REMATCH IS ON !!!!

[WINMANWIN]

I heard today on the N.Y. OTB Show that Empire maker will
run in the preakness and take on Funny Cide again.
Frankel confided to this person, that Empire Maker will not LOSE
to Funny Cide EVER AGAIN !!!! I certainly believe the source,
He knows Bobby FOR 30 YEARS.

[GR1@HTR]

Yeah, I would be terribly surprised if Funny Cide beat Empire Maker anytime soon. Funny Cider ran a good KY Derby and deserved to win. He also had a much better trip than EM. A credit to his running style and Jockey. With a much smaller field in the Pimlico, EM should have a much better trip and finish. Look out for Outa Here, Atswhatimtalknbout, and Peace Rules (slower pace?) to run better next out.

Chart Below
CD 5/3/03 Race 10 10f dirt for 3 YO

1000000 Stakes Gr 1 Track fast Time 22.78 46.23 110.48 135.75 201.19 Weath

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
sc horse pp st 2f 4f 6f 9f 10f odds
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 Funny Cide 5 4-2 3-2 3-1.5 1-0 1-0 12.8
12 Empire Maker 11 8-4 8-5.5 8-4 3-0.5 2-1.75 2.5
5 Peace Rules 4 2-0.5 2-0.5 2-0.1 2-0.1 3-1.75 6.3
4 Atswhatimtalknbout 3 10-7 12-10 11-8 5-3.5 4-2 8.9
13 Eye of the Tiger 12 3-2 4-2.5 4-3 4-2 5-4.75 41.5
8 Buddy Gil 7 13-12 13-12 13-13 6-4 6-5.75 7.2
15 Outta Here 14 15-13 14-15 16-18 14-10 7-6.5 39.7
14 Ten Cents a Shine 13 16-15 16-16 15-18 11-7 8-7.5 37.2
16 Ten Most Wanted 15 12-10 10-8 10-7 10-6 9-7.75 6.6
11 Domestic Dispute 10 7-3.5 7-4.5 5-3.5 7-4.5 10-10 44.0
17 Scrimshaw 16 5-2.5 6-4 7-3.75 8-5 11-10 16.5
7 Offlee Wild 6 11-8 11-9 9-5.5 9-5.5 12-12 29.9
1 Supah Blitz 1 9-4.5 9-8 12-10 12-8 13-17 43.1
9 Indian Express 8 6-3 5-4 6-3.75 15-12 14-19 10.8
10 Lone Star Sky 9 14-12 15-15 14-17 16-14 15-20 52.1
2 Brancusi 2 1-0 1-0 1-0 13-9 16-21 29.3
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

6 Funny Cide................. $27.60 $12.40 $8.20
12 Empire Maker............... $5.80 $4.40
5 Peace Rules................ $6.00

P3 2-9-6 $1042.50
P4 4-2-9-6 $7017.50
P6 2/6-3-4-2-9-6 $808.80
P6 2/6-3-4-2-9-6 $453285.40
DD OAKS/DERBY 5-6 $421.80
DD 9-6 $425.90
EX 6-12 $97.00
FW POOL 3 $107.40
FW POOL 2 $120.80
FW POOL 1 $188.00
SF 6-12-5-4 $2795.80
TF 6-12-5 $664.80

