Knowlton Horse doing well

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first installment of a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a partnership that owns Funny Cide, a New York-bred gelding, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

It has been a busy few days since Funny Cide finished second in the Wood Memorial on Saturday at Aqueduct. Now that we know he is good enough to go to the Derby, I've been dealing with things like finding out about owner's licenses in Kentucky and talking with people at Churchill Downs about getting tickets for the Derby.

Let me give you an update on the horse. He came out of the race good. He was a little tired on Sunday. On Tuesday, assistant trainer Robin Smullen had him out on the track at Belmont Park galloping. She said everything was fine.

Our jockey, Jose Santos, and his agent were out there observing, and they liked what they saw. I spoke with Jose's agent, and he said Jose is very high on Funny Cide and his chances in the Derby. He's very enthusiastic about going.

Funny Cide's training schedule is going to be basically the same one that he typically is on. His first breeze will be 10 days after the race. The second breeze will be six days later. We anticipate shipping down to Louisville probably on the Wednesday or Thursday before the race.

We'll fly him from New York to Louisville. Our trainer, Barclay Tagg, hasn't confirmed those arrangements yet, but that's what we would anticipate.

Large party We're looking at nine of the 10 people who have an interest in Funny Cide going to the Derby. With spouses and sons and daughters and other people, our group could be between 40 and 45 people.

The track does provide one box for the owners, and we have the opportunity to purchase a box for the trainer, which, obviously, we would do. We probably will have the opportunity to purchase one or two other boxes, as well as some other seats.

We won't know where we stand until early next week. They have to see how many horses are in the Derby, and what everybody's requests are.

We checked into what was available at Louisville hotels and transportation after Funny Cide finished third in the Louisiana Derby in early March, but we always knew we wouldn't make any plans until after the Wood.

The Wood was really the big test. Our somewhat low-key approach really is a reflection of Barclay. As early as last fall, he felt that this was a really nice horse. But being a really nice horse and being a Derby horse are potentially two very different things.

We've taken it a step at a time. We've always known that we wouldn't go to the Derby unless the horse really jumped up and really demonstrated the capability as a horse that Barclay felt had a legitimate chance to win the race.

That's what happened on Saturday. We came out of the race a half-length behind Empire Maker. As we all know, anything can happen in the Derby. Certainly, Empire Maker seems to be the horse to beat. Feeling that we ran as well as we did Saturday, we'll go.

Now, it is very exciting. Up to now, I and the rest of the group have tried to temper our enthusiasm and expectations because we didn't want to get disappointed. It would still be possible to be disappointed if the horse got sick, or if he got hurt.

But now I think we can say with probably 95 to 98 percent certainty that we are going to be running.

Having a Derby horse gets phone ringing

EDITOR'S NOTE: This a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

--- Since Funny Cide finished second in the Wood Memorial last weekend, my partners and I have been hearing from friends, business associates and racing fans congratulating us on how well the horse has been doing.

I wouldn't say it has been a heavy number of calls to me, but there have been some.

On Tuesday night, I had a guy call from Massachusetts. Gus Williams, who is one of the Sackatoga partners, and I had met, probably in the Carousel at Saratoga Race Course. He had seen my name, he knew we had the horse, so he called directory assistance in Saratoga, and we had about a 15-minute chat.

Those kinds of things are happening.

One fellow from Long Island, who had been a partner in one of our horses earlier on, called on Monday, congratulating us and saying he was really excited for us. A few of my clients have been following the horse, and they called on Monday, saying they were real happy for us.

Some of these calls are coming from out of the blue, and others are from people who follow racing. I had a couple of other calls from people I know who are big race fans. They have Funny Cide in their stable mail reports on their computers and watch the races. We're getting quite a bit of that kind of contact from people.

Of course, a number of my clients, some local, some in New York City, are always sure to talk about the horse when they call the office.

It's kind of funny how it's worked out. Our main social event for our business every year is a luncheon at Siro's. We've been doing that for probably the last 15 years.

So a lot of people who are my clients have kind of been indoctrinated into thoroughbred racing through the luncheons. Some of them have become quite interested in racing and finding out that we have a horse, Funny Cide, and are quite excited about it, too.

One of the people who called me is Curt Tucker. We were partners in the first horse I bought 20 years ago. Curt contacted me in March after reading a story in the Gazette about Funny Cide finishing third in the Louisiana Derby. I probably had talked with him once in the last three or four years. Curt went with our group to the Wood at Aqueduct.

I think it was in 1983 that three of us chipped in together to buy that horse for $2,500. It was a standardbred who never got to the track.

Funny Cide will have his first work since the Wood on Tuesday morning at Belmont Park. Certainly, we're interested in seeing how he does.

Because [trainer] Barclay [Tagg] has spent most of this past week in Florida, I've been talking with his assistant, Robin Smullen, who is in New York with the first of his string of horses that came back north. She's the one who gallops him in the morning, so that works out well.

That's been one of the nice things of having somebody on a routine basis you can speak with who can tell you how the horse is really doing. The person on his back in the morning probably has a better sense of how a horse is doing than anybody else.

Serious work bodes well

EDITOR'S NOTE: This a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

We received really good news on Tuesday morning after Funny Cide's first serious workout following the Wood Memorial. He breezed a half-mile in :47 4/5, which is a nice time, and didn't seem to have any problems before or after he went to the track.

The official time from the clockers at Belmont Park was 48 seconds, but Robin Smullen, the assistant trainer who rode Funny Cide, said :47 4/5 was the time she had clocked. One-fifth of a second really doesn't make any difference.

Actually, the horse probably ran a little farther than a half-mile while he was being timed because the "dogs" were up on the track. They're like traffic cones that are put out to keep horses from training near the rail when the track is wet.

Robin said he worked terrifically, and came back absolutely perfect. She said that he couldn't have been any better. The respiratory concerns that we had earlier in the year appear to be well behind us. He had a lung infection that seems to have been cleared up by medication. There is absolutely no indication of any problem there.

Robin saying he's never been better is exactly what you want to hear coming up to the big race. Funny Cide will work again on Tuesday, and ship to Louisville next Wednesday. The plan is to have him fly from an airport in Farmingdale, east of Belmont Park on Long Island.

Three of us from Sackatoga Stable are going down on Wednesday, too, so we can attend the post-position draw at the Derby Museum. The rest of our group - the latest count is now 43 people - are arriving in Louisville on Thursday and Friday.

For Saturday, in order to get us all back and forth to the track on race day, we ended up renting a school bus, which was about a third of the cost of a regular bus. So, our logistics are pretty well taken care of, at this point.

Our trainer, Barclay Tagg, has been going back and forth between Florida and Kentucky in the week and a half since the Wood. While he was in Florida, he went to Ocala to check out some 2-year-olds. One of them is the newest member of our stable. He is a New York-bred colt by the sire Wheaton.

We're going to be renaming him, if we can, Lakecide. We couldn't come up with a good name using Wheaton and the mare's name, so we decided to do something simple. A lot of us have got lakes in our background and we said, "Funny Cide is a good horse, so let's put a `cide' in there." Everybody kind of liked the way the name flowed.

He's at the New Episode Training Center, run by Tony Everhart, which is the same place we got Funny Cide. We expect he'll probably come up in another two or three weeks. I wouldn't be surprised, if everything goes well health-wise, he could be racing by May or June, possibly.

On Tuesday morning, I got a call from Frank Miramante, who announces races at a couple of tracks. Frank is a big fan of Distorted Humor, the sire of Funny Cide. He had written an article on him as a sire, and he just called to congratulate us and tell us that he has been following the horse.

He said, "Distorted Humor absolutely loved Churchill Downs." I told him that's good to know, and I hope he's passed that on to Funny Cide.

Louisville gives owners first class treatment

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

Churchill Downs has done a really good job of helping us make our plans for the Derby.

All of the owners or ownership groups are assigned a host, and the person assigned to us called the other day. He is an attorney in Louisville.

He will assist in making arrangements, getting us tickets for parties, transportation, anything he can do to be helpful. Things like our credentials to get on the backstretch and into the barn areas, and restaurant reservations if we needed them. His job is to make sure that we have a grand time during Derby Week while we're there.

It's going to be so much easier, especially with nearly 50 people in our party, having a local person helping us make decisions. It's great that the track has its host program because it really takes the burden off.

A lot of things we've already done, but having somebody to explain things like, "Well, this is this kind of party, and if you give me a list of names, I'll get you the tickets," that's tremendous.

Everything so far with Churchill Downs, from the racing office to the special events coordinator, who I've talked to about the tickets, and now the host, it's been absolutely first-class all the way.

People in our group are going to be arriving in Louisville over the course of four days, starting with me on Tuesday.

I was going to go in Wednesday, but I adjusted my plans after Churchill Downs officials announced last week that they were making changes in the post position draw.

They are going to do the draw for selection positions on Wednesday morning, right after entries close, instead of during the television program at 5 p.m. So I'm going to fly down to Louisville on Tuesday night.

I'm not sure that I need to be there, but I figure we should be represented at that draw in the racing office. Plus, I'll be there if any papers for licenses need to be signed.

I'm not letting this Derby stuff overwhelm me. No. Not at all. During a business trip to New York Thursday, I managed to make time to drive to Belmont Park to see Funny Cide at trainer Barclay Tagg's barn. He looked great.

Then I went over to Aqueduct and had a chat with our jockey Jose Santos. Jose is really enthusiastic about Funny Cide. That's not a surprise to me.

At a party in Chicago in October after the biggest victory in his career on Volponi in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Jose spent a lot of time telling me how much he liked Funny Cide. It just didn't strike me as a jockey trying to say nice things to an owner.

Barclay's assistant, Robin Smullen, took Funny Cide out to the track Saturday, and she said they galloped three miles. The plan was for a mile and a half, but she said he was so enthusiastic and wanted more, so they kept going. She said he's doing really well.

I've been asked if I'm starting to get nervous, and I guess the big concern is keeping Funny Cide healthy and sound to get into the race. As we see, horses keep dropping out. Fund of Funds was supposed to be on the same plane with us Wednesday, and he is out of the race now with an injury.

