Preakness planning was the order of business Tuesday for Funny Cide trainer Barclay Tagg.
The weekend furor over jockey Jose Santos, cleared Monday of any wrongdoing in his Kentucky Derby-winning ride, had dwindled to what Tagg called "that idiocy" as he prepared the chestnut gelding for the second leg of racing's Triple Crown.
With Tagg watching from atop his own pony and Santos looking on from the grandstand at Belmont Park, Funny Cide worked a half-mile in 47.20 under exercise rider Robin Smullen - the fastest time of the day.
Both Tagg and Santos were delighted with what they saw.
"He worked a little fast, but all good horses work fast," Santos said. "He went by me real fast. He had a good work before the Derby, too." On the Tuesday before the May 3 Derby, Funny Cide worked five furlongs in 58 2/5 at Belmont.
"If things go right, I think he can win the race," said Tagg, who referred to the investigation as "idiocy" and said it would have been "bizarre" if Santos had not been cleared.
So far, Tagg's planning has been on target - and he won't allow himself to be knocked off course in the aftermath of an investigation stemming from a single photograph that seemed to show something in Santos' right hand besides the whip at the finish line.
After examining hundreds of other photographs and enhancing the one in question, the Churchill Downs stewards ruled there was nothing in Santos' hand besides his whip.
By Tuesday morning, the firestorm of publicity died down, and Smullen said "it hasn't affected us - not even worthy of conversation."
Santos will travel to Baltimore on Thursday, and said he's more determined then ever to win because of the bad publicity he received. "I have to win it to show the public that everything we were doing was fair and square," he said.
While horses begin arriving at Pimlico for the 1 3/16th-mile Preakness on Wednesday, Tagg isn't likely to van in Funny Cide until the morning of the race. He's done it successfully so often for lesser races in his 30-plus years as a trainer, why change for the big ones?
"If I thought it would help, I'd go in January," Tagg said.
Tagg was on his own horse as he accompanied Funny Cide onto the track just after 9 a.m. The horses walked past the grandstand, then Funny Cide turned and worked a half-mile, pulling up after covering six furlongs in 1:11.80.
"He goes so easily," Smullen said, "it actually felt like he was just cantering."
Funny Cide beat favorite Empire Maker in the Derby by 1 3/4 lengths in running the 10th fastest Derby. Like Tagg, Smullen prefers more than two weeks between big races but says Funny Cide hasn't missed a meal since the Derby.
"He's eating well, he's feeling good and he's moving well," Smullen said. "That's all you can ask for."
Much of Tagg's career has been spent in Maryland - he still owns a house near Baltimore - and he knows every piece of dirt on the Pimlico racing strip, which has a reputation as a speed-favoring surface with tight turns. The track fits Funny Cide's style well, as long as he doesn't get caught too far outside.
"That's always a disadvantage, and it might be a little more of a disadvantage on that course than on another," Tagg said. "Other than that, you hope for a clean trip."
Which is just the type of race Funny Cide ran in the Derby, staying clear of trouble in a 16-horse field and running just behind the leaders before taking over in the stretch.
After the Derby, the Preakness field shaped up as one of the smallest in decades, but could end up with as many as 12 starters. On Tuesday, Alysweep was withdrawn from consideration after tests indicated an improper balance of red and white blood cells, and During became a possible second starter for trainer Bob Baffert, who has Senor Swinger in the field.
The biggest threat to Funny Cide looks to be Peace Rules, third in the 1 1/4-mile Derby after victories in the Louisiana Derby and Blue Grass Stakes. The colt trained by Bobby Frankel is ridden by Edgar Prado, who dominated Maryland racing for much of the 1990s.
"Peace Rules was in front of me for like a mile in the Derby, and this is a mile and three sixteenths," Santos said. "That's the horse we're definitely going to look out for."
Others expected to be entered Wednesday include Scrimshaw and Ten Cents a Shine, both trained by D. Wayne Lukas; Champali, Cherokee's Boy, Kissin Saint, Midway Road, Foufa's Warrior and New York Hero.
A win in the Preakness would set up a Triple Crown try for Funny Cide in the Belmont Stakes on June 7. In four of the last six years, a horse has won the Derby and Preakness but failed in the Belmont, including War Emblem in 2002. Affirmed was the last Triple Crown winner in 1978.
Tagg may be a rookie on the Triple Crown trail, but he's a wise old Pimlico veteran. It could be an edge.
"I wouldn't say his experience at Pimlico is an advantage, because Funny Cide has never been there," Smullen said. "But certainly Barclay knows how the race has to be ridden and will tell Jose how to ride. And that will certainly have an effect."
Although Tagg has been taken out of his usual routine of work, work and more work for print, radio and TV interviews, the 65-year-old trainer insists he is holding up well. He even attended festivities in Albany, N.Y., and Saratoga Springs on Monday that honored Funny Cide as the first New York-bred to win the Derby.
"The only distraction we had was we had to move into an apartment on Sunday afternoon, and we had no other chance to do it," Tagg said. "We had to do it then. That was the only distraction. Otherwise, the week was pretty routine."
If Funny Cide wins the Preakness, the next three weeks will be anything but routine.
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