Scratched : Sir Cherokee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st - Funny Cide ridden by J Santos trained by B Tagg
came out bump start,rated near inside,4-5w far turn, stiff drive
2nd - Empire Maker ridden by J Bailey trained by R Frankel
6-7w early,5w backstretch, bold bid,drew even,not good enough
3rd - Peace Rules ridden by E Prado trained by R Frankel
pressed 3w,gained clear lead, held third, good courage
4th - Atswhatimtalknbout ridden by D Flores trained by R Ellis
forced out bit start,inside to lane,angle 7w between,closing late
5th - Eye of the Tiger ridden by E Coa trained by J Hollendorfer
4w early,tracked,lean in bmp 5/16s,flattened out lane
6th - Buddy Gil ridden by G Stevens trained by J Mullins
bumped start, unhurried, 3-4w to lane,angled rail,slight gain
7th - Outta Here ridden by K Desormeaux trained by W Currin
8-9w early,ck, angle in,lost position 1st turn,12w lane,mild bid
8th - Ten Cents a Shine ridden by C Borel trained by D Lukas
worked way in 3-4w,moved 6w backstretch,10w lane,slight gain
9th - Ten Most Wanted ridden by P Day trained by W Dollase
slow start,bumped,ck,6wide trip, failed to rally
10th - Domestic Dispute ridden by A Solis trained by P Gallagher
in contention, 5-6, between 5w lane,empty in last eighth
11th - Scrimshaw ridden by C Velasquez trained by D Lukas
drift in bump start,tracked pace,5w,bid 3/8s,flattened out
12th - Offlee Wild ridden by R Albarado trained by T Smith
bumped repeatedly after start,bid between far turn,weaken
13th - Supah Blitz ridden by R Homeister, Jr. trained by E Tortora
drift out brush start, inside,no factor
14th - Indian Express ridden by T Baze trained by B Baffert
rank early,steadied repeatedly early, weaken,far turn
15th - Lone Star Sky ridden by S Sellers trained by T Amoss
steadied,shuffled back 1st turn, factor,never reached contention
16th - Brancusi ridden by T Farina trained by P Biancone
drift out brush start,pace inside,dueled,faded


[andicap]

But GR1, Empire Maker could very well bounce off three top efforts in a row. (don't give me that crap about how EM "took it easy" in the Wood -- he ran a 110 or so, that ain't takin' it easy.)
I'll avoid him for that reason alone at the low odds.

Funny Cide, of course could bounce as well after two peak efforts. And if he keeps it together somehow for the Preakness he'll be toast for the Belmont.

I'm amazed at the super horses who won the Triple Crown and put all those peak efforts together. I'm still convinced its because of breeding -- horses aren't as durable as they once were.

[SAL]

Pretty bold thing for Frankel to say, if it's true.

I personally think that Empire Maker is overhyped and overrated.

A smaller field in the Preakness should help, but a smaller field may give the frontrunners a favorable pace situation also.

Either way, I'll be glad to see it. It's put up or shut up time.

SAL

[PaceAdvantage]

Sal, I'm inclined to side with you, although I admire Frankel very much as a trainer.

I don't believe for a minute that Funny Cide will never beat EM again. He came quite close in the Wood Memorial, and held him off the ENTIRE length of the Churchill stretch in the Derby.

For a horse with such great breeding, how come he wasn't able to close on Funny Cide down the stretch??? How come while Funny Cide was pulling up after the Derby, EM STILL hadn't passed him (he might have passed him after they were midway on the far turn...can't remember that one...)

Funny Cide was closer to the very quick pace in the Derby than EM was. I think this equals out whatever bad trip EM supposedly had (and I don't think EM had that bad of a trip at all)

Maybe his bruised foot DID cost him the race. THAT I will buy. I ain't going to buy that FC had so much better of a trip that poor little EM couldn't pass him in the stretch....


==PA

[Suff]

I love it when the PUBLIC Insists on saying a horse is so much better than another who has beat him. I personally Hope The EM HYPE continues. Maybe I can get 12-1 again.


Funnycide by a widening 3 lengths in The Preakness.

[GR1@HTR]

Doubt I'll have money on either EM or FC in the next one. Will look elsewhere for value. If none extist, then I'll pass. But a huge reason why EM didn't pass FC in the final furlong was he was he ran about 10 lenghts (or more) longer or a race than FC going wide on both turns. For the record, I didn't have money on EM (except for from futures pool 1). As I said earlier, FC had the best trip of the contenders, a tribute to it's RS, Jky, Post position.

[PaceAdvantage]

10 lengths?

[Bubbles]

Personally, I'm gonna wait and see what the horses's works are at Pimlico. On a track with scary-tight turns, EM can't afford to run the same race he did in the Derby. My hunch is that Peace Rules, who won two notable preps for the KY Derby by daylight and yet was relatively unappreciated, may step up and run big in Maryland. Fast horses like EM are nice, but when races are bunched together like the Triple Crown is, consistency rules.

[Shacopate]

Funny Cide lost about 2 lenghts on the first turn in the Wood when New York Hero drifted out. He cuts gamely into the margin at the end when EM is gawking around. Funny Cide exceeded the late speed par for a Derby winner in three of his last five races. EM two. All others one or less.

Funny Cide is no joke.