All that has been built up could come crashing down with one phone call. I think that's still way in the far reaches of our minds that we know that these animals are fragile. We're just kind of holding our breath, hoping beyond hope that nothing like that happens that would prevent him from getting into the race.

Picking second provides for an ideal post position

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When we were sitting in the Kentucky Derby Museum for the post-position draw Wednesday afternoon, I was thinking that it's hard to believe that we really are here and participating like this. But here we are.

We got what we think is a very good post position, No. 6. Funny Cide is 15-1 on the morning line, but I will be quite surprised if he goes off at 15-1, I think. I would think 10-1 or 12-1 is more in line of where he might be.

I flew down from Albany Tuesday evening so I could take care of a lot of details before the rest of our group began to arrive. Wednesday ended up being quite a blur, really, starting with a visit to the barn area in the morning and ending with the party after the draw in the Derby Museum.

To start the morning, I met the host assigned to us by the track, David Travis, an attorney in Louisville.

Before I began taking care of my tasks for the day, I went down to trainer Tony Reinstedler's barn to introduce myself. Our trainer, Barclay Tagg, has made arrangements for Funny Cide to reside in Tony's barn for the time he's down here. It's a nice, calm spot. Given all the activity I saw, I think that Barclay was very savvy in selecting the last barn on the backstretch for Funny Cide. If there is going to be any chance for peace and quiet, I think that's the spot for it.

Funny Cide arrived late in the afternoon from New York. He was a bit behind schedule because the flight was delayed.

Then we took care of some business in the race office, writing a check for $30,000 to enter the race. Actually, it's $15,000 to enter and another $15,000 to go to the starting gate. I also had sign the papers so that Barclay could make the post position selection.

I found out that Churchill Downs provides a car for the five days, which is something I hadn't realized until I got down here. That's nice.

Then we went over and got all of our tickets. We have 55 tickets for the Derby and 29 for the Kentucky Oaks on Friday.

After we got our tickets, we went upstairs and took a look at where our box is, Section 318, Row D, which is maybe 40 yards before the finish line. It's an absolutely spectacular view.

We took a walk down into the paddock and got a little bit familiar with things. Then it was time to the post position draw at 11:45 a.m. at the racing office. It was where they determined the order of selection for post-position selection later in the day.

Just waiting for that to happen was the most nerve-wracking few minutes. Then all of a sudden when they said the No. 2 was Funny Cide, I felt a lot of exhilaration.

We had hoped that if we could be within the first half of the selections, we would find a spot that we'd feel good about. Having the opportunity to pick second was, we feel, much to our advantage. We got a post that our jockey, Jose Santos is very, very pleased with.

Then we went out to the airport and picked up my wife, Dorothy, and Sackatoga partner Gus Williams, went to hotel and got ready for what was really the anticlimactic post-position selection.

I say that because we were sitting in the catbird's seat. T.V. Smith, the trainer of Offlee Wild, had the first pick, and he told Barclay before we went into the room in the Derby Museum for the television show that he was picking the seven.

When it was our turn, all Barclay had to do was go up and put the Sackatoga colors and Funny Cide on the number six.

Well-wishers from all directions

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - My first day in town for the Kentucky Derby was exciting. Day 2 on Thursday was amazing.

It started in the morning when we went to the barn to say hello to our trainer, Barclay Tagg, and see Funny Cide before we went to brunch. When we were leaving the barn, Cot and Anne Campbell, who run the Dogwood Stable and have horses with Barclay, recognized me and wished us good luck with our horse.

While this is going on, I'm thinking to myself, 'Cot has been in racing for so many years, has been so successful and has had five Derby starters and he's wishing us good luck. What's wrong with this picture?'

We saw Cot again a few hours later when we attended a luncheon at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium for the Equine Research Department at the University of Louisville. He was the guest speaker and was doing a book signing for his latest book.

At that luncheon some guys noticed that we were wearing Funny Cide buttons given to us by the track and came up and talked to us. They asked if we were fans of the horse and we told them that we were the owners. They told us that they get together every year and handicap the race and have had tremendous success. Then they told us that they like Funny Cide, that he is one of the three or four horses they have in their mix. That was great to hear.

We went back at the track to watch Funny Cide being schooled in the paddock about 1:15 and had our picture taken with Barclay and the horse with the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs in the background.

While we were having the photos taken, we were introduced to Dave Harmon of Saratoga Springs, who does photography at the major races in the country. Dave also owns the Stadium Cafe, which is right around the corner from my office in Saratoga. I often go there for lunch.

How weird is that? I've got to come all the way to Louisville to meet the owner of a place I frequent in Saratoga? That's the kind of world this is.

While we were talking, Dave said that after the Derby he is going to take down one of the sets of racing silks he has on the wall at the Stadium Cafe and replace it with Sackatoga Stable silks.

I spent a couple of hours organizing all of our tickets for the Oaks and the Derby. We're going to have 29 people in our party at the Oaks today and 55 for the Derby. Everybody has what they need.

The other partners and their families and friends began arriving on Thursday. Lew and Pat Titterton rolled in from Saratoga Springs. Our friends Erm and Annabelle Cocci from Guilderland came here to join us on their way back from their winter home in Naples, Fla.

Before we went to Press Party in the evening at the track, we met some guys from Albany who are down for the race. They saw the Funny Cide badges and hats and came over to talk to us. They said they've been following the horse in the newspaper and on television and wanted to congratulate us. They said it was such a great thing to have a horse from the Capital District running in the Kentucky Derby.

Getting to the gate is half the battle

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby today at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Now we're down to the nervous anticipation of the race, worrying that nothing will happen to the horse before he gets to run.

You have to think about that.

Look at what happened to Sir Cherokee; he was scratched Friday. Look at all the rumors about Empire Maker being injured. How many times have we seen in recent years that horses are entered in the Derby, and they don't run? You've got to get into the gate, and you've got to run. . . . We're close.

We're talking about hours now, but we're not there yet. Everything seems to be absolutely perfect with the horse.

Joe and Anne McMahon, who foaled Funny Cide at their farm in Saratoga, stopped by the barn after they arrived on Thursday afternoon, and he was sleeping in his stall.

I don't think we'll have any more trouble sleeping than in the last couple of days. It's an awful lot of anticipation.

On Thursday morning, we were interviewed at the barn for a documentary that MSNBC is doing about getting horses to the Derby. After that, we were photographed by Blood-Horse magazine.

Then we came over to the track for the Kentucky Oaks program, watched the races and had a great buffet lunch in a dining area that overlooks the paddock.

Before the fourth race, many of the people in our group went down to the fence next to the paddock to watch our host, David Travis, surprise his girlfriend by proposing.

We had to keep the secret Thursday night at a party before he asked her. These are the things that make this weekend even more special.

Now they're planning to come to Saratoga. Stanley Yake, who is one of our contingent, already said that if they come, we're throwing a big party.

We put together a party for the whole gang, more than 50 people, Friday night at our hotel.

We're leaving for the track on the bus we rented at 10 o'clock in the morning. We'll probably roll up to the track at about 10:30 in our yellow school bus.

The Derby will be run just after 6 p.m. That's the reason we're here.

Of course, we've looked at the race and done our handicapping.

We anticipate that we're going to be in that first wave of three or four horses. We expect Indian Express will go to the lead. Peace Rules will probably go. I think we'll sit third. Brancusi will be up there, but on paper, we expect we may sit third.

Someone said to me everybody wants to sit third or fourth. I think we've got a post position and a horse and a jockey that can get that trip. That's the dream trip. I think we're in a great spot to get it.

I talked to Jose Santos last week before he knew the post positions, and he felt he would lay third or fourth, that the horse was handy enough to do that.

We got the sixth post po- sition, but with the scratch of Sir Cherokee there will only be four inside of us. There's a lot of good karma here.

Derby victory beyond belief

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who won the 129th Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - This is just unbelievable! We won the Kentucky Derby!

We're just a small group of people with three horses, all of them are New York-breds and we won the Kentucky Derby.

The scene was just unbelievable. We were sitting in the owner's boxes at Churchill, right in the front row. On our left was trainer Bob Baffert and the people who own Indian Express. Right behind us was Brancusi's owner, Michael Tabor.

Because it was so hard to see from where we were, I had to watch part of the race on the television that was attatched to a girder. When the horses entered the stretch, we could see that Funny Cide was up on the lead and Empire Maker was coming to him.

Funny Cide didn't give up and kept on running, and Empire Maker couldn't get by him. We were yelling and screaming and waving our arms in the air. When he reached the finish line, we went wild and were cheering and hugging each other.

Then we ran out of the box and took off for the winner's circle. As we were getting there, I was thinking that it is absolutely beyond belief that something like this could happen. But here we are.

The amazing thing is we're a very modest operation. It's tremendously difficult to believe that we pulled it off. All along, we thought it was a nice horse. Our trainer, Barclay Tagg, thought it was a nice horse.

Our jockey, Jose Santos, gave him a picture-perfect ride.

You draw up in your mind how you think the race is going to go. This race went exactly the way we drew it up.

I saw Jose at Aqueduct last week, and we talked about the race. I said, `I'd love to be laying third or fourth and get a clean trip.' He said, `I think this horse can be right there.'

Jose's wife told me today when they came to the racetrack that he told her he was going to win the Kentucky Derby.

I thought we were going to be very competitive in the Kentucky Derby. I said I will be a lot more surprised if we finish worse than fourth, than I will be if we win.

After the race, everything was just a blur. We were in the winner's circle getting the Derby trophy and talking on NBC. After that, I was taken to a big white tent near the paddock for the postrace interviews. Barclay and Jose and Jose's son, Jose, Jr., were there, too. We answered questions for about an hour.

After doing an interview with CNN, one of the Churchill Downs officials grabbed me and said, "It's time for you to go have a drink with the governor of Kentucky." He took me into the Kentucky Derby Museum, where they have the big party.

Just as we were going into the room, I saw a big replay for the race being projected on a white wall. It must have been 10 feet by 10 feet.

There was Funny Cide, running right behind the leaders on the first turn.

They wouldn't let me stop to watch, but I said, "I like the way that looks."

Sharing dream victory with friends

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who won the 129th Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Waking up the morning after winning the Kentucky Derby, it didn't take long for us to start thinking about what we had just experienced.

