Saturday begins Opening Weekend of Belmont Park's 55-day Spring/Summer Meet, and the live race card will feature the Grade 2, $200,000 Nassau County Breeders' Cup (gr. II), as well as the $100,000-added Bold Ruler Handicap (gr. III).
Sackatoga Stable's Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Funny Cide, is scheduled to school in the Belmont paddock on opening day, May 10. The exact time of Funny Cide's schooling will be determined later this week."We want to get him used to the crowd," said trainer Barclay Tagg. "He got a little upset at Churchill Downs, but he never washed out. We just want him to be comfortable when he goes to the paddock for his next race." Funny Cide's will next start in the May 17 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) at Pimlico Race Course. Funny Cide, will attempt to join Jacobus (1883) and Margrave (1896) as the only New York-breds to win the Preakness. If victorious in Maryland, Funny Cide will then return to Belmont Park where he will attempt to become only the 12th horse to win the Visa Triple Crown when he goes to post in the 135th running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes. "We want a big crowd at Belmont on Saturday afternoon," said Tagg's assistant, Robin Smullen, who regularly gallops Funny Cide. "We want him to get used to big, noisy crowds.""We would want to go early in the day so we don't uspet his feed schedule," Tagg said.