Inasmuch as the nation’s 3-year-old males currently lack a clear-cut leader, the Grade I, $1 million Haskell Stakes this Saturday at Monmouth Park could go a long way toward determining 2023 Eclipse Award glory in this division.

The news came Tuesday (July 18) that Kentucky Derby winner Mage is going to run in the Haskell. It will be his first start since he finished third as the 7-5 favorite in the Preakness Stakes on May 20.

Mage is owned by trainer Gustavo Delgado Sr.’s OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing and CMNWLTH.

“Our summer goal since the Preakness was run for us has always been the Travers [at Saratoga on Aug. 26],” Restrepo said in a press release issued by Monmouth Park announcing that Mage would be running in the Haskell. “We were thinking of the best way to get to the Travers. The Haskell falls five weeks out and gives us an opportunity to come back in a strong race against some of the best 3-year-olds in the country. We’re excited for the opportunity to get him back in action.”

Mage tops my current Top 10 in the 3-year-old male division, as listed below:

Rank Horse

1. Mage
2. Arcangelo
3. Forte
4. Arabian Knight
5. Arabian Lion
6. National Treasure
7. Disarm
8. Extra Anejo
9. Geaux Rocket Ride
10. Tapit Trice

The Haskell field, from the inside rail out, consists of Geaux Rocket Ride (9-2 on Brad Thomas’ morning line), Awesome Strong (30-1), Salute the Stars (8-1), Mage (3-1), Tapit Trice (3-1), Howgreatisnate (20-1), Extra Anejo (5-1) and Arabian Knight (5-2).

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in this year’s Haskell, not only because of Mage, but also because it’s attracted two colts -- Arabian Knight and Extra Anejo -- I thought had huge potential last fall after they each were dazzling at first asking. Unfortunately, neither Arabian Knight nor Extra Anejo made it to the starting gate for the May 6 Kentucky Derby, the May 20 Preakness Stakes or the June 10 Belmont Stakes. But both are slated to be in the starting gate for the July 22 Haskell.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Arabian Knight kicked off his racing career by winning a seven-furlong maiden special weight race by 7 1/2 lengths as a 3-5 favorite at Keeneland on the Breeders’ Cup Saturday undercard last Nov. 5.

Arabian Knight then splashed to a 5 1/2-length win in Oaklawn Park’s Grade III Southwest Stakes as a 2-5 favorite. Though the $2.3 million auction purchase has not been postward since the Jan. 28 Southwest, the Kentucky-bred Uncle Mo colt has recorded a number of splendid workouts at Santa Anita leading up to the Haskell.

Last Saturday (July 15), Arabian Knight worked six furlongs in company with Chay’s Tornado at Santa Anita. Chay’s Tornado, a 3-year-old Arrogate colt, has raced once, finishing fourth in a maiden special weight sprint down the hill at Santa Anita on June 3.

You can view Arabian Knight’s team drill last Saturday on XBTV, here.

Arabian Knight began the workout about 10 to 12 lengths behind Chay’s Tornado. Arabian Knight passed his workmate nearing the sixteenth pole, drew clear to reach the finish about 1 1/2 lengths clear and received a sharp 1:11 clocking for six furlongs. Chay’s Tornado was credited with a five-furlong workout in 1:01.20.

Baffert has won the Haskell a record nine times. The nine victories are listed below:

2020 Authentic
2015 American Pharoah
2014 Bayern
2012 Paynter
2011 Coil
2010 Lookin At Lucky
2005 Roman Ruler
2002 War Emblem
2001 Point Given

Bayern, American Pharoah and Authentic went on that same year to capture the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Monmouth Park and BetMakers Technology Group this year again are partnering as sponsors of a $1 million “BetMakers Bonanza” bonus for the connections of any horse who sweeps the Haskell, Travers and Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Extra Anejo, a $1.35 million auction acquisition, won a Keeneland maiden special weight race at about seven furlongs for fun when unveiled last year on Oct. 13. Sent away as a 7-5 favorite, he reached the finish a widening 9 1/2 lengths in front. However, he subsequently went on the shelf as a result of undergoing ankle surgery.

When Extra Anejo returned to the races at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard May 6, he finished second as an even-money favorite to Federal Judge in a six-furlong allowance/optional claiming contest.

Extra Anejo then cruised to a 6 1/2-length victory in a one-mile allowance/optional claiming race at Ellis Park on June 10.