The Louisville Courier-Journal, with a whole section on the race, was outside our hotel door when we got up. Right there on the front page, under a huge headline that said, "No joke, it's Funny Cide," was a huge picture of the horse and jockey Jose Santos at the wire and a picture of my Dorothy and me celebrating. There was story after story and picture after picture. The media really does a great job covering this race.

What a weekend for Saratoga, huh? What a story. Marylou Whitney wins the Kentucky Oaks, and we win the Kentucky Derby.

Marylou is supposed to win those kinds of races. She can spend millions on horses, has a pretty big stable and gets all the top trainers.

I'm sure she wants to win the Derby, too. This is the race that everybody wants to win, and we did. Funny Cide did it, but we did, too. It's exciting beyond belief.

We got the good news from our trainer, Barclay Tagg, on Sunday morning that it looks like the horse came out of the race in great shape, and we're going to be able to go on to Pimlico for the Preakness.

I was hoping that the horse would run well enough in the Derby to get us to Baltimore. I just love that town, and go to the Preakness just about every year. After this Kentucky Derby win, I think they may let us come.

I guess we'll have to turn this into the Preakness Diary. That's the next chapter.

This has been such a great weekend for us. It's been fun to have 50 or so of our closest friends with us while we lived out this unbelievable dream.

And we're so happy that Joe and Anne McMahon, who own the farm where Funny Cide was foaled, were able to come down from Saratoga Springs to be with our group. Something like this can change their lives. I'm sure it's going to change the breeding industry in New York.

And it's so great for Barclay and his assistant, Robin Smullen, and for Jose. They all did so much to make this happen. Most of the time, the smaller people don't get the big reward, but they got the big reward. We made it happen with having the $75,000 and being lucky enough to buy the right horse. And along the way, we made some good decisions.

After the party in the Kentucky Derby Museum following the race, we all got back in the yellow school bus we rented and went downtown to our hotel, the Galt House. We went up to the bar and restaurant on the 25th floor, and just kind of overwhelmed the place.

I'm not even sure what time we left the museum. It might have been about 9 o'clock. I was doing so many interviews - I was on ESPN2, and I think on NBC live in New York - that that part of the night became a blur.

There were a lot of racing fans up in the bar at the Galt House, and we ended up talking with many of them and autographing programs.

There we were, the members of our group, after winning the Kentucky Derby. It's something we're going to have for the rest of our lives. It changes your life instantly, and it's something nobody can ever take away from you. It's the one claim to fame that we'll all always have.

Whirlwind of activity engulfs owners

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 128th Preakness on May 17 at Pimlico.

Are we still feeling the glow of our Derby victory? Oh, yes. No question about it.

How could we forget about what happened? We're busier now than we were last week because of what Funny Cide accomplished. Sure, we're looking ahead to the Preakness, but that's still more than a week away. The Derby was only a few days ago, and what took place is still very vivid and a great thrill.

One of the things I did this week was contact the Kentucky Derby Museum to order photos and Derby saddle cloths for every one of the owners. We're going to have all the toys to remember that day and that race.

During our flight from Louisville Monday, an announcement was made that the owners of the Kentucky Derby winner were on the plane. The other passengers clapped and cheered, which was really kind of neat. We also were upgraded to first class during the trip.

Monday is going to be a very busy and exciting day. All of the owners, trainer Barclay Tagg and jockey Jose Santos are going to be honored in the afternoon at the state Capitol. We're going to the Senate and the Assembly, and at some point, I guess we're going to meet the governor.

Barclay is heading back to New York later in the afternoon to be near the horse, but Jose is planning to join us for a party being put on by the City of Saratoga Springs at Siro's. It's supposed to start at 6 p.m., and is open to the public.

I've been dealing with Baltimore TV people about going on their program when we're down there. It's an all-day show on Preakness Day. And I've been talking with Pimlico officials about getting access to enough seats for our entourage, and getting into the corporate tents in the infield on race day.

As part of that, I've kind of been pushing for more tickets for the party and Orioles game at Camden Yards the night before the race. They started with offering us 24 tickets. That's not enough, but we're getting close to what we need.

Among the other things I'm doing are talking with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association about a licensing agreement, having some conversations with OTB about a Preakness promotion they have planned. Wednesday night, I was scheduled to do a radio show connected to the track in New Orleans, Fair Grounds.

On Saturday morning, I'm going to call in to Mark Cusano and Mike Veitch's TV show on Capital OTB. I'll be down at Belmont Park because Funny Cide is going to school in the paddock that day.

There are so many things going on related to the horse that it has taken most of my time since we returned late Monday afternoon. Fortunately, I have a great staff at my business, and they have been able to step in and pick up the slack and keep everything going.

We had a meeting and talked about what had to be done, and so far, I think everything has worked out. If I didn't have these capable people working with me, I don't know what I'd do.

What our group is doing this week is essentially creating a new business on the fly. We have to handle things like licensing, and we're talking about creating a Web site.

It was interesting to read that Pimlico officials are apparently asking our Barclay to bring the horse down from New York to Baltimore on Tuesday. We're working him that day, and I can't imagine he would ship then. I can virtually guarantee that he won't.

Emotions ran high Monday

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 128th Preakness Saturday at Pimlico.

I've used the word blur a few times already, but last weekend was a blur, and Monday was a blur, too.

Things got crazy on the weekend, with the Miami Herald story and photo suggesting that Jose Santos might have been carrying something else, something illegal, besides his whip in the Kentucky Derby.

We never doubted Jose, and we wish he didn't have to be in Kentucky Monday for the meeting with the stewards at Churchill Downs.

The outcome, that he was exonerated, was a foregone conclusion, yet Jose had to miss the celebrations in Albany and Saratoga Springs on Monday, which was tremendously unfortunate. But what are you going to do?

We laid low and didn't say anything until the stewards did their thing. All I ever did was complain about the Miami Herald reporter who wrote the story. Where were the editorial controls in the Miami Herald?

The Miami Herald has been quoted as saying they accept the findings of the stewards, that what the stewards did is appropriate. Give me a break.

There has been nothing in terms of an apology.

The media attention has been out of control. I turned down invitations to be on "Good Morning America" and the "Today" show on Monday. I didn't say this, but what I was thinking was they didn't invite me after we won the Kentucky Derby; it was only after this controversy came up with Jose.

I told them if they were still interested in me after the stewards completed their investigation to let me know. I didn't get a call.

Funny Cide had a helluva work on Tuesday morning. I heard he looked pretty good. Robin Smullen, the assistant trainer and exercise rider, was real happy when I talked with her.

I think he's coming up to this race awesomely. It sounds like every time I turn around, there is another horse coming into the field. A few days ago, it was five or six possible starters. Now, its 11 or 12. I guess they don't believe in Funny Cide.

We'll be there.

We spent a lot of time on Tuesday coordinating the plans for our group, which is 127 people. We had to do things like get tickets out to people and confirm hotel reservations in Baltimore.

Monday was just phenomenal. For me, going back to the Senate, where I worked for eight years, was quite a thrill. A handful of senators were there from when I was there back in the mid-'70s, working for Senate finance. That was fun, to see them and a lot of the staff people I know were around.

The whole thing was a great experience for all 10 of the partners. Everyone made it to the Capitol. Both chambers of the legislature passed resolutions and issued proclamations, and then meeting with the governor and getting a proclamation from him was a very, very big high for everybody involved.

We were delayed getting to Siro's for the Saratoga party Monday night by rain and traffic.

When we finally got there, there were a lot of people that I've known at some point in my life. Some people I started working with over 30 years ago showed up. There were townspeople and Siro's regulars. It was terrific.

By the end of the evening, I was totally exhausted. Our friends at Siro's were great. They gave us some food and a quiet part of the restaurant after all the craziness that went on. But it was good craziness.

If we can somehow get by the Preakness, the next three weeks will REALLY be something. But let's get this one.

Rubbing elbows

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fifth installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 128th Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico.

BALTIMORE - I started Thursday at the Alibi Breakfast, which is a traditional event the week of the Preakness.

The connections of all of the horses entered in the race are invited and are asked to talk to the few hundred people who attend. It's a big event here.

Chris Lincoln was the master of ceremonies. There were a lot of funny lines and stories. It was fun.

Dave Mahan and I were representing Sackatoga Stable, sitting at a table between Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert. It's not quite a place that we normally are in life, to say the least.

We had a great conversation with Bob Baffert Wednesday night at the post position draw. It's the first time I ever met him. He sat next to us at the Kentucky Derby and recognized who we were.

We talked about the incident with our jockey, Jose Santos, being questioned about carrying something in his hand in the Derby. I thanked him for the public support he had expressed and the outrage over what happened.

I really enjoyed meeting him in person and talking with him.

Typically, every horse is represented at the breakfast. We had quite a bit of discussion because we won the Derby. There were a lot of questions. We were kicking it back and forth with Chris.

After the Alibi Breakfast, I had to take care of more business. I got the license that we needed for the partnership and dropped a check off there. I got five parking passes for people who aren't going to be on the bus with us on Preakness Day.

Another thing I had to do was continue to make arrangements for our group to attend the party that the Maryland Jockey Club is putting on tonight at the Orioles game at Camden Yards. Our numbers are so big that I have to try and get more tickets. Visa, which is a sponsor of the Triple Crown series, is going to help me out a little bit. It's going to work out, I think.

Then it was back to answering calls and doing a lot of stuff with the media. Later in the afternoon, I was on an ESPN show.

Today, I'm scheduled to be on a new owner's seminar put on by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. At 4:30, I'm scheduled to be on CNBC, and I'll be on another program at 5:50.

Our group is starting to arrive in town for the race. On Thursday, a bunch of the people from Sackets Harbor drove in, and some other people flew in. Most of the crowd will be rolling in today.

Our trainer Barclay Tagg went up to the Fair Hill training center in northern Maryland on Thursday to look at some horse he has there. Then he was going back to New York. He won't be down here until Saturday. He'll probably drive down following the horse.

Barclay has talked about putting Funny Cide in trainer Mary Eppler's barn over on the backside instead of in the busy stakes barn behind the grandstand. I believe that to be the case, but I don't know for sure. Knowing Barclay's modus operandi, that's a pretty good guess. He likes to protect that animal.

