KENTUCKY DERBY UPDATE: GELDING WINNER COULD BE BOON FUNNY CIDE MIGHT RACE FOR YEARS.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the year the legend of crooked-legged, scrappy Seabiscuit will hit movie screens, it's fitting that a nervous gelding from the wrong side of the tracks won the Kentucky Derby and will shoot for the Triple Crown.

Funny Cide said nuts to Empire Maker's expected coronation Saturday at Churchill Downs, outrunning the favorite by 1 3/4 lengths in the Derby.

There was disappointment in Kentucky, hub of the thoroughbred breeding industry, over the first Derby victory by a New York-bred horse and the first since 1929 by a gelding. There also was delight that because Funny Cide has no future at stud, he's the rare Derby winner who might keep racing beyond his 3- or 4-year-old season. Maybe Funny Cide can emulate Seabiscuit, not a gelding himself but an enduring folk hero of Depression-era America.

``It's kind of neat having a gelding,'' trainer Barclay Tagg said Sunday morning as he sent Funny Cide home to New York's Belmont Park to prepare for what might be a modest number of opponents in the May 17 Preakness in Baltimore. ``When they (owners) want to retire a horse halfway through his 3-year-old year, that must kill a trainer.''

Funny Cide, de-sexed soon after being born with one testicle undescended, was the eighth gelding to win the Derby in 129 runnings and the first since Clyde Van Dusen. Seventy-four other geldings had tried the Derby since then - a small percentage of the total starters.

``There's a horse people can latch onto and not worry about him retiring,'' said Ron Ellis, trainer of fourth-place Atswhatimtalknbout, whose owners include writer-director Gary Ross and others associated with the ``Seabiscuit'' movie scheduled to premiere July 25.

Ellis, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, remembered watching the great geldings Forego and John Henry. Forego was Horse of the Year in 1976 at age 6, and John Henry won the honor in 1984 at 9.

``Those are the ones that became kind of legendary because they hung around,'' Ellis said. ``If he (Funny Cide) goes out and proves this wasn't a fluke, then it's a good thing (a gelding won the Derby). There's no question people get excited when the Derby winner comes to town.''

The early retirement of star horses by their owners, worried that fatal injuries would cost them millions of dollars in breeding revenue, is one of the reasons often listed for the sport's loss of public fancy.

Tagg said Sunday he doesn't think Funny Cide's victory under Jose Santos at 12-1 odds will scare away challengers in the Preakness.

``People will think this was lucky. And maybe it was,'' Tagg said. ``Seeing (Empire Maker) get beat, they may think it's not a strong year for 3-year-olds and they might as well take a shot.''

But Pimlico Race Course officials Saturday listed only nine horses as Preakness ``candidates'': Funny Cide, Empire Maker, Peace Rules (third in the Derby), Eye of the Tiger (fifth), Buddy Gil (sixth), Domestic Dispute (10th), Scrimshaw (11th), Indian Express (15th) and Midas Eyes (the Derby Trial winner). Trainer Bobby Frankel indicated that while he is ``leaning towards'' Peace Rules for the Preakness, he's likely to save Empire Maker for the June 7 Belmont Stakes. Cherokee's Boy, a leading Maryland horse, could run in the Preakness.

Ellis said Atswhatimtalknbout probably will take a needed break before the Belmont. Ellis thinks Atswhatimtalknbout, who finished two heads out of second, might have been best Saturday, when traffic held up his rally.

``If we get a clear trip to the quarter pole, I think there's no question he gets by the winner,'' Ellis said.

Frankel made no excuse Sunday for Empire Maker, the Derby's 23rd losing favorite in 24 years.

``I'm OK,'' Frankel said. ``I'm surprising myself, but I'm OK.''

Tagg, who waited until Wednesday to ship Funny Cide from New York to Louisville, said he might not bring the horse to Baltimore until Preakness morning. But in light of Funny Cide's nervous prerace behavior in front of 148,530 fans Saturday, the trainer said he might arrive sooner to get the gelding used to the Pimlico scene.