I'm not from the US and I am unaware about how this stuff works, but Funny Cide is a pony in Saratoga these days right?
Is there any chance the NYRA could get him to lead out Big Brown for the Belmont?
I think it would be a nice touch.
Funny Cide and Big Brown neck and neck
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Funny Cide is Barclay Tagg's pony. The only horse he'd be leading over would be Tale of Ekati. They are not likely to help Big Brown!
"When I am on my deathbed, I imagine I will say, 'Thank God I did that'" - Arthur Hancock, on buying back Gato del Sol from Europe after Exceller was killed in a slaughterhouse in Sweden.
majxmom wrote:Funny Cide is Barclay Tagg's pony. The only horse he'd be leading over would be Tale of Ekati. They are not likely to help Big Brown!
I don't see ponies as much of a help in the first place (we're still the only country that uses them, correct?) but I'd think it far more likely that FC would be leading the post parade than leading over ToE.
Yes, I don't think they use their own pony for the post parade. I assume they use the track staff ponies. Some people here use their own, but it's pretty uncommon (unofficial union rules??). I think it would be a great touch to use him to lead the post parade.
As far as ponies being a help, I think they are mostly a help to the jockeys! Then they don't have to expend a lot of energy (and some of them just came out of the hot box like wet noodles!) having an eager horse pulling their arms out.
It seems to me that European horses are always so much well mannered in the post parade because they are ridden like hacks every morning on town streets going out to the Downs. But every once in a while you can see on European racing a jock struggling with his mount in the warmup, and I always wonder how they have anything left. 'Course, their weight scales are higher....
As far as ponies being a help, I think they are mostly a help to the jockeys! Then they don't have to expend a lot of energy (and some of them just came out of the hot box like wet noodles!) having an eager horse pulling their arms out.
It seems to me that European horses are always so much well mannered in the post parade because they are ridden like hacks every morning on town streets going out to the Downs. But every once in a while you can see on European racing a jock struggling with his mount in the warmup, and I always wonder how they have anything left. 'Course, their weight scales are higher....
"When I am on my deathbed, I imagine I will say, 'Thank God I did that'" - Arthur Hancock, on buying back Gato del Sol from Europe after Exceller was killed in a slaughterhouse in Sweden.