We're coming up to the race, and I feel good about the horse. Everything I'm hearing about him is good.

Unfortunately, the weather is going to be lousy, with rain forecast for today. Hopefully, it's not for two days. We know our horse can run on a wet track. The best speed figure he's ever had was in the mud in the Wood.

You don't want an off track. You never want an off track. If it happens, that doesn't diminish our confidence in the fact that we think he'll run a good race.

School bus

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the sixth installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 128th Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico.

BALTIMORE - We're going to have another yellow school bus - our yellow stretch limo - to take us to the track today, just like we did before the Derby.

There are so many people in our group, we will use a yellow bus plus another bus.

People got a real kick out of the story of the yellow stretch limo at the Derby, and as a result of our discussions with the NBC folks, we said, "Why not do it again? It got us here the first time. Let's not break our new-found tradition." So that's what we're going to do.

This has been a pretty wild ride since the Derby, but it's fun. Being on ESPN's "Wire to Wire" program Thursday was a thrill. I watch that program all the time to see these guys who are experts about racing. Having a chance to sit there and talk with them was a lot of fun.

I've met an incredible number of media people in the past two weeks, from the local guys in the Capital Region to the New York Times and the Washington Post and USA Today. Everybody is interested in the story and updating what's been going on.

Friday was busy, like every other day has been. After speaking at the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders' seminar for new owners, I did an interview on "Mike and Mad Dog" show on WFAN in New York, then one with WBAL, a TV station here, and MSNBC.

I'm just trying to be available. There's no reason not to. We think that it's a fun story, and the more people that hear it and get interested in it, the better I think it is for the game. Maybe they'll show up and root for Funny Cide, or they'll try to get into the game themselves.

No matter what happens in the Preakness, we're planning to attend the sale at Timonium on Sunday and Monday. Barclay [Tagg] is going on Sunday, and I'll go with him. The sale is at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, about 10 miles from Pimlico.

We're looking for one horse, so we will have a total of four. We have Funny Cide, Wed in Dixie and a horse we're going to name Lakeside, who should ship up from Florida to Belmont Park any week now.

Even if we hadn't won the Derby, we were going to buy another horse. We had enough money from our two seconds in the Wood and the Louisiana Derby.

Four or five horses is where we want to be. It's a little easy to do that when you've got Funny Cide.

He allows the luxury now of not having to worry where the money to pay the next bill is going to come from.

I've looked at the past performances of the other horses, and I still feel the same way: Peace Rules is the horse to beat. He beat us in the Louisiana Derby.

Unless something that we don't expect to have happen does happen, I think it's Funny Cide and Peace Rules battling it out coming down the stretch.

Hopefully, by the time the race is run at 6:12 today, the track condition will be fast. I don't know if that's going to happen or not.

I noticed in his past performances, that the one time that Peace Rules ran on an off track, it was early in his career, 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga, he didn't run very well. I did note that.

We know we can run in it [an off track]. If we had never done it, I'd be a little bit antsy, but not that much. I've talked to assistant trainer Robin Smullen, and she had galloped him in the slop at the Palm Meadows training center in Florida.

Even going into the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, we thought he could handle it because she told us that he'd be able to handle it. She was right.

On to Belmont

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the seventh installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who also won the 128th Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico.

BALTIMORE - Can you believe this? Funny Cide just blew the Preakness field away.

We've got two legs of the Triple Crown.

I told some of our folks, "I think he can win by three or four lengths." I really did believe that.

I thought we were going to win. I didn't think we were going to win like that. People ought to take notice.

One of the people who interviewed me after the race called him a $75,000 lottery ticket. It's fabulous now. This horse is pushing close to $2 million in earnings, which is just incredible. We want to go to Belmont, represent thoroughbred racing and New York-breds in particular.

Wow. It would be just tremendous if we were able to get the third leg.

It's always tough to be confident going into a mile-and-a-half race. It's a distance that these horses have never run yet in their career, and probably will never run again. But every race that he's run, he's been going at the end. So maybe he can take that extra quarter-mile beyond the Derby length.

He's undefeated at Belmont. He's 3-for-3 there. Obviously, a mile and a half is a tremendous challenge.

There are going to be a lot of top horses gunning for him. They're going to be well-rested.

Bobby Frankel kept Empire Maker out of this race. He's going to be gunning for us, we know that. We've won two-thirds of his Triple Crown, and we're going to be trying for that third leg.

Dynever is going to come in off a really good victory in the Lone Star Derby. He's an impressive horse.

There are going to be guys coming at us. But, hey, we're sitting on top of the world now. They've still got to beat him. Nobody has done that in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Let's hope they can't do it in the next one.

It was quite a day for us, even before the Preakness was run. Some of us were able to meet Bill Clinton and Jon Bon Jovi. Bill Clinton was very informed about about our Derby win and our story, wished us good luck in the Preakness and said he would try to be at the Belmont Stakes.

We watched the race from the box seats near the finish line, which gave us a great view of the race.

When we saw :47 flat for the half, we thought we were in great shape. We said, "It's not too fast. It's not too slow." Our jockey, Jose Santos, moved him when he needed to move him, and, boy, did he kick in. Coming down the stretch, it was unbelievable.

I thought if he runs a really nice race, he could win by three or four lengths. I never dreamed anything more than that.

It has been a wild two weeks since the Kentucky Derby, but we've just got to hang on because the ride is going to get even wilder. We'll get it done.

I've got wonderful staff in my real-life job, a consulting firm. They've kicked in and done just a tremendous job for us. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep our sanity and keep everybody level-headed.

I know our trainer, Barclay Tagg, will do that. He'll protect the horse. Barclay will have him ready. He's only got to walk about 100 yards over to get saddled for the Belmont.

It's time to move to Chapter 3, the Belmont chapter, of this diary. Why not? We can't stop now. I don't want to change anything. It will be a wild ride.

Getting to the gate is half the battle

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby today at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Now we're down to the nervous anticipation of the race, worrying that nothing will happen to the horse before he gets to run.

You have to think about that.

Look at what happened to Sir Cherokee; he was scratched Friday. Look at all the rumors about Empire Maker being injured. How many times have we seen in recent years that horses are entered in the Derby, and they don't run? You've got to get into the gate, and you've got to run. . . . We're close.

We're talking about hours now, but we're not there yet. Everything seems to be absolutely perfect with the horse.

Joe and Anne McMahon, who foaled Funny Cide at their farm in Saratoga, stopped by the barn after they arrived on Thursday afternoon, and he was sleeping in his stall.

I don't think we'll have any more trouble sleeping than in the last couple of days. It's an awful lot of anticipation.

On Thursday morning, we were interviewed at the barn for a documentary that MSNBC is doing about getting horses to the Derby. After that, we were photographed by Blood-Horse magazine.

Then we came over to the track for the Kentucky Oaks program, watched the races and had a great buffet lunch in a dining area that overlooks the paddock.

Before the fourth race, many of the people in our group went down to the fence next to the paddock to watch our host, David Travis, surprise his girlfriend by proposing.

We had to keep the secret Thursday night at a party before he asked her. These are the things that make this weekend even more special.

Now they're planning to come to Saratoga. Stanley Yake, who is one of our contingent, already said that if they come, we're throwing a big party.

We put together a party for the whole gang, more than 50 people, Friday night at our hotel.

We're leaving for the track on the bus we rented at 10 o'clock in the morning. We'll probably roll up to the track at about 10:30 in our yellow school bus.

The Derby will be run just after 6 p.m. That's the reason we're here.

Of course, we've looked at the race and done our handicapping.

We anticipate that we're going to be in that first wave of three or four horses. We expect Indian Express will go to the lead. Peace Rules will probably go. I think we'll sit third. Brancusi will be up there, but on paper, we expect we may sit third.

Someone said to me everybody wants to sit third or fourth. I think we've got a post position and a horse and a jockey that can get that trip. That's the dream trip. I think we're in a great spot to get it.

I talked to Jose Santos last week before he knew the post positions, and he felt he would lay third or fourth, that the horse was handy enough to do that.

We got the sixth post po- sition, but with the scratch of Sir Cherokee there will only be four inside of us. There's a lot of good karma here.

Saratoga owners firmly back Santos

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 128th Preakness on May 17 at Pimlico.

What a difference it was from one Saturday to the next.

A week ago we were celebrating Funny Cide's victory in the Kentucky Derby. This weekend, we were reacting to a newspaper story that suggested there was some cheating.

That just wasn't the case. We stand behind Jose Santos, 100-plus percent.

We learned about the story Saturday morning when Dave Mahan, who is one of our partners, arrived at Belmont Park. Dave and I had gone down to New York on Friday to take part in a media event. We stayed to watch Funny Cide being schooled in the paddock at the track.

Funny Cide had gotten nervous and acted up on the way to the paddock for the Kentucky Derby. So Barclay Tagg, our trainer, wanted him to be exposed to a crowd and some noise, like he will be in the Preakness next Saturday.

The good news is that Barclay that Funny Cide is in great shape. The plan is to work him on Tuesday.

When we came over to Belmont, Jose's agent, Mike Sellito, showed us the story from the Miami Herald off the Internet. Dave and I talked with Jose. The story is totally unfounded, and it is a travesty that this controversy has arisen.

Jose hired attorney Karen Murphy to represent him, and they will meet with the stewards in Kentucky on Monday morning. I contacted David Travis, our official host at the Derby, and arranged that his law firm represent Sackatoga Stable.

Actually, Sackatoga has not been contacted by anybody associated with Kentucky racing. But we will be represented by counsel.

Dave and Eric Dattner and I spent most of the afternoon with Karen and NYRA officials Barry Schwartz, the CEO; Terry Meyocks, the president; Glen Mathes and John Lee from the communications department. They gave us a meeting room to work in, with phones and computer. They were tremendous.

A big thing they did for us was coordinate the media. Once all this stuff started, I said to John, "I'm getting a million calls, and I don't want to have to do this 18 times." So they got calls out to the media that we'd be available at 3:30. That worked out really well.

