cide took all of them on one heck of a ride.
And here they were, at Saratoga Race Course, on the second Friday in August, to thank him for that.
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