Finger Lakes set to host 'Funny Cide Tribute Day'

New York-bred dual classic winner Funny Cide closed out his career with a victory before an enthusiastic crowd at Finger Lakes in Farmington, N.Y., on July 4, 2007. The track and his connections will mark that anniversary, and pay tribute to the “gutsy gelding” as the one-year anniversary of his death approaches, with a tribute day this Thursday.

Funny Cide won nine stakes races, highlighted by the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, in a six-year career in which he earned more than $3.5 million; he remains the only New York-bred ever to win the Derby. The popular gelding resided at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions for the last 15 years of his life, and died July 16, 2023 at age 23 due to complications of colic.

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Funny Cide’s final career start came, fittingly, in New York. Finger Lakes doubled the purse of the Wadsworth Memorial Handicap to $100,000, and Sackatoga Stable and Barclay Tagg brought the popular gelding in as the heavy favorite in a field of eight. With what Finger Lakes reported as the second-largest crowd in track history on hand, the Sackatoga contingent signed autographs and displayed the Derby and Preakness trophies. Funny Cide rewarded the faithful by rolling to a three-length victory. A few days later, Sackatoga managing partner Jack Knowlton announced that he would be retired off that high.

On “Funny Cide Tribute Day,” Knowlton and Hall of Fame jockey Jose Santos – Funny Cide’s longtime rider who was aboard for the Derby, Preakness, and other wins – will be on hand for a meet-and-greet. The gelding’s trophies will be on display, with videos of those prestigious wins shown between races. Giveaways of a commemorative Funny Cide T-shirt and photo of the 2007 Wadsworth Memorial will be available while supplies last.

There will also be silent auctions for Funny Cide memorabilia, part of a fundraiser for the Kentucky Horse Park and the Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Center.

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