[GARY Z]

funny thing,no one is bothering to ask each horse how
they feel about the race!!
the hype really means zip until we can det a sense of
the competition,post draw ,weather etc..
as for fc,he did run 2nd to this favorite in his major prep,
and was somewhat bothered by em, although the winner surely looked like the better horse that day.
HOWEVER,fc is the now horse,and importantly stared back and dug in against em in the derby while em certainly appeared to be a
tiring horse getting 2nd by virtue of his class against
also rans.
the configuration of pimlico ,imho ,seems to favor fc based upon
his last race and the fact he came back without signs of stress according to mr.tagg,an extremely conservative artisan..

the bobby frankel statement would seem to
be a sign of frustration,since,after all, the preakness
is the weakest link of the triple crown trail

[Tom]

Heard today EM is out of the Preakness along with several other Derby starters. Field of 6 for Pimlico is possible.

[Bubbles]

I heard Peace Rules, Funny Cide (NY representin'!), Indian Express, Senor Swinger, Scrimshaw, and Champali. In my opinion, 'Express and 'Swinger are overrated, Scrimshaw is good but not this good, and Champali appears to be in over his head. A Triple Crown may be closer than we all think (and I don't wanna hear any garbage about EM in the Belmont)...

[Tom]

I don't think we will see another triple crown anytime soon. The breed is just not that good any more and the triple crown races are tooo strenuous.
Now watch, that damn NY Bred will go an win the whole enchilada on me! :p

[SAL]

Indian Express had a nightmare trip in the Derby. He showed a lot of heart in the SA Derby, if that race wasn't a fluke he'll be tough in the Preakness. I'll bet him if the odds are right.

SAL

[GARY Z]

despite the fact that i'm an owner of ny breds and loved
the "overlay" (really an underlay) on funny cide's odds,
keep in mind the definition of a ny bred has changed during the
past few years..
for trivia buffs note peace rules' sire(jules) and funny cide's
sire,(distorted humour) are both out of forty niner
the dam side of fuuny cide has dazig blood, so
fc will definitely position himself as an early/presser and as important, has the ability to run all day long..

[Bubbles]

I think IE's SA Derby was indeed a fluke. If you look at his past performances and at my Derby analysis, he has never won a race longer than 6 1/2 furlongs. Based on this, I'm betting against the Panamanian Ute at anything longer than a mile.

[WINMANWIN]

Frankel: 'All the Issues are Out of the Way'
Date Posted: 6/6/03 8:06:29 PM
Last Updated: 6/6/03 8:06:29 PM

(from Belmont track notes)
A cheery Bobby Frankel said Friday morning that Empire Maker covered his usual mile and quarter gallop and went to the starting gate for schooling as the son of Unbridled moved one day closer to Saturday's Belmont Stakes."He was perfect in the gate," the Hall of Fame trainer said. "That was an issue in Kentucky [during training for the Kentucky Derby]. So now all the issues are out of the way."

Included in those issues was a bruised foot that he said is no longer a factor.

"Now, if I'm a good trainer, and I think I did everything right, then he's supposed to win," Frankel said of the Derby favorite that finished second. "If he loses, maybe I didn't do everything right or maybe he's not as good a horse as the other horses."

At this point, Frankel said, "I'm very satisfied with the way he is."

As for how he hopes the race will shape up, Frankel said, "Hopefully, he's laying right behind the speed horses."

Frankel will have to spread his attention around on Belmont Day, as he saddles five horses on the afternoon. So is it a day like any other race day for Frankel?

"No, it's a big day," the trainer said. "It's a big deal, the Belmont. You've got the crowd out there, and it's a little redemption thing [for the horse and the trainer]. It's kind of a 'My horse is better than your horse' thing. I'd like to pull it off."

As to possibly playing the spoiler to Funny Cide's attempt to win the Visa Triple Crown, Frankel said quietly, "I sort of hate to mess up their party." Then in a chuckle, he added, "But they've had enough, right?"

When queried about whether or not he is concerned about the weather, Frankel quipped, "It's not like they're right all the time (forecasters). They're kind of like trainers."

Frankel said he hasn't heard whether Juddmonte Farms' Prince Khalid Abdullah will be at Belmont for the race, but he'll have some other of his owners rooting for him as the horses roll in the Belmont. In for the day will be Edmund Gann, Tom Tatham and the Niarchos family. All will have horses running.