Champion FUNNY CIDE (Distorted Humor) will make his seasonal debut in
Friday’s $500,000 Pimlico Special (G1). The five-year-old will return to the
scene of his 9 3/4-length romp in the 2003 Preakness S. (G1). That year, the Barclay Tagg
trainee won the Kentucky Derby (G1) but was denied the final jewel of the Triple
Crown when running third in the Belmont S. (G1). He was later named champion
three-year-old.
Funny Cide has not started since finishing tenth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic
(G1) on October 30 at Lone Star Park. In his prior outing, he captured the Jockey
Club Gold Cup S. (G1) at Belmont Park.
Eight others will challenge Funny Cide in the 1 3/16-mile Pimlico Special,
including GRAND REWARD (Storm Cat), SECOND OF JUNE (Louis Quatorze) and
EDDINGTON (Unbridled), the top three finishers in the Oaklawn H. (G2), and
POLLARD’S VISION (Carson City) and BADGE OF SILVER (Silver Deputy), who ran
one-two in the National Jockey Club H. (G3) at Hawthorne.
OFFLEE WILD (Wild Again), who beat Funny Cide by a head in last year’s
Massachusetts H. (G2), most recently won the Excelsior Breeders’ Cup H. (G3) at
Aqueduct by 8 1/2 lengths.
The field, in post position order, with jockeys and weights, is Badge of
Silver, Jerry Bailey, 118; Funny Cide, Jose Santos 120; Second of June, Cornelio
Velasquez, 115; Pollard’s Vision, John Velazquez, 117; Eddington, Eibar Coa,
116; PRESIDENTIALAFFAIR (Not for Love), Stewart Elliott, 115; EUROSILVER (Unbridled’s
Song), Javier Castellano, 114; Grand Reward, Gary Stevens, 113; and Offlee Wild,
Edgar Prado, 118.