I think it says a lot that Hall of Famer Baffert is running Arabian Knight in the Haskell despite the layoff.

I also think it says a lot that fellow Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen is asking Extra Anejo to make his stakes debut in the Haskell.

One the reasons I’ve decided to go with Extra Anejo to win the Haskell is the way Asmussen seems to believe that this colt and Disarm can hold their own with the best 3-year-olds around.

“They’re unbelievably talented in a very deep crop,” Asmussen said of the two colts in a July 10 Daily Racing Form article written by David Grening. “Nothing but respect for who’s still out there, but I like us.”

For Asmussen to call Extra Anejo and Disarm “unbelievably talented” is an indication to me that they both could have a big say in important races during the second half of the year, starting with the Haskell and Jim Dandy. This is somewhat similar to the way trainer Chad Brown talked up Whitebeam before she won Saratoga’s Grade I Diana Stakes last Saturday (July 15).

Whitebeam was my top pick in the Diana selections I made for Xpressbet.com. She won at odds of 7-1 by a nose over 1-5 favorite In Italian. One of the reasons I took a shot to make Whitebeam my top pick were positive comments made by Brown, who also trains In Italian. Brown’s comments indicated he has a very high opinion of Whitebeam.

Writing for horseracingnation.com, Tom Pedula quoted Brown as saying before the Diana: “She’s stepping up significantly in class, but she is a filly I’ve loved since she arrived from Juddmonte.”

Evaluating what a trainer says about a horse can be rather tricky, though. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t. For me, it did pay off with Whitebeam. I’m hoping that it also pays off with Extra Anejo. We shall see.

Extra Anejo and Disarm worked in company last Saturday (July 15) on Saratoga’s training track. Equibase listed each colt completing a five-furlong workout in the exact same time of 1:00.55.

“They worked like that at Churchill together, expected exactly what we got,” Asmussen said to Grening with regard to last Saturday’s team drill at Saratoga. “Feel really good about them.”

Here again, I think it’s worth noting that Asmussen didn’t just say he feels good about them, but that he feels “really” good about them. Sometimes even one word, like “really,” can be a major clue as to what a trainer thinks about a horse.

With respect to Extra Anejo, Asmussen said: “Who we’ve had him with in the morning for a long time gives us a lot of confidence in him.”

To reiterate, for Asmussen to ask Extra Anejo to make his stakes debut at the Grade I level tells us that North America’s all-time leading trainer in victories really likes this colt a lot. As they say, actions speak louder than words.

Ron Winchell’s Winchell Thoroughbreds races both pricey auction purchase Extra Anejo and homebred Disarm. Winchell Thoroughbreds campaigned Epicenter, who won last year’s Jim Dandy and Travers en route to an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male of 2022.

“The Winchells have had a lot of very good horses, and Extra Anejo is as promising as any of them,” Asmussen said Wednesday (July 19) in a Daily Racing Form article written by Marcus Hersh.

How about what rival trainer Baffert said of Extra Anejo in Hersh’s article?

“Extra Anejo, we know he’s a superstar kind of horse,” Baffert said.

But by the same token, I’d say Arabian Knight, so far, likewise has look like he’s a superstar kind of horse.

As for Disarm, he finished a respectable fourth in the Kentucky Derby, then won Churchill’s Grade III Matt Winn Stakes when last seen under Winchell’s maroon and white silks.

“Thought he ran a beautiful race [in the Matt Winn],” Asmussen said. “He’s a very, very good horse.”

I consider it meaningful that Asmussen said the word “very” twice.

Do you know who was a “very, very good horse” trained by Asmussen? Disarm’s sire, Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year for Winchell and Three Chimneys Farm.

Perhaps Disarm is on his way to a Gun Runner-ish career. Disarm is to make his next start in Saratoga’s Grade II Jim Dandy on July 29.

“The Jim Dandy is the appropriate prep for the Travers,” Asmussen said. “The further they go, the more you like him.”

By the way, two other “very, very good horses” trained by Asmussen were Curlin, the 2007-08 Horse of the Year, the Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Horse of the Year.

Last week in my selections for Xpressbet.com, I took a shot at beating In Italian. This time I’m going to take a shot at beating Mage.

Why would I not make Mage my top pick in the Haskell if I have him ranked No. 1 on my 3-year-old male Top 10? Good question. I think it’s worth trying to beat him because of his anticipated low odds. I expect Mage to end up being lower than his 3-1 morning line because being a Kentucky Derby winner has a lot of cachet.

