Retirement to Kentucky Horse Park for Funny Cide
The Kentucky Horse Park is a facility that is dedicated to horses and educating the public on these magnificent animals. Located on a picturesque one thousand two hundred acre piece of land, the Kentucky Horse Park not only hosts horse riding events, it offers demonstrations, exhibitions showcasing horses from across the world, tours through their museums and is home to some of the most legendary thoroughbred racehorses, standardbred horses and various other breeds. At present it is awaiting the arrival of the spectacular Funny Cide.
Forego was the first celebrity horse to be retired to the Kentucky Horse Park in 1978. Since then it has been home to horses such as Bold Forbes and John Henry, who arrived at the park in 1986 and sadly passed away in 2007. Funny Cide will now be joining the likes of Alsysheba, Cigar and Da Hoss, grazing his days away and being visited by appreciative fans.
WinStar Farm was put on the map by the achievements of Funny Cide, and propelled his sire, Distorted Humor, to stardom and becoming one of the leading sires in the world. Out of the mare Belle’s Good Cide, Funny Cide exploded onto the horse racing scene in 2002, going on to win major racing events such as the Bertram F. Bongard Stakes, Sleepy Hollow Stakes, Kentucky Derby, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Preakness Stakes, Wadsworth Memorial Handicap, Kings Point Handicap, Excelsior Breeders’ Cup Handicap and the Dominion Day Stakes. He has been honored in books, by a street in California being named after him, in a song written by Blue Hand Luke and by receiving awards such as U.S. Champion Three Year Old Male, New York Breeders’ Award for Champion Two Year Old, Presidents Award, NTRA Moment of the Year Award and the Champion New York Horse of the Year. After being retired from horse racing, with career earnings of over $3 million, in 2007, Funny Cide has been a stable pony for his career trainer Barclay Tagg. Now, reaching the age of nine and showing some discomfort in regard to old racing injuries, the decision to retire the gelding permanently has been made.
A welcoming ceremony, to which the public is invited, will be held on 5 December 2008 and director of the Kentucky Horse Park, John Nicholson expressed his excitement at welcoming Funny Cide to their Hall of Champions, saying: “He was one of those rare horses who captured the public’s imagination while he was on the track and continues to have a significant following of loyal fans.” He also added, “He is quite a young horse, so we hope the public will visit him often and get to know him over the coming years, and develop a special relationship with him the way they have so many of our other resident champions.”
