Columnist Ralph Siraco: Funny Cide one race away from joining elite

Ralph Siraco

Monday, June 2, 2003 | 9:34 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.

Funny Cide will have his date with destiny Saturday. Whether he passes into racing immortality as the 12th Triple Crown winner or becomes the 46th horse to accomplish two-thirds of the hardest trophy to win in sports will play out to a worldwide audience for all to see.

It has been 25 years since Affirmed became the 11th Triple Crown winner in 1978, and all that can be said waiting for No. 12 is: We have been here before. Most recently many times.

The Triple Crown is undoubtedly the most difficult feat in all of Thoroughbred racing. Only 11 colts have been able to capture the Triple Crown in its 128-year existence. In fact, the first winner, Sir Barton in 1919, accomplished the feat before it was known as the Triple Crown. That description of the three-race series didn't emerge until the popular sports writer Charles Hatton coined the phrase while recounting Gallant Fox's victories in those three races of 1930.

There would be two more Triple Crown winners of the 1930s. Gallant Fox was not only the first Triple Crown winner of that decade, but, also became the only Triple Crown winner to produce another Triple Crown winner when his son Omaha won it in 1935. The great War Admiral took the crown in 1937.

The most productive decade for the Triple Crown, however, was the following one when there were four winners. Whirlaway won in 1941, then Count Fleet in 1943, Assault in 1946 and Citation in 1948.

Twenty-five years elapsed between Citation and Secretariat. In 1973 Secretariat smashed track records while tearing through a Triple Crown for the ages. His 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes still stands as the largest winning margin by any horse in any Triple Crown race in history. His time of 2:24 for the Belmont Stakes is a world record for the 1 1/2-mile distance on dirt and amazingly his split times for the distance became increasing faster the farther he ran.

As in the 1930s, there would be three Triple Crown winners for the decade. Following Secretariat came Seattle Slew's dominance in 1977 and Affirmed's classic rivalry with Alydar in 1978.

Eighteen others have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes only to fall short in the Belmont Stakes. Of those, eight have failed since Affirmed's Triple Crown triumph. Spectacular Bid missed in 1979 followed by Pleasant Colony in 1981, Alysheba in 1987 and Sunday Silence in 1989.

The near-misses have intensified in recent years. In four of the past five editions, a horse has come to the Belmont Stakes with a Triple Crown on the line. Silver Charm fell less than a length short as runner-up in 1997. Real Quiet lost by a nose in the final jump in 1998. Charismatic broke down shortly after finishing third, beaten by less than 2 lengths, in 1999. And, last year, War Emblem stumbled at the start and never recovered while a well-beaten eighth.

The Belmont Stakes is the oldest of Triple Crown events, predating the Preakness Stakes by six years and the Kentucky Derby by eight.

On Saturday, Funny Cide win be favored to win the 135th renewal. Although the field continues to fluctuate, the record of 15 starters set in 1983 is as safe as the smallest field of just two -- which was the field size in five runnings -- when they enter the starting gate this year. Since 1877, 54 favorites have won the Belmont Stakes.

Although Funny Cide can become the first gelding (a castrated horse) to win the Triple Crown, he won't be the first neutered horse to win the Belmont. Creme Fraiche became the first gelding to win the race when he captured the 117th running in 1985. And, although he was the first New York-bred to win the Derby, he would become only the fourth homebred to take the Belmont. The first Belmont Stakes was won by the New York-bred filly Ruthless in 1867, followed by Fenian in 1869 and Forester in 1882.

History says that a Triple Crown victory is due and Funny Cide has been at least as dominant a player for the feat as any that have come to New York with the Derby and Preakness in tow, but there are still 1 1/2 miles of prime Elmont, N.Y., real estate and a select few waiting in his path. And, oh yeah, that no-man's-land of the final quarter-mile.

The Belmont Stakes isn't called the "Test Of Champions" for nothing. Now time is growing near to see if Funny Cide will stand that test.