I loved Mage to win the Preakness. He let me down by finishing third. Granted, it didn’t help Mage in the Preakness that the pace was much slower than it had been in the Kentucky Derby. I thought Mage would be good enough to win the Preakness even if the pace was moderate. But he wasn’t. Mage had no late kick. He just ran evenly down the lane when outrun by National Treasure and Blazing Sevens.

Mage was freshened a bit after the Preakness.

“He had a great break after the Preakness -- 17 days of no saddle and no racetrack,” Restrepo said. “The break was good for him.”

Another reason I’m not willing to back Mage at low odds in the Haskell is he’s coming up to the race somewhat light in the workout department for such a tough assignment.

Mage has had only four published workouts since the Preakness. That’s “not ideal,” Restrepo admitted. “But we’ve got to get the ball rolling.”

In a Daily Racing Form story written by Mike Welsch, Restrepo said that “with no disrespect to the Haskell, we are basically using this race as a prep for the Travers rather than giving him one more work and bringing him back in the Jim Dandy the following week.”

It’s not a difficult decision for me to try and beat Mage in this spot, particularly in light of Restrepo’s comments.

What was a very difficult decision was whether to make either Arabian Knight or Extra Anejo my top pick in the Haskell. I went back and forth, over and over, before ultimately deciding to opt for Extra Anejo, especially since Extra Anejo probably is going to be a much better price, as indicated by the morning line in which he is 5-1 vis-a-vis Arabian Knight’s 5-2 favoritism.

Interestingly, according to horseracingnation.com, in the fixed-odds market, Mage opened as the 2-1 favorite by MonmouthBets. Arabian Knight was the second choice at 5-2, followed by Tapit Trice at 7-2, Extra Anejo at 6-1, Geaux Rocket Ride at 8-1, Salute the Stars at 10-1, Howgreatisnate at 20-1 and Awesome Strong at 30-1.

Below are my selections for the Haskell Stakes:

1. Extra Anejo
2. Arabian Knight
3. Geaux Rocket Ride
4. Tapit Trice

I think Geaux Rocket Ride also should be taken very seriously. Why? Primarily because of the way trainer Richard Mandella has talked so enthusiastically about him on a number of occasions and the way the Hall of Fame horseman has managed him.

After Geaux Rocket Ride won a six-furlong maiden special weight race by 5 3/4 lengths at Santa Anita on Jan. 29 in his career debut, Mandella ran him next in the Grade II San Felipe Stakes on March 4. This indicated what Mandella thought of the Kentucky-bred Candy Ride colt. You don’t see Mandella do something like that very often.

What Mandella did with Geaux Rocket Ride was similar to what he did with Omaha Beach. After Omaha Beach won a maiden race by nine lengths on a sloppy track in his fifth career start, Mandella hiked him substantially in class and ran him in Oaklawn Park’s Grade II Rebel Stakes, which the colt won at 4-1.

Geaux Rocket Ride was the 5-2 favorite in the San Felipe. He finished second to Practical Move. There were those who thought Geaux Rocket Ride was going to win the Grade I Santa Anita Derby on April 8, but the colt didn’t get his chance. He had to be scratched due to an elevated temperature.

After missing the Santa Anita Derby, Geaux Rocket Ride won Santa Anita’s Affirmed Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths there on June 4. Mandella has targeted the Haskell with him ever since the Affirmed.

Geaux Rocket Ride completed his serious preparation for the Haskell by working four furlongs last Sunday (July 16) at Santa Anita in :47.20. It was a praiseworthy move, especially considering he worked by himself.

You can watch Geaux Rocket Ride’s workout last Sunday on XBTV, here.

Tapit Trice, a $1.3 million auction purchase, put together a four-race winning streak that continued through his neck triumph in Keeneland’s Grade I Blue Grass Stakes on April 8. The Kentucky-bred Tapit colt then ran seventh at 9-2 in the 18-horse Kentucky Derby.

In his most recent start, Tapit Trice ran well in defeat. In fact, his 100 Beyer when third in the Belmont Stakes was his biggest figure yet. Despite a very wide trip, he missed finishing second by only a nose to Eclipse Award winner Forte. Forte and Tapit Trice both finished 1 1/2 lengths behind Arcangelo, who benefitted from a savvy ground-saving ride on the far turn by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

I’ve never been as high on Tapit Trice as many others. But that being said, would I be surprised if he won the Haskell? No, I would not.

