ELMONT, N.Y. - Whether Funny Cide can sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont stakes is in doubt, but his connections have the 1973 Triple Crown in the bag.
Assistant trainer Robin Smullen said Friday a man she knows only as "David" loaned her and trainer Barclay Tagg a piece of tack called an overgirth that was worn by Secretariat when he won the Belmont in a record-smashing 2 minutes, 24 seconds and by 31 lengths.
"I almost cried," Smullen said, adding they will carry it to the paddock in their equipment bag but not use it.
The strap is autographed by Secretariat's jockey (Ron Turcotte), trainer (Lucien Laurin) and owner (Penny Chenery).
LAST WORKS: Funny Cide stood in the starting gate briefly Friday morning then cantered the track clockwise alongside an exercise pony.
"He didn't need any fast exercise," Tagg said. "We just thought we would keep him contained."
Funny Cide was unwilling to be contained in a 5:30 a.m. workout Tuesday, hammering 5 furlongs in 57 2/5th seconds.
Empire Maker galloped 11/4 miles, schooled in the paddock and was deemed ready by trainer Bobby Frankel. Empire Maker's third-place finish in the Derby was blamed partly on training time lost to a bruised foot. Frankel said there are no such concerns now.
"Now if I'm a good trainer, and I think I did everything right, then he's supposed to win," the Hall of Fame trainer said. "If he loses, maybe I didn't do everything right or he's not as good as the other horses."
D. Wayne Lukas' Scrimshaw, 11th in the Derby, jogged then galloped 11/4 miles on the Belmont training track.
Ten Most Wanted, ninth in the Derby, schooled in the paddock and starting gate and galloped 11/4 miles.
Dynever, winner of the Aventura Stakes and Lone Star Derby, galloped 11/4 miles and will jog a mile this morning, trainer Christophe Clement said.
Supervisor, likely to be the longest shot on the board, galloped 11/2 miles.
"If we get a nice check (today), I'll be happy," trainer Linda Rice said. "Third would be great. That's my inspiration."
RAIN, MAN: Forecasts predict a 70 percent chance of rain today, developing in the late afternoon. Post time is 6:38 p.m. The track was "muddy" when Funny Cide finished second to Empire Maker in his last prep, the April 12 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
PLANS: Tagg said Funny Cide will be given at least two weeks off then pointed toward the Haskell or Travers stakes this summer. He considered sending the gelding to a farm to rest but will keep him at Belmont Park.
"I don't want him to get too far away from me," Tagg said. "We'll pull his hind shoes off, graze him a little bit and turn him out in the playpen."
OH, NO: A crowd of media around the barn is not always a good thing, especially a day before a major race. Jockey Jerry Bailey, scheduled to ride Empire Maker, was, therefore, a bit concerned by the unusually large contingent around Frankel's barn early Friday morning.
"It isn't bad news, is it?" he said from the window of his sport utility vehicle.
Not as far as anyone knows.
CORNERED MARKET: Pressure might be on trainer Mark Henning to produce the next colt with a chance to win the Triple Crown. Henning's racing stable is in a high-profile neighborhood, on the corner of Count Fleet Road and Man O'War Avenue.
The past three colts with a chance to win the Triple Crown were stabled at the intersection: Charismatic in Lukas' Barn 10 in 1999, War Emblem in borrowed space in Barn 7 last year and Funny Cide in Tagg's Barn 6.
RUNNING FRESH: Handicappers often look for the fresh horse in the Belmont.
But Commendable (2000) is the only horse to run in the Derby and win the Belmont without another race during the five-week interval. Empire Maker will try to replicate that.
STAKES RACES: Bird Town beat Lady Tak by a head Friday in the $250,000 Acorn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, becoming the ninth to win the Kentucky Oaks and Acorn in the same year. Chapel Royal, a Florida-bred filly by Montbrook, beat Hasslefree by 51/4 lengths to win the $106,400 Flash Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.