During the day, NYRA worked with the photograph that was alleged in the Miami Herald article to show something in Jose's hand. Bob and Adam Coglianese blew that up, and the color in there is Jerry Bailey's silks behind Funny Cide. This picture very clearly shows that this story was written in error.

Karen has contacted a lot of top racing photographers, and they have looked through all of their pictures from the Derby. None of their photos show anything in Jose's hands. Michael Marten of the Daily Racing Form was standing right next to the photographer who took the photo the Herald wrote about, and he can't see any shadows in his pictures.

It's a shame that Jose has to go to Kentucky on Monday. We hope that it doesn't ruin what we hoped would be a great day at the state Capitol and later at the city of Saratoga Springs' celebration at Siro's. We're hoping that Jose can be back in Albany by 1 p.m. in time for our visit to the Capitol.

We would hope and expect that if he does have to go to Kentucky, that there would be a quick resolution to this in maybe a half-hour or 45 minutes after the meeting starts.

The fact of the matter is, we know beyond any doubt that there is absolutely no truth to this story.

Whirlwind of activity engulfs owners

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 128th Preakness on May 17 at Pimlico.

Are we still feeling the glow of our Derby victory? Oh, yes. No question about it.

How could we forget about what happened? We're busier now than we were last week because of what Funny Cide accomplished. Sure, we're looking ahead to the Preakness, but that's still more than a week away. The Derby was only a few days ago, and what took place is still very vivid and a great thrill.

One of the things I did this week was contact the Kentucky Derby Museum to order photos and Derby saddle cloths for every one of the owners. We're going to have all the toys to remember that day and that race.

During our flight from Louisville Monday, an announcement was made that the owners of the Kentucky Derby winner were on the plane. The other passengers clapped and cheered, which was really kind of neat. We also were upgraded to first class during the trip.

Monday is going to be a very busy and exciting day. All of the owners, trainer Barclay Tagg and jockey Jose Santos are going to be honored in the afternoon at the state Capitol. We're going to the Senate and the Assembly, and at some point, I guess we're going to meet the governor.

Barclay is heading back to New York later in the afternoon to be near the horse, but Jose is planning to join us for a party being put on by the City of Saratoga Springs at Siro's. It's supposed to start at 6 p.m., and is open to the public.

I've been dealing with Baltimore TV people about going on their program when we're down there. It's an all-day show on Preakness Day. And I've been talking with Pimlico officials about getting access to enough seats for our entourage, and getting into the corporate tents in the infield on race day.

As part of that, I've kind of been pushing for more tickets for the party and Orioles game at Camden Yards the night before the race. They started with offering us 24 tickets. That's not enough, but we're getting close to what we need.

Among the other things I'm doing are talking with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association about a licensing agreement, having some conversations with OTB about a Preakness promotion they have planned. Wednesday night, I was scheduled to do a radio show connected to the track in New Orleans, Fair Grounds.

On Saturday morning, I'm going to call in to Mark Cusano and Mike Veitch's TV show on Capital OTB. I'll be down at Belmont Park because Funny Cide is going to school in the paddock that day.

There are so many things going on related to the horse that it has taken most of my time since we returned late Monday afternoon. Fortunately, I have a great staff at my business, and they have been able to step in and pick up the slack and keep everything going.

We had a meeting and talked about what had to be done, and so far, I think everything has worked out. If I didn't have these capable people working with me, I don't know what I'd do.

What our group is doing this week is essentially creating a new business on the fly. We have to handle things like licensing, and we're talking about creating a Web site.

It was interesting to read that Pimlico officials are apparently asking our Barclay to bring the horse down from New York to Baltimore on Tuesday. We're working him that day, and I can't imagine he would ship then. I can virtually guarantee that he won't.

Picking second provides for an ideal post position

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a Kentucky Derby diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 129th Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When we were sitting in the Kentucky Derby Museum for the post-position draw Wednesday afternoon, I was thinking that it's hard to believe that we really are here and participating like this. But here we are.

We got what we think is a very good post position, No. 6. Funny Cide is 15-1 on the morning line, but I will be quite surprised if he goes off at 15-1, I think. I would think 10-1 or 12-1 is more in line of where he might be.

I flew down from Albany Tuesday evening so I could take care of a lot of details before the rest of our group began to arrive. Wednesday ended up being quite a blur, really, starting with a visit to the barn area in the morning and ending with the party after the draw in the Derby Museum.

To start the morning, I met the host assigned to us by the track, David Travis, an attorney in Louisville.

Before I began taking care of my tasks for the day, I went down to trainer Tony Reinstedler's barn to introduce myself. Our trainer, Barclay Tagg, has made arrangements for Funny Cide to reside in Tony's barn for the time he's down here. It's a nice, calm spot. Given all the activity I saw, I think that Barclay was very savvy in selecting the last barn on the backstretch for Funny Cide. If there is going to be any chance for peace and quiet, I think that's the spot for it.

Funny Cide arrived late in the afternoon from New York. He was a bit behind schedule because the flight was delayed.

Then we took care of some business in the race office, writing a check for $30,000 to enter the race. Actually, it's $15,000 to enter and another $15,000 to go to the starting gate. I also had sign the papers so that Barclay could make the post position selection.

I found out that Churchill Downs provides a car for the five days, which is something I hadn't realized until I got down here. That's nice.

Then we went over and got all of our tickets. We have 55 tickets for the Derby and 29 for the Kentucky Oaks on Friday.

After we got our tickets, we went upstairs and took a look at where our box is, Section 318, Row D, which is maybe 40 yards before the finish line. It's an absolutely spectacular view.

We took a walk down into the paddock and got a little bit familiar with things. Then it was time to the post position draw at 11:45 a.m. at the racing office. It was where they determined the order of selection for post-position selection later in the day.

Just waiting for that to happen was the most nerve-wracking few minutes. Then all of a sudden when they said the No. 2 was Funny Cide, I felt a lot of exhilaration.

We had hoped that if we could be within the first half of the selections, we would find a spot that we'd feel good about. Having the opportunity to pick second was, we feel, much to our advantage. We got a post that our jockey, Jose Santos is very, very pleased with.

Then we went out to the airport and picked up my wife, Dorothy, and Sackatoga partner Gus Williams, went to hotel and got ready for what was really the anticlimactic post-position selection.

I say that because we were sitting in the catbird's seat. T.V. Smith, the trainer of Offlee Wild, had the first pick, and he told Barclay before we went into the room in the Derby Museum for the television show that he was picking the seven.

When it was our turn, all Barclay had to do was go up and put the Sackatoga colors and Funny Cide on the number six.

Champagne keeps flowing

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the eighth installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who also won the 128th Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico.

BALTIMORE - What do you do the morning after winning the Preakness?

I had breakfast with my family and drove over to the horse sales at Timonium to meet our trainer, Barclay Tagg, and try to find another Funny Cide. We want to add at least one more horse to our stable.

In the paper Sunday morning, I saw that we won the Preakness by the biggest margin since 1873. That made me feel pretty good.

And we made the front page of the New York Times, which I've been told was the first time it's ever happened for the Preakness. Maybe we'll make the cover of Sports Illustrated if we win the Triple Crown.

I think we finished our Preakness celebration at around 1:30 Sunday morning. After the trophy presentation and the interviews after the race, we had a party at the stakes barn, where we drank some champagne.

The track photographer was taking pictures. It's going to be a hoot to see all those pictures. During the party, the bugler from the track played "New York, New York" several times.

During the party, all of our guys from Sackets Harbor made a big circle and sang the Sackets High alma mater. Of course, we remember the words. I couldn't tell you five words of my college alma mater, but I sure can tell you the words of my high school alma mater.

We went back to the hotel in our two buses and had a late, last-minute buffet that our partner Dave Mahan worked out. Everybody was eating and drinking. It was super.

We were talking with the Racing Form people and Bill Nader from NYRA, and people from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, all kinds of people about the events of the day and going forward.

One of the first things that's going to happen before the Belmont Stakes is a big media event Tuesday at Gallagher's Steak House in Manhattan.

As for the Belmont, my feeling is: Let's go get 'em. We'll see who shows up. We know we can expect to see Empire Maker, Atswhatimtalknbout and Dynever. We'll see who else comes.

I know that Wayne Lukas said he was impressed with Funny Cide after the race. Bobby Baffert said the same thing. I think he believes right now.

We're ready to go with the flow toward the Belmont. I don't know of too many events right now, but we are going to Gracie Mansion. I don't know when; the details haven't been worked out. There will be a lot more in the coming days."

Winning the Preakness was a terrific feeling, but it wasn't better than winning the Derby. That's the greatest race of all.

It's great in that we've accomplished what I wanted to accomplish, in that sense, and that's to win the Preakness so we can go to Belmont and win the Triple Crown. But winning the Derby was special.

I guess winning the Triple Crown might surpass that. We're hoping we can have the opportunity to find out.

Break, positioning will again be keys

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth installment of a Preakness diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, who is scheduled to run in the 128th Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico.

BALTIMORE - Now we're really into the Preakness. We entered Funny Cide on Wednesday for the race on Saturday.

We ended up with the last selection in the post position draw, and will start from No. 9. That wouldn't have been our choice, but that is what it is. These are the things in racing that you can't control.

We were extraordinarily fortunate in the Derby. My feeling is that I'm an awful lot happier having the second pick in the Derby. If we had the 10th or the 16th pick in the Derby, who knows what would have happened.

With a 10-horse field and the tactical speed that Funny Cide has, if he can get a clean break, he should be able to get himself in position. You've got a pretty good run into the first turn in this race. You're coming down the stretch, and there is quite a bit of wide-open territory. You should be able to position yourself reasonably.

And I think it will be a good test for Funny Cide. A lot of people are doubting, to some extent, whether his win was legitimate in the Derby because he had a dream trip. I hope he gets a dream trip here, but it's certainly not as likely, given the post.

But he's a very sharp horse right now. I wouldn't say it's something that he shouldn't be able to overcome. Interestingly, Peace Rules, which is the other horse in the field that we would have the most concern about, had the eighth pick and ended up in Post No. 7.

I flew down from Albany early Wednesday morning and drove over to Pimlico to take care of some business. To start with, I had to get myself and four other partners licensed. Maryland's rules are if you have 5 percent or more ownership, you have to be licensed. So the five Sackets guys didn't need to get licensed.