WHITEBEAM NAILS IN ITALIAN AT FINISH

As mentioned earlier, Whitebeam was my top pick in the Diana Stakes for Xpressbet.com. She pulled off an upset, returning $17.60 for each $2 win wager.

Whitebeam sat just off the early pace, which as expected was set by In Italian. Coming down the stretch, In Italian managed to hold a short lead over Whitebeam all the way until Whitebeam poked her nose in front right at the finish line.

That made it three straight stakes races in which I’ve selected the winner for Xpressbet.com, following Two Phil’s at 3-5 in the Grade III Ohio Derby on June 14 and West Will Power at 2-1 in the Grade I Stephen Foster Stakes on July 1.

I talked last week about taking a shot with Whitebeam in the Diana even though her top Beyer Speed Figure of a 94 going into the race did not come close to measuring up to In Italian’s five most recent Beyers -- 102, 104, 104, 100, 103.

“But I think there is a chance that we have not seen the best from Whitebeam yet,” I wrote. “If that’s true, the 4-year-old Caravaggio filly just might have the potential to go out there and post a triple-digit Beyer.”

And what Beyer Speed Figure did Whitebeam get for her Diana victory? She got a 100.

To be fair to In Italian, even though she didn’t win the Diana, she actually ran quite well.

First, In Italian spotted six pounds to Whitebeam.

Second, the Mellon turf course was officially listed as firm. But a number of riders were reported to have said that some rain had caused there to be a little more give in the ground on that turf course than when it’s normally firm. Thus, the surface in the Diana probably was not the best situation for In Italian, who likes it really firm.

And third, some observers, such as riders turned television commentators Gary Stevens (in the Hall of Fame as a jockey) and Richard Migliore expressed the view that In Italian’s early speed is a weapon that her pilot, Irad Ortiz Jr., did not use to best advantage. Recognizing that hindsight is always 20/20, Stevens said that Ortiz “should have let her out a notch, let her skip away down the backside and maybe go a little bit faster.”

In any case, Whitebeam won this year’s Diana, albeit narrowly, as the longest price in the betting of Brown’s four starters in the race. In Italian at 8-1 likewise was the longest price of four Brown runners in last year’s Diana.

Brown finished 1-2-3-4 in the 2022 Diana with In Italian, Technical Analysis, Bleecker Street and Rougir.

Brown finished 1-2-4-5 in the 2023 Diana. The Brown-trained Marketsegmentation and Fluffy Socks finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the field of five.

The only Diana contestant this year not trained by Brown was Fev Rover, who finished a creditable third.

LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC RANKINGS

This year’s Breeders’ Cup will be held at Santa Anita on Nov. 3-4. The race with the largest purse during the two days of fierce Thoroughbred competition once again will be the $6 million Classic at 1 1/4 miles on dirt Nov. 4. In fact, the BC Classic has the distinction of being the richest horse race in North America.

It was announced Wednesday (July 19) that for the first time in the 40-year history of the Breeders’ Cup, the Classic will not be final Breeders’ Cup race on the day that it’s held.

This year’s Classic instead will be run as the third-to-last Breeders’ Cup race on Saturday, Nov. 4. It then will be followed by the Turf Sprint and the Sprint.

“Breeders’ Cup noted the change in a release announcing its broadcast schedule,” Daily Racing Form’s Matt Hegarty wrote. “Under that schedule, NBC will broadcast on Saturday from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern, at which time NBC will switch to Big Ten college football coverage.”

The first 2023 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings were announced this week on Tuesday (July 18). The rankings are determined by a panel of voters comprised of members of the Breeders’ Cup Racing/Secretaries Panel, international racing and sports media, plus racing analysts.

The rankings will be updated weekly through Oct. 10.

