Funny Cide : How a Horse, a Trainer, a Jockey, and a Bunch of High School Buddies Took on the Sheiks and Bluebloods...and Won [Mass Market Paperback]

The Funny Cide Team (Author), Sally Jenkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

They had no business being there. They were up against million-dollar horses owned by patricians, oilmen, Arab sheiks, and Hollywood producers. They were ten regular guys, and all they wanted was to win a race. Instead, they won the hearts of America.

In 2003, a three-year-old with the unlikely name of Funny Cide became "the people's horse," the unheralded New York-bred gelding who-in a time of war and economic jitters-inspired a nation by knocking off the champions and their millionaire owners and sweeping to the brink of the Triple Crown.

Trained by a journeyman who'd spent over 30 years looking for "the one," ridden by a jockey fighting to come back after years of injuries and hard knocks, and owned by a band of high school buddies from Sackets Harbor, N.Y., Funny Cide became a hero and media sensation.

Now, Sally Jenkins, award-winning co-author of Lance Armstrong's #1 bestseller It's Not About the Bike, tells the inside story of the Funny Cide team's ups and downs against overwhelming odds, illness, and even scandal, to capture the imagination of millions. It's a new American classic for the underdog in all of us.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It sounds like a Hollywood movie script. In 2003, an unknown gelding named Funny Cide came out of nowhere to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, shocking the horseracing establishment and thrilling racing fans around the world. It wasn't just the horse that was so unusual, but the entire team: the owners were ten businessmen and laborers, six of which were childhood friends from a tiny New York town, with much more enthusiasm than experience; the trainer was a capable veteran of 30 years who, despite his skill, had endured a long series of disappointments; and the jockey, a battered 42-year-old who had "been up and down so many times, he needed a seasick remedy," had tasted victory before, but never expected it to come again. How such a group made it to the winner's circle is a touching and exhilarating story that Sally Jenkins, co-author of Lance Armstrong's It's not About the Bike, conveys with warmth and excitement. Along with inside information about the peculiarities of breeding and raising horses and the background on Funny Cide's owners, trainers, and jockey, Jenkins offers entertaining insight into the culture of horseracing. In particular, she makes much of the collision between Funny Cide's middle class owners and the rich bluebloods who dominate the sport. She notes with obvious pleasure how they traveled by yellow school bus rather than in expensive cars or limousines and how they couldn't even find the winner's circle at the Derby. She also shows how their original underdog status also worked wonders for the sport by captivating the public and providing a classic long-odds story that is hard to resist. Funny Cide captures this spirit well making it an enjoyable read from start to finish. --Shawn Carkonen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In May 2003, a relatively unknown racehorse named Funny Cide won the Kentucky Derby, then two weeks later won the Preakness, the first two events in horse racing's legendary Triple Crown. Jenkins, a skilled sportswriter and author of two books with cyclist Lance Armstrong (It's Not About the Bike; Every Second Counts) delivers a first-rate account of the improbable Funny Cide story, aided by her access to its main players, including the horse's owners, a group of longtime buddies from the small town of Sackets Harbor, N.Y. The book is at its liveliest showing them in action, especially when their unpretentious excitement subverts the wealthy elegance of the Kentucky Derby. But Jenkins does her book a disservice by trying to present the Funny Cide story as metaphoric as that told in Laura Hillenbrand's instant classic, Seabiscuit. Despite Jenkins's best efforts to show otherwise, 2003 is not 1938, the Iraq War isn't the Depression and Funny Cide's breeders, owners and trainers are from "the vast middle class in horse racing," making them closer to "Sheiks and Bluebloods" than to the working class. Still, Jenkins never lets her broad cultural swipes get in the way of delivering a sprightly and entertaining tale of a lovable winner from nowhere.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425200302
• ISBN-13: 978-0425200308
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,632,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sally Jenkins is an award-winning journalist for The Washington Post and is the co-author of the best selling It's Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts, written with Lance Armstrong. She lives in New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EVERYONE LOVES A WINNER, AND THIS READING IS ONE, July 19, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Funny Cide (Audio Cassette)

Everyone loves a winner, especially when the winner is an underdog. That was certainly the case with Funny Cide, the never-heard-of gelding who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness thus almost copping the fabled Triple Crown. Yep, America loved him.

The resonant voice of Dan Cushman chronicles Funny Cide's amazing story from starting gate to finish. Of course, it's not just a horse's story but also the tale of friends, including a trainer and a jockey who were determined to win a race.

No one in this All-American story is a blue blood, not the racehorse or the men behind Funny Cide. They were blue collar workers from Sackets Harbor, New York (little more than a village with 1,386 residents) who pooled their resources to fund a small stable. They had a dream and, by golly, they were going after it.

All who loved "Seabiscuit" will root for Funny Cide and the men who believed they'd found a winner.

- Gail Cooke

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny Cide, the best gelding of the 21st century, March 8, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Funny Cide (Hardcover)

Funny Cide was an exceptional racehorse. The gelding came out of nowhere to win the Kentucky derby! that's worth writing about. His story was closely followed in a way that you cannot see on television or read in the newspapers everything that happened. A great book to read. Funny Cide outstandingly successes Seabiscuit as the underdog that triumphed in the sport of kings.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fast-paced equine biography, July 2, 2005

By 

E. M. Bristol "bibliophile" (boston, mass) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Funny Cide (Hardcover)

Funny Cide was the 2003 winner of both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness (two legs of the prestigious horse racing Triple Crown). He was an underdog in the truest sense: unimpressive bloodlines and birthplace, with a jockey considered washed-up, and a group of owners from New York, who were neither outrageously rich or very horse savvy. In fact, they arrived at the Derby in a schoolbus: a handful of friends who had known each other since high school, who were in it for a good time and a way to bond.

Funny Cide's journey to the most well-known horse race in America is fast paced, funny and irreverent as many of the people closely associated with the colt. A must for horse lovers and racing fans - and everyone who loves to root for the underdog.