Then I wrote a check for $20,000 for getting into the Preakness.

After that, I met with Phoebe Hayes, who is in charge of tickets. Paula Miller, who works with me, and I have been working with Phoebe for the last several days. At last count, our group was up to 127 people.

I did a TV interview with TVG and another TV interview with WBAL. Back in my public service days, I did a little bit of that stuff, but not a lot. Certainly not what I've done in the past couple of weeks.

Some of the other members of Sackatoga Stable also arrived Wednesday. Dave Mahan and his wife, Nadene, came in from Connecticut in time for the post position draw at the ESPN Zone.

My son Aaron and a friend came up from Washington. More of the contingent, a lot of the Sackets people, are coming in today. Most of the rest of the people will be in on Friday.

The guys in Sackets Harbor are really having fun with everything that has happened since Funny Cide won the Derby. Tuesday night at the town board meeting in Sackets Harbor, the five guys from Sackets and I were named, I guess, the citizens of the year.

Sackets Harbor is getting the prominence that it hasn't had since the War of 1812. On Wednesday, the NBC production crew for the Preakness show was up there. The Sackets guys are going to be on national TV. They started doing interviews Tuesday night, and there was more filming Wednesday. That's a big deal. It's got to help tourism up there.

I really don't feel nervous this week. Even with the outside post position, I have a lot more confidence than I did going into the Derby. In the Derby, I thought we could compete with all those good horses and probably run a good race..

Now we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the horse can run a mile and a quarter. You run a mile and three-sixteenths here. Funny Cide had a super work on Tuesday at Belmont Park.

I feel good about the race. This horse could be something special.

Bobbleheads and beer

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who will try to complete the Triple Crown on June 7 in the Belmont Stakes.

Funny Cide's win in the Preakness has made the ball roll quite a bit faster this week.

My personal business and Funny Cide-related events have taken me from Baltimore to the Mid-Atlantic horse sale in Timonium, Md., home to Saratoga Springs, to New York for a couple of days and finally back to Saratoga.

The media requests have been unbelievable. I mean, San Diego, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta. This isn't local anymore. I've had to do a few radio things.

We're having fun. I had CBS people to see in the city on Wednesday. People from the Letterman show called. I don't know if they want me on, but they called.

For the second time in a month, I turned down an appearance on "Today." The first one was when jockey Jose Santos was being investigated. "Today" wanted me again on Sunday, but I had a party to go to Saturday night. C'mon. I didn't want to have to deal with that. We had to celebrate the Preakness victory, and I didn't want worry about trying to look good and be sharp at whatever time in the morning.

Part of my time this week has been devoted to Funny Cide Ventures, which we formed to handle the licensing of products related to the horse. We're working with Dave Harmon of Saratoga Springs, who has a lot of experience with sports apparel and memorabilia. Dave operates the Stadium shops at the Crossgates and Wilton malls and the Stadium Cafe in Saratoga Springs.

The merchandise that we have out, buttons and hats and shirts, have been flying off the shelves in the stores in Saratoga. We're planning to do three bobbleheads, one of Jose Santos and one each from the Derby and the Preakness. Things like bobbleheads take time for production and shipping. I'm not going to give up my health business. I actually had a couple of meetings this week, but I can dedicate a decent amount of my time to Funny Cide Ventures if I want to do that. The potential is high right now. Even if he doesn't win the Triple Crown, the story is there. He's a New York horse.

Today, I'm supposed to look at a proposal from a guy in Kentucky who sells hats on the Internet. He called and said he's gotten hundreds of e-mails from people asking where they can buy Funny Cide hats. Hundreds? That gets your attention.

We are going to open a store on Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs at the beginning of June. We'll have a lot of photographs by Skip Dickstein and Dave Harmon, prints and all the Funny Cide merchandise. The store will also probably have Funny Cide in the name.

There are a lot of other things, business-related thing, going on, too. Our Web sites - www.funny-cide.com and www.funny-cide.us - are supposed to up on Friday. We had to put a dash in the name on the site because someone else registered the funnycide.com name in February. The owner of the domain name was offering to make a deal with us, but the cost was way more than we thought was acceptable. So you need a dash to find the site.

Right now and for the next 2 1/2 weeks, our media exposure is so high that we'll get a million chances to get that Web site out there.

Dorothy and I are going up to Sackets Harbor late Saturday. It was eight years ago on Memorial Day weekend that Sackatoga Stable began. When we're there, we'll talk about Funny Cide Beer. It is going to be produced by the Sackets Harbor Brewing Company, but it will be brewed and bottled in Saratoga.

It won't be too long until it's available. Things are moving. Beer drinking weather is coming.

On Wednesday, we did the singing for the "I Love New York" commercial that is going to be shown before the Belmont Stakes. Gus Williams was filmed doing his part at the VFW in Delmar, the Sackets Harbor guys did theirs up there and Dave Mahan, Lew Titterton, Eric Dattner and I sang for the camera in Manhattan. Magically, though technology, we'll be together.

We want to keep the momentum going. I talked with Bill Nader of NYRA after the Preakness, and they had already started talking about the what-ifs and planning for a record day at the Belmont. They're probably both very excited and a little scared.

They're not going to turn anybody away. They had better be prepared.

Neiman painting

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who will try to complete the Triple Crown on June 7 in the Belmont Stakes.

Probably the most interesting thing that has happened since the Preakness last weekend was meeting LeRoy Neiman and having him be interested in doing a painting of Funny Cide.

I was in New York Tuesday for the press conference at Gallagher's Steak House and to do some other things when I met him at the 21 Club.

The 21 Club is doing a Sackatoga lawn jockey for its collection. We were over there talking about that, and he just happened to come in. He was on his way in and I was going out, and I was introduced to him. He said, "Oh, I've been thinking about that horse." We chatted, and he said, "I'll give you a call tomorrow."

Bang. He called the next day and said, "I want to come out to Belmont." We're going to do it on Friday. Funny Cide will be out on the track, jogging or galloping, doing whatever he's going to do that morning. Then he'll get a chance to see him close up to do whatever he needs to do in terms of pictures.

Sure, I'll be there. You think I'd miss it? It isn't every day that you get Leroy Neiman interested on doing something of yours. How good does that get?

Then I'll do some health care consulting that afternoon. I'll fit all these things together.

Things were calm with Funny Cide last week. There was nothing going on. Robin Smullen, the assistant trainer, said everything is fine. No problems. It's one those no news is good news situations.

He's doing good. That's all you can ask at this point. There is no reason to do anything too extravagant here.

He'll work Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the track. Tuesday you would expect would be his normal schedule. If something comes up, if the track is lousy, then they could do it a little bit later.

Our Funny Cide Web site began operating last week, and we've since bought the rights to the name www.funnycide.com. We know that funny-cide.com is working, and we've made arrangements so that shortly funnycide.com will be available, probably no later than Tuesday.

And we've made a deal with horsehats.com, and the operator of that site already has two hats on his site.

Everybody wants Funny Cide shirts and hats, and we're meeting what people are looking for. This has become a big story. People want stuff associated with this horse.

A lot of other things are going on, too. There is a lot of interest in a movie. We've been approached by some pretty big names. We've heard about TV movies and full-length motion pictures. You can imagine what we would prefer.

We did not buy the horse we were interested at the Timonium sale on Monday. We set our limit at $125,000, but the colt by Smoke Glacken went for $320,000.

We're not buying $300,000 horses. Our $18,000 filly, Wed in Dixie, won at Belmont Wednesday and has earned over $76,000. Why do it?

I'm spending the holiday weekend in Sackets Harbor, and the six partners from up there are going to be on the CBS Morning Show on Tuesday. I'm not sure what time we're going to be or whether we'll be Sackets Harbor or Watertown.

We're scheduled to do the Today show on June 6, the morning before the Belmont. Lou Dobbs wants us on Moneyline on CNN. There are more opportunities to do stuff than we know what to do with.

The number of media requests is nuts. You can't keep up with it.

It's even international. I spoke to a couple of British journalists the other day. They're pretty interested.

It is totally amazing, all kinds of interviews. I did a morning radio show in San Diego Friday. These guys aren't sports guys. It's just the story. They love the story.

I never thought it would be like this. No way. The story has taken on a life of its own.

Triple crown film

This is the third installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who will try to complete the Triple Crown on June 7 in the Belmont Stakes.

We've passed the halfway point between the Preakness and the Belmont, and we're hanging in there.

This week, we've been busy with the MSNBC people. They picked a hell of a year to do a documentary of the Triple Crown, didn't they? We met them before the Kentucky Derby, so they got in on the story early and often. They're everywhere. They were in the office on Wednesday to see what my work environment is really like, and followed us to lunch.

Through the last few weeks, we've made ourselves really accessible to them. They were up in Sackets Harbor over the weekend, and at one point were filming the CBS crew filming our annual Memorial Day weekend party.

They're good folks. Hopefully, they'll do a good job. I asked them about it, and they've got a $500,000 budget to do this thing. This is no small-time operation.

I think when the program airs will depend on whether Funny Cide wins the Triple Crown. I think if he does win it, the documentary could be on as early as August.

On Wednesday morning, I had a meeting about Funny Cide light beer that we're working on with a brew pub up in Sackets Harbor and the brewery here in Saratoga. We've got details to work out, but it appears as if it's going to work out. We're very hopeful, and in the planning process. There is strong interest in all three parties to make something happen here.

Then Patty HasBrouck, from our staff, and I actually went and did health care work at a meeting in Amsterdam. When we came back, Paula Miller, from our office, went over the seating arrangements and ticket requests, which is now over 250, to try to get that straight before I go down to Belmont today.

Later in the day, I did about a 10-minute segment that was on "Cudlow and Kramer" on CNBC.

I spoke with Jose Santos' jockey agent, Mike Sellito, about how Funny Cide looked during his breeze Wednesday morning.

Mike said he worked absolutely wonderfully. It sounds like he's kept that edge that he had after the Derby.

When I'm at Belmont Park, I'm going to meet with Mike and Jose and have dinner with our trainer, Barclay Tagg, and his assistant, Robin Smullen. While I'm there, they're going to sign some photos and posters that I'm going to take with me.

