 Once a steeplechase jockey, Funny Cide's trainer Barclay Tagg, who grew up in Abington, Pennsylvania, and won his first race in 1972 at old Liberty Bell Park, is a journeyman who'd been working in the racing scene for over thirty years.
Funny Cide is Tagg's "Big Horse," a term trainers use to describe the horse that takes them all the way to the big races. Referring to his discovery of Funny, he says, "That's all I do. I don't play golf. I don't go bowling. I don't go to Disneyland. I just take good care of the horses and wait for something good to happen. It took me 30-some years but this lovely thing came along." He also likes to say, "A million things have to go right to win a race. Only one thing has to go wrong to lose it." The victory by Funny Cide made Tagg the first trainer to win the Derby in his first attempt since Cam Gambolati saddled Spend A Buck to win the 1985 Derby.
(Back in the Seventies, he was once an assistant trainer working with the filly Ruffian, ranked 35th in the list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by Blood-Horse magazine.)
Ray Paulick of Blood-Horse said of Barclay Tagg, "He has some characteristics uncannily like Silent Tom Smith, the trainer of Seabiscuit. He takes care of his horse, doesn't rush into anything or run him when he shouldn't. I like that about Tagg. Like Tom Smith, he's his own man and will put the horse first. I wish we had more trainers out there like him."
Highlights:
- Graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1961 with a degree in Animal Husbandry (Animal Science)
- Tagg, about his introduction to racing: "I was involved with show horses and hunters before I was in college. Then I got involved with racehorses in 1963, when I was managing a farm in Pennsylvania. I started riding jumpers in 1966, and five years later I started training horses near the end of 1971."
- Former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley
- First winner was Tudor's Fancy at Liberty Bell in January 1972
- Won five stakes with Miss Josh in 1991
- Royal Mountain Inn won the 1994 Man o'War at Belmont Park. (Royal Mountain Inn retired with a perfect 6-for-6 record on the turf at Belmont.)
- Won the overall Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship Series with Crab Grass in 1999. Crab Grass earned bonus money of about $350,000
- Career Highlights: Won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes with Funny Cide (
 )in 2003
- Won the Alabama G1 with Island Fashion in 2003.
- Won the Cigar Mile G1 twice - once with Tale of Ekati ( ) in 2008 and once with Jersery Town
in 2010
- Won the Wood Memorial G1 with Tale of Ekati
- Won the QEII G1 with Bit of Whimsey ( )
- Other stakes winners he has trained include Beau Choix ( ), Fastest Magician, Dry Martini( ), My Prncess Jess( ), Showing Up ( ), Big Truck ( ), Nobiz Like Showbiz( ), Kristi with a K( ), Factual Contender, Dance Away Capote
( ), Nehantic Kat ( ), Grab the Green, Social Retiree, Tampico and Abilgailthewife
(all photos by NANCY)
PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE STAKES WINNERS
|
Major Races Won:
- Alabama Stakes (2003)
- Jockey Club Gold Cup (2004)
- Coolmore Lexington Stakes (2006)
- Colonial Turf Cup (2006)
- Secretariat Stakes (2006)
- Jamaica Breeders' Cup Handicap (2006)
- Hollywood Derby (2006)
- Remsen Stakes (2006)
- Holy Bull Stakes (2007)
- Wood Memorial Stakes (2007, 2008)
- Red Smith Handicap (2007)
- Mrs. Revere Stakes (2007)
- Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (2007)
- Futurity Stakes (2007)
- U.S. Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (2007)
- Kent Breeders' Cup Stakes (2007)
- Jamaica Handicap (2007)
- Tampa Bay Derby (2008)
- Suburban Handicap (2009
- Cigar Mile Handicap (2008,2010)
American Classics
- Kentucky Derby (2003)
- Preakness Stakes (2003)
|
|