This week’s rankings are below:

Rank Points Horse (First-Place Votes)

1. 287 Cody’s Wish (22)
2. 210 West Will Power (3)
3. 194 Forte (2)
4. 169 Defunded (3)
5. 151 Arcangelo
6. 149 Mage
7. 122 Rattle N Roll (1)
8. 100 Charge It
9. 46 Art Collector
10. 42 Stilleto Boy

The first rankings of 2022 are below:

Rank Points Horse (First-Place Votes)

1. 334 Flightline (22)
2. 263 Country Grammer (2)
3. 240 Life Is Good (2)
4. 154 Hot Rod Charlie
5. 126 Mandaloun
6. 121 Mo Donegal (2)
7. 108 Olympiad (2)
8. 107 Epicenter
9. 95 Early Voting
10. 91 Jack Christopher

The final 2022 rankings are below:

Rank Points Horse (First-Place Votes)

1. 350 Flightline (35)
2. 291 Epicenter
3. 265 Life Is Good
4. 217 Taiba
5. 216 Olympiad
6. 191 Hot Rod Charlie
7. 94 Country Grammer
8. 73 Rich Strike
9. 69 Cyberknife
10. 42 Happy Saver

After Flightline’s spectacular 19 1/4-length victory in Del Mar’s Grade I Pacific Classic on Sept. 3, he won the BC Classic by 8 1/4 lengths as the 2-5 favorite. It was the biggest margin of victory in the 39-year history of the BC Classic.

Flightline also broke Easy Goer’s record for the lowest odds by a BC Classic starter. Easy Goer was a 1-2 favorite when he finished second to 2-1 Sunday Silence in the 1989 renewal.

Unfortunately, after the 2022 BC Classic, Flightline was retired from racing.

As I wrote in my BC Classic recap for Xpressbet.com: “Flightline ended his all too brief and superlative-filled racing career with six victories from six starts by a combined 71 lengths. In his six races, we saw six exhibitions of sheer poetry in motion. All six times it was a tour de force.”

ECLIPSE AWARD WINNER FUNNY CIDE DIES

Sackatoga Stable’s Funny Cide, who was voted a 2003 Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, died last Sunday (July 15) at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington due to complications of colic. He was 23.

“He had a long, good life,” Barclay Tagg, Funny Cide’s trainer, said Tuesday (July 18) on Steve Byk’s SiriusXM radio program At the Races. Tagg added, “So, we can’t cry about it too long. He was a wonderful horse.”

Daily Racing Form’s Nicole Russo wrote that Funny Cide was a “popular New York-bred gelding” who “gained fans during his 2003 Triple Crown bid.”

I became one of those Funny Cide fans, even though I thought he was fortunate to win the Kentucky Derby. I don’t think Empire Maker was at his absolute best that day because his training up to the race did not go ideally due to a foot issue.

It seems as if most people were either an Empire Maker fan or a Funny Cide fan. I was a fan of them both. It’s much like it seems that most people were either a Sunday Silence fan or an Easy Goer fan, but not both. Well, I was something of a rarity in that I was a Sunday Silence fan AND an Easy Goer fan.

As a 2-year-old, Funny Cide won all three of his starts, each time defeating fellow New York-breds. Two of those victories came in stakes races.

After losing his first three starts at 3, Funny Cide proved to be the right horse at the right time to win the Run for the Roses by 1 3/4 lengths at odds of 12-1. Empire Maker had to settle for second as the 5-2 favorite.

Funny Cide became the first gelding to win the Kentucky Derby since Clyde Van Dusen all the way back in 1929. The only gelding to win the roses since Funny Cide was Mine That Bird in 2009. Nine geldings have won the Kentucky Derby in its 149-year history.

Three weeks before the 2003 Kentucky Derby, Empire Maker won the Wood Memorial by a half-length. Funny Cide finished second. The Wood was contested on a muddy track. After the race, a bruised right front foot compromised Empire Maker’s training for the Kentucky Derby.

Years later, while talking with Empire Maker’s trainer, Bobby Frankel, at the 2006 Breeders’ Cup press party, I said, “You know, Bobby, I honestly think a decision you made probably kept Empire Maker from winning the Kentucky Derby and maybe being a Triple Crown winner.”

“Oh yeah? How’d I do that?” Frankel responded.

“Well, after he won the Florida Derby [by 9 3/4 lengths], you brought Empire Maker back to California,” I said. “Instead of keeping him in California and running him in the Santa Anita Derby, you sent him to Aqueduct for the Wood. Which track would you say that you would have had a better chance of getting a fast track, Santa Anita or Aqueduct? But you sent Empire Maker to New York and ran him on a muddy track in New York. The foot problem he had after you ran him on that muddy track kept you from training him like you wanted up to the Kentucky Derby. I think if you had stayed home and run him on a fast track in the Santa Anita Derby, he probably would’ve won the Kentucky Derby and maybe even the Triple Crown.”