Some of the signed memorabilia will be available on our Web site, which now has a lot more information and links. By Wednesday morning, there had been more than 9,000 visits to the site.

On Friday morning, I've got to meet LeRoy Neiman at the track.

I'll spend almost all of next week in New York. There are many, many Belmont Stakes-related activities to attend. One that we're really looking forward to is a reception Friday evening in Manhattan at Gracie Mansion.

Since the Preakness, it's been amazing how much interest we've seen in movies and books.

There are so many people that are chasing this story, it just absolutely astounds me. This is obviously something very, very different than we've ever experienced before. I'm out of it. I've given this to Lew Titterton and Dave Mahan to deal with. I've got other things.

We have to split stuff up. They both have got some experience in some parts of the entertainment side of things. I'm giving those guys the lead.

We've all been busy, but we're trying to please as many people as we can. I question whether racing has had as much exposure - ever - as it's getting right now. Some of the programs that we've been on are not exactly mainstream racing stuff.

Appearing on Today Show

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the eighth installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who will try to complete the Triple Crown today in the Belmont Stakes.

ELMONT - We're done a lot of television appearances in the past five weeks, but being on the "Today" show with the other five guys from Sackets Harbor on Friday morning was something special.

That's a show that everybody watches, it seems. Katie Couric is a household name. We got to go behind the scenes and sit there and actually watch the show for half an hour, which they said is extremely rare. They don't do that often.

I'm not sure why they let us do it, but I guess they needed to get six people seated, and they can't do that in the short break that they get.

J.P. Constance really made the show. He's a comedian. Nothing bothers him.

Katie Couric was really a lot of fun. It was a very light-hearted, good-spirited time that we had. She just ate up all the stuff that J.P. was throwing at her. We'll see. Down the road, she may end up in Sackets Harbor one of these days.

"Today" is kind of THE show, and here we are. When you tell people you're on the "Today" show, you get people's attention.

We were there longer than we were supposed to be. It was supposed to be four minutes, and it ended up being seven minutes. They were pretty happy, I guess, with what was happening.

We had some pictures taken, and I think some people went up and may have gotten some individual pictures taken.

We all went over to CNN, and did that outside with everybody. It was great. Eight of us were there.

Before we had lunch with Carl Pasquarella of Visa, we met with a Hollywood producer and introduced him to our whole crowd and learned about how Hollywood works. That was fun.

Then we came out to Belmont Park and some media stuff: CNN, FOX , TVG, ESPN and finally, CNBC.

I talked to our trainer, Barclay Tagg, in the middle of Friday afternoon, and he said Funny Cide couldn't be coming up to the race any better than he is.

I don't think the horse could be doing better. He was out there galloping along Friday morning, and Barclay was riding on his pony, holding onto Funny Cide to keep him from going too fast. Barclay never let go, but he said he almost lost his arm. Funny Cide just wanted to go, go, go. He's full of energy.

A lot of people are debating whether or not the fast work that Funny Cide had Tuesday is good or not good. Some pretty accomplished people in racing, like Allen Jerkens, say it's a good sign. I heard some good comments from Wayne Lukas. Those are some pretty savvy horsemen, and if they say a fast work often is a good sign, I'm not going to argue with them. I'd rather have a fast work than a slow work, to be honest with you.

It seems like he's on track to run a big race. Whether he can carry his ability a mile and a half, nobody knows. But the way we've seen him perform in the first two races of the Triple Crown, I'm not sure that he can't do it.

I feel good. Today is going to be a long day. We'll see what the track condition is if it rains, but I don't think it matters. Hopefully, the weather is going to stay nice for the crowd. I just can't wait to see what the crowd is going to look like.

We've got all kinds of activities that are going to be going on during the day. We're going to be meeting with Senator Schumer and Senator Clinton and other people that would like to see us and wish us well. We're just real excited about that.

A lot of people that we talk to are very excited about this horse and our group. Hopefully, we can get it done today and go down in history as one of the 12 horses to win the Triple Crown.

Everything looks great entering wek of race

Byline: Mike Kane

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fourth installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who will try to complete the Triple Crown on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes. ---

Now we're into the week of the Belmont Stakes, and Funny Cide is doing great. The consensus is that if he stays as good as he is, he'll win the race. That's what our jockey Jose Santos feels.

You never know, somebody could jump up. But the key thing that they're talking about down at Belmont Park, Jose and his agent, is if this horse stays as good as he has been in these two races, somebody's going to have to run an outstanding race to beat him.

Obviously, Jerry Bailey thinks he's got the better horse, Empire Maker. He said that the other day. I guess we'll find out on Belmont Day.

What Jerry said was good theater, but I have no doubts that Jerry totally believes it. And he may be right. Everybody talks about that horse being bred to go a mile and a half. I haven't seen anything, nor has trainer Barclay Tagg or his assistant Robin Smullen or Jose, to think that our horse isn't going to relish a mile and a half.

Maybe we'll both be right, and they'll both run their eyeballs out.

All I can tell you is off the Preakness race and his work the other day, and if we see another work like that on Tuesday, then hopefully on Saturday I'm going to hear the word "perfect" out of Barclay Tagg again. If I do, I think he's going to be a handful for anybody, Empire Maker included.

I could be wrong, but he just seems to be a horse that peaked at the right time. He continues to grow and mature. Barclay and Robin are doing a heckuva job, and he's home at Belmont Park. He's right where we want him to be.

You don't know. Dynever is bred to go long. Is he that good? Then he could jump up there. Ten Most Wanted had one good race, the Illinois Derby. You never know.

I've been around racing long enough to know that on any given day, anything can happen, but I don't think we have any reason to believe our horse isn't going to run a good race. That doesn't mean that somebody or more than one can't beat him. But unless something really screwy happens, like happened last year with War Emblem, I think we're going to be around giving people excitement for an awful long time in that race.

I was in New York on Thursday and Friday, and spent a lot of time doing media things. I did interviews with everybody from Chile to California, to Watertown, to WABC, to the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and everybody in between.

On Friday morning, I met LeRoy Neiman at Belmont Park so he could get a look at Funny Cide. He's very interested. He wants the horse to win the Triple Crown, then he knows what he wants to do, he says. That's kind of neat. We'll see what happens. But he seems pretty convinced. He's got a plan. He's going out to see the horse again Tuesday if the horse works, which he's supposed to do.

I'm going to be in New York all next week, and there is something going on every night. Dave Mahan and I are going to ring the opening bell at the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday morning. It was set up by Tom Boyan, a good friend of ours who owns thoroughbreds and is a trader on the exchange.

The week is going to start Monday night at the NTRA's Welcome Home Funny Cide party. Tuesday night, they're having a party for Jose Santos at the Garden City Hotel, The NYRA press party is Wednesday. Thursday is the Belmont Ball. On Friday, we're going to Gracie Mansion.

Congressman John Sweeney is collaborating with Mayor Bloomberg to host the party at Gracie Mansion, and is going to be inviting a bunch of congressmen to come. It's going to be a big deal.

We've got four school buses lined up to take us to Belmont Park from the Sheraton at Kennedy Airport, which is our headquarters. We've got to continue the school bus theme. It's just exponential. From one for the Derby, to two for the Preakness to four for the Belmont.

I don't know where the story came from about all of us wearing yellow coats and yellow ties to the Belmont. I saw that somewhere, and I don't have a clue in the world where that came from or who said it. It made no sense to me. It's not going to happen.

Gus Williams is going to wear what he's worn, his Travers outfit. I'm going to wear the same suit that I bought for the Derby and wore to the Preakness. I'm not going to change that.

Column: Diary

It's been a great ride, despite loss

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the ninth installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who ran third Saturday in the Belmont Stakes. ---

Our Belmont Stakes day started with a wild bus ride from our hotel to the track, but it didn't finish quite the way we had hoped.

We've had a great time. We had about 300 people with us on Saturday, and we went back to the hotel for a party.

It's the end of five weeks of glory that we never expected. Win, lose or draw, we said on Saturday that's what we're going to do, to have a big party, and there is no reason not to do it. We've had a great run.

Sure, I was prepared for losing. We came in here knowing it was going to be a tough race. I thought we could win it, but it didn't happen. Those are two good horses.

I told everybody who asked me about the race. I said the three horses I think are tough are Ten Most Wanted, Empire Maker and Dynever. I didn't think the other two were going to contend in the race, and I was right.

Ten Most Wanted ran back to the Illinois Derby. I talked to the owner and I talked to Wally Dollase the other day, and he said he was good. They got him back where they thought he belonged. He was good enough to be second today.

A mile and an eighth, a mile and a quarter, we'll come back, and we'll be in the game.

Empire Maker beat us today, but we beat him in the Derby. I think everybody in the world wants to win the Derby. Every- body remembers who wins the Kentucky Derby a lot more than who wins the Belmont. Yeah, we wanted to win the Belmont, but I'll tell you I would much rather have won the Kentucky Derby than to have won the Belmont. There's no question about that.

Winning the Derby was the biggest thrill that anybody who is involved in horses could have. We did that, and they're never going to take that away from us.

He's going to be on the glass forever as the winner of the 129th Kentucky Derby. He didn't do too bad in the Preakness, either.

Empire Maker is a great horse. Look, when trainer Bobby Frankel and jockey Jerry Bailey thought this was the best 3-year-old that they've ever been around, you have to take that seriously.

We beat them in the Kentucky Derby, and he didn't even show up for the Preakness. We won both of those races.

We don't have much to be ashamed of. History will show that we won two-thirds of the Triple Crown, and he won one-third. Yeah, he rained on our parade, but we rained on his parade a lot more in the Derby, I think.

How could you not enjoy what we've been through? It's been great. This horse won two Triple Crown races and $1.5 million in five weeks. How can you not be happy with that?

Life will ease up a bit now, but we've still got a lot to do. The fact that he didn't win the Triple Crown doesn't mean that we haven't got a lot of things that we're going to be doing, books and movies and all that.

This doesn't end it. When a horse wins the Preakness and the Derby, there is still something there. Wait until you see Saratoga this summer. What if we get a rematch with Empire Maker at a mile and a quarter in the Travers?

