Funny Cide

The Funny Cide Team With Sally Jenkins

ISBN 10: 0142800724 ISBN 13: 9780142800720

Publisher: Penguin Audio, 2004

Synopsis

In America in 2003, Funny Cide became the people's horse', the unheralded New York-bred gelding who inspired a nation by knocking off the champions and their multi-millionaire owners and sweeping to the brink of the Triple Crown. Trained by a journeyman who had been knocking around racing for more than thirty years, ridden by a hard-luck jockey, and owned by a tiny stable founded by a band of high school buddies who tossed in a few thousand dollars each and decided to follow their dream, Funny Cide became a blue-collar hero with a bit. His story is crammed with colourful characters only one of which happened to be a horse. Written with Sally Jenkins, co-author of Lance Armstrong's number-one bestseller It's Not About the Bike, Funny Cide tells the whole story the parts we know and the parts we never suspected as it follows the group's emotional ups and downs against overwhelming odds, illness and even scandal, to capture the imagination of millions. It is a book for the underdog in all of us.

About this title

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

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. Sackatoga Stable is owned by ten people, led by managing partner Jackson Knowlton. Unlike Funny Cide's million-dollar bretheren, who make a quick killing and then get retired to stud, they plan to race their horse for all his fans to see as long as he is healthy and happy conceivably for years to come.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Audio
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0142800724
• ISBN 13: 9780142800720
• Binding: Audio Cassette