Frankel didn’t say anything right away. I was fully prepared for a Frankel eruption similar to Mount St. Helens in 1980.

But Frankel didn’t blow his stack. He shook his head and said, “Yeah, you’re right.”

After Funny Cide’s Kentucky Derby, he ran in the Preakness, while Empire Maker skipped the race. With Empire Maker sitting out the Preakness, Frankel was able to train the colt like he wanted to for the Belmont Stakes, unlike the colt’s less-than-ideal preparation for the Kentucky Derby.

I have seen only one Preakness in person. It was Funny’s Cide’s 9 3/4-length runaway victory. I was at Pimlico that week to anchor HRTV’s coverage of the racing there leading up to the Preakness.

After the Preakness, Funny Cide and Empire Maker had their rubber match in the Belmont Stakes, which was decided on a sloppy track. I was still convinced that Empire Maker was better than Funny Cide. Consequently, I made a substantial win wager on Empire Maker in the Belmont. With Funny Cide going for a Triple Crown sweep, he was backed down to even-money favoritism. Empire Maker was sent off at 2-1.

Funny Cide’s bid for Triple Crown immortality proved to be unsuccessful. Empire Maker won the Belmont. Funny Cide finished third.

Ten Most Wanted came on to loom a serious threat to Empire Maker in the stretch. But Empire Maker steadfastly kept to his task and managed to hold off Ten Most Wanted throughout the final furlong.

Empire Maker prevailed by three-quarters of a length. Ten Most Wanted finished second. Funny Cide ended up five lengths behind Empire Maker.

Funny Cide had run hard when second in the Wood and recorded a 110 Beyer Speed Figure. He again ran hard when three weeks later he won the Kentucky Derby and posted a 109 Beyer. And then he ran pretty darn hard yet again when drawing away down the lane in the Preakness, which produced a 114 Beyer.

My personal belief is it didn’t do Funny Cide any favors that he won the Preakness by such a sizable margin. I agree with Tagg that Funny Cide, for whatever reason on the part of jockey Jose Santos, was “over-ridden” that day, as the trainer has put it. I think Funny Cide would have been much better served if Santos had been cognizant of trying to leave something in the tank for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes three weeks later, a la Mike Smith when he won the 2018 Preakness on Justify, who did subsequently win the Belmont to achieve Triple Crown glory.

One explanation for Santos not easing off the gas pedal toward the end of the Preakness was he wanted Funny Cide to show everyone just how good he was following a ridiculous controversy involving Santos after the Kentucky Derby. Santos has said that did have a lot to do with how he rode Funny Cide down the stretch in the Preakness.

In the book “The Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes,” Richard Sowers wrote: “…Santos had never faced the adversity he encountered in the aftermath of the [Kentucky] Derby. One week before the Preakness, the Miami Herald published an article written by freelance writer Frank Carlson, along with a photo, that questioned whether Santos had been holding a buzzer -- an illegal electrical device -- in his right hand in the Derby. By the time Santos was cleared of all charges by the Kentucky Racing Commission two days later, the story and photo perhaps had drawn more attention to the Sport of Kings than anything in the three decades since Secretariat’s 31-length romp in the Belmont Stakes.”

I think it’s perfectly understandable that Funny Cide’s gas tank probably was on the low side during the stretch run of the Belmont due to the Wood, Kentucky Derby and Preakness taking a cumulative toll on him.

Empire Maker did win two of his three encounters with Funny Cide in 2003. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, it was Funny Cide who was honored with the 2003 Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male.

Funny Cide, who is remembered by many for his owners riding to his Triple Crown races in a rented school bus stocked with beer and Bloody Marys, did win one other Grade I race during his 38 career starts. That Grade I score came in the 2004 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

In his final career start, Funny Cide won the Wadsworth Memorial Handicap at Finger Lakes on the Fourth of July in 2007. He concluded his racing career with a total of 11 victories and earnings of $3,529,412.

A resident at the Kentucky Horse Park for the past 15 years, Funny Cide will be cremated and buried there.

TOP 10 IN THIS WEEK’S NTRA TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL

Rank Points Horse (First-Place Votes)

1. 327 Cody’s Wish (30)
2. 289 Elite Power (3)
3. 228 Clairiere
4. 194 West Will Power
5. 180 Up to the Mark
6. 135 Defunded
7. 129 Caravel
8. 73 In Italian
9. 53 Art Collector
10. 51 Goodnight Olive