Sackatoga Stable's Funny Cide put in an impressive workout Saturday morning over the Saratoga main track by breezing five furlongs in :59 1/5 with jockey Edgar Prado aboard for trainer Barclay Tagg."We were very pleased with the way he went out there," Tagg said. "We did everything we could to make that (workout) go that way and it did."The three-year-old Eclipse champion, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness last year, is nominated for next Saturday's $750,000 Whitney Handicap (gr. I). But Tagg said he is training Funny Cide for the $250,000 Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. II) for 3-year-olds and older running at 1 ΒΌ miles on August 22, weather pending.
"I'm not going to do anything with him if it is too hot," Tagg said. "Originally, I was going to give him the summer off. But they (the owners) would like to see their horse run here. Right now, I am just training him up to the race. I prefer to train him this way instead of keep running him and trying to figure out what to do in between (his races). All we can do is play it by ear. They are just horses; not machines."Since coming off a seven-week break and fifth-place finish in the Metropolitan Mile (gr. I), the 4-year-old New York-bred gelding has put in two game efforts. He was third, only beaten a neck, to Peace Rules and Newfoundland in the Suburban (gr. I) at Belmont Park a month ago. He had a second-place finish, losing by only a head, to Offlee Wild in the Massachusetts Handicap (gr. II) at Suffolk Downs.
