D' Funnybone romps in Futurity

ELMONT, N.Y. - Edgar Prado made the right Given the opportunity to ride D' Funnybone or Discreetly Mine in Saturday's , Prado chose D' Funnybone, who ended up defeating Discreetly Mine by 4 3/4 lengths in the $250,000 race for juvenile colts and geldings. It was eight lengths back to Thiskyhasnolimit in third.

The Futurity victory came 30 days after D' Funnybone won the Grade 2 Saratoga Special at the Spa by 10 1/2 lengths, thus putting him atop the East Coast's juvenile division. He will make his next start in either the Grade 1 Champagne here on Oct. 10 or, most likely, train up to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 7.

D' Funnybone won the Futurity in much the same manner he did the Saratoga Special. After breaking alertly under Prado, D' Funnybone settled into third position as Hear Ye Hear Ye set the pace, hounded by Soundman through an opening quarter-mile in 22.63 seconds. D' Funnybone moved into second position entering the far turn, poked a head in front leaving the five-sixteenths pole, then galloped home an easy winner while Prado stayed busy on him, though never using the whip. D' Funnybone, a son of D'wildcat owned by Paul Pompa Jr., covered the seven furlongs in 1:22.40 and returned $2.90 as the odds-on choice.

"I rode him with a lot of confidence today, I know what he's capable of doing so I let those two horses go," said Prado, who has ridden the horse in his last three starts. "I was looking for him to see a target. H was very comfortable there."

D' Funnybone did stumble a few yards after the wire, presumably from seeing shadows, Prado said.

"He almost dropped me after the wire," Prado said.

D' Funnybone is now 2 for 2 since being purchased by Pompa and turned over to Dutrow.

"When I got him, if somebody said, 'Rick, this horse is going to win the Saratoga Special and the Futurity,' I wouldn't have said, 'You're right,' Dutrow said. "I would have said, 'Okay, let's see.' He is an unassuming horse, but he's okay. It seems like he's quick-footed, and he puts himself in position, and he's very handy. That must be helping out in these sprints. So now we got to try longer and see what he's made of."

Stanley Hough, trainer of Discreetly Mine, said he was happy with his horse's performance. Discreetly Mine did race between horses for most of the trip and while he wouldn't have beat the winner, Hough felt with a cleaner trip he might have been a closer second. Hough said he's more inclined to run Discreetly Mine in the Champagne than the Breeders' Cup.