We're just excited. This horse has taken us places we never, ever expected we could be, with the support of the fans everywhere. It was just incredible Saturday how everybody wanted to see this horse run in the Belmont Stakes, except the people who had the other five horses in the race, I think.

He gave everybody a thrill. We had a thrill. We'll be back. He's a good horse, and as long as he stays sound in our dream of dreams, he'll be running in the big races for another five, six years. Long after Empire Maker has gone to the breeding shed, hopefully we're going to be out there running in some big races and having a lot of fun along the way.

Column: Mike Kane

Juggling schedules becoming a challenge

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fifth installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who will try to complete the Triple Crown on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.

--- ELMONT - Someone asked me how I was holding up, with all the things that are on the agenda for the days before the Belmont Stakes. I'm busy, but, so far, I'm just fine

I had a relatively relaxing weekend before coming down to New York. I knew this going to be kind of a crazy week. It's not physically all that bad. You get your sleep, and you're OK. This week, there is a party every night, so you have to take it a little bit easy and get your sleep.

Trying to maintain schedules is the toughest thing. I'm probably getting between 40 and 60 calls a day, and it's impossible to answer all of them and do everything everybody wants you to do. You kind of have to be selective. There are a number of major things we've committed to that we'll do, and try to fit in as much as we can.

For example, we knew about doing interviews with CNN and NBC on Tuesday, but Fox News came up to us when we were at Belmont Park and asked to have some time with Dave Mahan, another one of the partners, and me. That happens a lot.

Dave and I met in the city Monday after I was finished with a meeting for my health care consulting business. In the afternoon, we had a couple of meetings with people around Funny Cide Ventures.

Monday evening, we went to a nice party put on by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. Three of the actors from "The Sopranos" were there, and we did some television interviews with them. That was fun.

We rang the opening bell for the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday morning. It was great. It was just an absolute zoo. I had no idea what goes on there. There were a lot of people there. We signed autographs and gave out some Funny Cide buttons and had a real good time.

Funny Cide had his final breeze before the Belmont on Tuesday morning, and I was told that he worked very well. Assistant trainer Robin Smullen said he was just super, like he came into the Derby and into the Preakness. You can't ask for anything more than that.

He's still real strong, but he's lightly raced. That was our trainer, Barclay Tagg's, plan. He stuck with it. It's not like this horse is overraced coming into the Triple Crown. He had a seven-week break before the Louisiana Derby in March, and a five-week break before the Wood Memorial in April.

I think he's peaking at the right time, as they say. He just seems to be getting bigger and better as the days go by.

Much of the work I'm doing this week is with the media. Some of it is with the international press. I got a call from the BBC Tuesday morning. I've got to do an interview with the Guardian in Great Britain, and we've done probably six or eight other British journalists. It's a big story over there.

As you can imagine, we end up saying the same thing over and over.

But that figures. The story is the story is the story. You can only put so many different twists on this story, but some people ask different questions. By and large, there is only so much to the story. It is what it is. But everybody seems to want to hear it.

Column: FUNNY CIDE BELMONT DIARY

Owners hope a perfect storm is brewing

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the sixth installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who will try to complete the Triple Crown on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.

--- ELMONT - The magnitude of what we're trying to accomplish in the Belmont Stakes really struck me on Sunday when I sat down and watched an ESPN2 show on the Triple Crown.

They showed a lot of footage of the horses that have won it and the near misses. That was probably the first time that it really hit me that this horse could poss- ibly be the 12th Triple Crown winner, if he does it.

Now it's, can he do it? All systems are good. I hope it's that way Saturday.

I was asked about this being the Perfect Storm for racing. The concept came up on the NTRA conference call the other day.

Basically, they were talking about the fact that you've got the ownership group; you've got the New York-bred; you've got the gelding; you've got Barclay and Robin, who have been in this game forever without the big horse.

You have the controversy over Jose, and you've got all the advertising going on about the "Seabiscuit" movie. It's the feeling that this is a confluence of all these different stories coming together at once is almost the Perfect Storm for thoroughbred racing.

Is it a good omen? The horse doesn't know any of this stuff that is going on. Is this meant to be? We're going to know sometime before 7 o'clock on Saturday. You almost want to believe that it is, but you don't dare believe that it is.

If it does happen, then it becomes the perfect story and not just the perfect storm. Anywhere along the way, it could fall down. Hopefully, the horse will come into the race and be as sound as could be. And nothing crazy will happen like last year, when War Emblem stumbled coming out of the gate to lose all chance.

It's horse racing. There are a million things that can happen. The horse doesn't always win, even if you are the best horse that day. We're cautiously optimistic. We think off his work Tuesday, which was similar to works he's been doing for a couple of months, everybody at the barn tells me he couldn't be better coming up to the race.

That's all we can ask. Just get him to the race healthy and happy, and we'll see what happens going a mile and a half. None of us know.

The media stuff continues. We spent more than an hour Wednesday after the draw answering questions. I started the day with Jan Rushton for a couple of minutes doing something for the NYRA television. Later, I was on with Michael Kay on ESPN radio. And I did an interview with the BBC Tuesday night. It's been pretty crazy.

People can just identify with this story. It's their kind of story. We're ordinary people. It's not like we're the other people who have won these races. Those are the kind of people who usually have the good horses.

That, I think, is a lot of the attraction. The Sackets Six has taken on a life of its own. The six of us are going to be on the "Today Show" on Friday. That's life. That's where it all began. It was just the high school guys. That's what the people who want to write books and do movies are interested in.

But it hasn't been all work. We'll party a little bit the next couple of nights. There is a party a night here, and we're enjoying it, but you have to get up and deal with things the next day. It's not like you can just let loose.

Saturday night, on the other hand, win, lose or draw, it will be a pretty big party going on.

Column: FUNNY CIDE - BELMONT DIARY

Triple Crown ride worth celebrating

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the 10th installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who ran third Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.

As we had planned, we had our post-Belmont Stakes party Saturday night at our hotel near Kennedy Airport.

You wouldn't have known that we had lost. We had 300 people, we had our band from Saratoga, Blue Hand Luke, that came down to play for us, and we just had a great time.

Blue Hand Luke has a one-song compact disc out now with "The Funny Cide Song." We started and ended the party with the song.

Sackatoga partner Dave Mahan had a buffet set up for everyone. We just had a great night. It was a lot of fun celebrating five weeks that we never thought we'd get. It was just tremendous.

How could you not take the defeat well? Sure, we hoped that we'd win, but it didn't happen. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Funny Cide ran a game race, and did the best he could. We'll live on.

Yeah, we didn't have the Triple Crown winner, but hopefully, he can become one of those great geldings, maybe the greatest gelding.

That won't be bad if we do that. Hey, we're already the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners.

It was a great run. I think everybody enjoyed the run. It was great for racing. Maybe there will be a budding rivalry. It sounds like Bobby Frankel is taking Empire Maker to the Jim Dandy as a prep. Maybe he's ducking us. I'm just kidding.

We're hoping to run Funny Cide next on Aug. 3 in the Haskell Invitational. It's a $1 million purse, and horses with Funny Cide's speed-type running style have done well there.

Now that we've finished with the Triple Crown, we're going to look for races that we think suit this horse. Obviously, we're going to run the big races in New York. We want to do that. That's always going to be on our agenda.

When he becomes an older horse, hopefully, he's going to be able to run at a high level. We'll pick and chose a schedule where we think he's going to do well and the purses are good because that's what we've got to work with. He's a gelding, and we want him to run in good races, races where we feel that he's going to be competitive and have a chance to win, and we'll travel with him.

We're not going to hesitate to do that.

Before that, there is a big race at Saratoga we want to be in, the Travers.

Funny Cide came out of the Belmont good. Everything is good. That's what you want to hear after a big race.

When you look at the Belmont, you can see that he ran his race. For a horse that people severely questioned could get a mile and a quarter to run the race he ran at a mile and a half, you've got to be awfully proud of him.

Whirlwind of activity as big race approaches

Byline: By Mike Kane

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the seventh installment of a Belmont diary by Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, as told to Gazette sportswriter Mike Kane. Knowlton is the managing partner of Sack- atoga Stable, a 10-man partnership that owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, who will try to complete the Triple Crown on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.

ELMONT -- Our group began arriving in New York on Thursday and today, we'll be doing things from morning until night.

We'll start by doing the "Today" show, the six of us from Sackets Harbor, then we're going to CNN and doing a live thing with them.

We're having lunch with the president of Visa at the "21" club. After that, we're coming back out to the track for Lou Dobbs' show on CNN. We're doing ESPN's show, they've got the NYRA races. And we're doing CNBC at 4:30 p.m.

About 100 people from our group will go into Manhattan for the party tonight at Gracie Mansion that Mayor Bloomberg is putting on.

I was over at Barclay Tagg's barn for most of the morning and spent more than an hour taking questions from the media.

The horse is doing great.

After that, I tried to answer a bunch of the telephone messages I received.

I'm not killing myself by any stretch of the imagination. There is just so much stuff on the plate at any one time. I really like to be conscientious, but sometimes, I just can't reach the people who have called and left me messages.

There are so many things coming at us. Thursday afternoon, a television network called to ask whether they could put a camera on us during the running of the Belmont. Those requests should go to the New York Racing Association, not me, but it's the kind of stuff I have to deal with all the time.

Sackatoga partner Dave Mahan and I had lunch at the track with a guy from Hollywood talking about a movie. Win or lose Saturday in the Belmont Stakes, there will be a movie.

The story is the story. The exclamation point is winning the Triple Crown. The story is about the people. That isn't going to change. He still won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

We've gotten a lot of phone calls. The biggest film studios and book houses are contacting us. It appears to be a hot story.

On Thursday afternoon, I did a radio interview with a Minneapolis station and another Sporting News Radio. While I was at the track, a radio reporter from Australia came up and asked to talk with me and I did that, too.

It looks like we're going to be introduced to both of New York's senators on Saturday before the race. I got a message Hillary Clinton's office that she wants to meet me. Then I heard through somebody at NYRA that Charles Schumer wants to meet me. I think Bill Clinton will be coming, probably.

We did an licensing agreement with the NTRA, and if Funny Cide wins the Belmont, the postrace show will have ads about the products.

Column: Funny Cide Diary