It isn't funny.
Funny Cide is sick. Empire Maker is sick.
Thus, the much-anticipated showdown of the two three-year-old thorughbreds in the $1-million Travers Stakes went up in smoke within a few hours. Empire Maker was withdrawn on Thursday and Funny Cide yesterday.
Trainer Bobby Frankel noticed Empire Maker coughed three times on Thursday.
"I'm erring on the side of caution," he said. "In case he has a little bug left in him, I don't want to mess him up for the rest of the year.
"Like I say, when in doubt, you take them out. And I was in doubt. I'm very comfortable with my decision."
Funny Cide appeared to have a respiratory infection, although trainer Barclay Tagg said he didn't know whether the speedy gelding had a lung infection or allergies. Half an hour after Funny Cide galloped 1½ miles yesterday morning, Tagg said, a veterinarian took a look at Funny Cide's lungs and found them full of mucous.
"We didn't like the sounds he was making when he was galloping," Tagg said. "We thought he was breathing a little rough."
The 65-year-old trainer, who hasn't won a lot of races lately, said Funny Cide may have been suffering from the same ailment when he finished a lacklustre third in the Haskell Invitational three weeks ago. Funny Cide showed mucous after that race, as well as an elevated temperature.
Tagg had Funny Cide examined for respiratory infections last Monday, and he was "perfect," although the popular gelding was on Lasix at the time. Lasix tends to dry up the passageways of the throat and lungs, Tagg said.
Funny Cide is due for a vacation. Tagg said the horse won't run again until he's completely recovered "and he shows me he can go out there and win races."
He said he hoped Funny Cide would race again this season.
Funny Cide will remain at Saratoga until the end of the race meeting on Labour Day. After that, he'll head back to Tagg's headquarters at Belmont Park in New York.
Funny Cide's illness isn't a big deal, Tagg stressed. "But we haven't let him get over it because we keep training him. It's pretty obvious. We were trying to make the Travers.
"Some people thought I was trying to sell beer, but I was trying to make the Travers."
Tagg was referring to the entrepreneurial sideline of Funny Cide's owners, who have opened up a store in downtown Saratoga Springs, selling Funny Cide memorabilia. They have also authorized Funny Cide's name to be used with a light beer brewed locally.
The members of the Sackatoga Stable, while disappointed, took the news in stride, Tagg said. "They were all very good about it," he said. "Nobody has any choice. You can't make a horse well. You can't make him do what he shouldn't do. You're either patient, or you pay for it."
With Funny Cide out of the Travers, Tagg said, he'd watch the race. "I think the Travers field is a solid field," he said. "It should still be a very good race."
Unlike Tagg, Frankel has another shot to win the Travers today with Peace Rules, the winner of six of 11 starts, including the Louisiana Derby, Blue Grass Stakes and $1-million Haskell Invitational.
"Peace Rules is doing great," he said. "I'm not 100-per-cent confident, but I'm hoping he relaxes well enough that he and Strong Hope go an easy half and make it a two-horse race from there."
Peace Rules is now the 8-5 favourite.
With only six horses entered in the Travers, trainer Wally Dollase now likes his chances with Belmont Stakes runner-up Ten Most Wanted, who will relish the 1¼-mile race.
"It's a good morning for me," Dollase said jokingly after hearing of the defections on the muggy morning. "But I'm still perspiring just thinking about the race."
The presence of Peace Rules changes the whole strategy in the Travers. John Ward, who trains Sky Mesa, now listed as the second choice at 2 to 1, said he will tell Edgar Prado to watch carefully what goes on. "With Peace Rules and Strong Hope, there will be a good pace to follow," Ward said.
Strong Hope, owned by Toronto-born pharmaceutical manufacturer Eugene Melnyk, is the 5-to-2 third choice after winning five of his six starts. None of them, however, have been farther than nine furlongs.
"We're going to be going fast," said his jockey, John Velazquez. "If we hook up with Peace Rules, we're both dead."
Strong Hope upset Empire Maker in the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga three weeks ago.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said he would rather meet Empire Maker again than Peace Rules.
Even Dollase figures Ten Most Wanted can't be too far off the pace. "We cannot give more than three lengths," he said. "We have to be fairly close, otherwise they will just outrun us."
Ten Most Wanted has been switched to blinkers to keep him focused. His attention appeared to wander in the home stretch of his most recent race, the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. He finished second.
Ten Most Wanted is listed at 5 to 1 in the revised odds.
With the anticipated Funny Cide-Empire Maker rematch, Saratoga had hoped to surpass its Travers attendance record of 60,486 in 2001. In spite of the status of the Travers, only 21 Kentucky Derby winners have showed up in it in the past 134 years. The last Triple Crown winner to win the Travers was Whirlaway in 1941. Affirmed won the Travers 25 years ago, but was disqualified and placed second.
Without Funny Cide, Saratoga will celebrate Potato Chip Day today. Apparently, the potato chip was invented by a spiteful cook, George Crum, at Saratoga Springs 150 years ago.