FUNNY CIDE (First) - Sackatoga Stable's Funny Cide made one of the quickest exits from Churchill Downs by a Kentucky Derby winner in recent memory as he boarded a Brook Ledge van and departed for his return trip to trainer Barclay Tagg's stable in New York at around 9:00 a.m. (EDT) and arrvied at Belmont Park at noon.

Tagg said the New York bred gelding appeared to have come out of his Kentucky Derby victory in good shape.

"He seems to be fine," said Tagg. "I haven't had much time to go over him thoroughly, but I looked at him and he looked fine. There was no puffiness or swelling or cuts or bruises on him and he seemed like he was sound."

While Funny Cide is heading back to New York, Tagg said he would be pointed toward the Preakness, the second jewel of the Visa Triple Crown at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course on May 17.

"If he's all right in the next couple of weeks we'll certainly go down there - you can't do anything else," he said. "As long as he's OK. I'm pretty conservative and if there's something wrong with him, I won't go. But as long as he's OK - and he looks like he's all right now - as long as he comes up to it OK, then we'll go."

Funny Cide did not arrive at Churchill Downs until Wednesday afternoon, just threedays before the Derby. But some anxious moments on Derby Day at Churchill Downs could prompt Tagg to ship Funny Cide to Baltimore a bit earlier.

Tagg said Funny Cide became very anxious during the walk from his barn to the Churchill Downs paddock to be saddled for the Derby. He was still very active when he arrived in the packed paddock, but calmed down before the race.

"Not much fazes him," said Tagg. "This is the first thing I've really seen him get upset about is walking over there yesterday. I got to thinking about (trainer) Frank Whiteley when told me about Damascus in the (1967) Derby and that happened to him. The horse washed out and all. The horse probably should have won the race, he was probably the best 3-year-old around right then. I know Frank never forgot it because he brought it up quite a few times."

Tagg said that Wednesday of Preakness Week would be the earliest that he would take his Derby winner to Baltimore.

"If it wasn't for this paddock incident, I would probably ship him down (to Pimlico) the morning of the race," he said. "I would probably do down about four o'clock in the morning and get there at like 8:30 or 9 and do it that way. I'd really prefer to do it that way, but Robin (assistant Robin Smullen) said last night that we might want to go down there and paddock him a couple of times and she's probably right." 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. Funny Cide's victory provided the brightest moment so far in a training career that was launched in 1972.

"It makes me feel like that last 30 years was worth all that grind, I'll tell you that," said Tagg. "This is the biggest thing there is in the game, so how can you not like it? I just want to follow in Carl Nafzger's footsteps and win the Breeders' Cup (Classic) in the same year. That would be all right."

Nafzger trained 1990 Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, who later that year won the Classic at Belmont Park.

Tagg, who took a stab at riding steeplechase horses before he turned to training, said he had always dreamed of winning the Derby - but knew the odds might be against achieving that goal.

"Everybody thinks about winning the Derby," he said. "A lot of people who are very, very successful never have. You need a lot of luck for something like this. It was lucky that we stumbled on the horse. It was lucky that the people wanted to buy a horse at that time. It was lucky that he turned out so good. It was lucky that he never got hurt badly or anything like that. The pitfalls from the day he's born to the day he gets to the Kentucky Derby are just monumental. You can hope all you want, but things like that don't happen too easily."

EMPIRE MAKER/PEACE RULES (Second/Third) - Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel said his 2-3 finishers in Kentucky Derby 129, Juddmonte Farm's Empire Maker and Edmund Gann's Peace Rules, appeared to have come out of the race well. Frankel said he's doing OK, too after three weeks of intense media scrutiny as the trainer of the Kentucky Derby favorite.

"I've been more nervous going into other races than I was this race, to be honest with you," said a smiling Frankel. "I wasn't that bad - and I came out of it good, just like the horses. I came out sound."

Frankel said he is leaning toward sending Peace Rules to Pimlico for the Preakness, but would not rule out a bid for the second jewel of the Visa Triple Crown by Empire Maker. A run by the latter would depend on what the son of Unbridled does over the next few days.

"Peace Rules is a very, very tough horse," he said. "Empire Maker is a little immature still. He still hasn't developed. You can see his body - he's gangly, he's a little light. Peace Rules is a very, very strong horse."

Frankel said there is a tiny chance that Gann's Derby Trial (GIII) winner Midas Eyes could try the Preakness, but said the 3-year-old son of Touch Gold was more probable for a run against older horses in the prestigious Metropolitan Handicap (GI) at Belmont Park.

A quick three-wide move on the far turn by jockey Jerry Bailey and Empire Maker had Frankel thinking that he was about to win his elusive first Kentucky Derby, but the trainer said those thoughts evaporated at about the three-sixteenths pole when it became clear that the Derby favorite was struggling and was not going to pass eventual winner Funny Cide.

"I thought he was going to win at that time (at the three-eighths pole), I really thought he was going to win," he said. "He might have been struggling with the track a little it, but you don't know. Hey, a lot of great horses got beat here and they went on to be super horses. I'm not down on him. That was only his sixth start. He's an immature horse and I never pressed him hard and, just hopefully, now he's had this race and he'll just keep on improving as the year goes along."

Frankel had expressed hopes before the Kentucky Derby that Empire Maker had qualities that would make him a threat to win not only the Derby, but to take the Visa Triple Crown for the first time in 25 years. With that chance dashed for Frankel this year, the trainer was asked if he thought he would ever see another Triple Crown winner.

"I hope so - I hope I live long enough," he said. "They've only done once in the last 25 or 30 years and then three in a row did it. I thought this year was the year to start it - but maybe next year."

And what of Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide's Triple Crown chances?

"I'm trying not to let him do it," Frankel said.

ATSWHATIMTALKNBOUT (Fourth) - Trainer Ron Ellis reported all was well with his fourth-place Kentucky Derby finisher on Sunday morning.

"He never really got a clear shot to run until it was too late," Ellis said. "I was watching the head-on replays and it looked like David (jockey David Flores) had a lane but, somebody, I don't know who it was, closed it. It is like Wayne Lukas said, the toughest thing about this race is you only get one shot at it. Maybe we will get a little better luck the next time."

And when would the next time be for Atswhatimtalknbout?

"My gut feeling is the Belmont," said Ellis, of his first Derby starter. "We pushed hard to make this race and I don't think to come back in two weeks and then another three would be best. I am leaning toward spacing his races and giving him a chance to develop."

Ellis said he was not sure of his travel plans for Atswhatimtalknbout.

"I may go back to California or I could just leave him here and keep him in Paul's (brother-in-law Paul McGee) barn. We have been using his exercise rider (Raul Vizcarrando) and I could shuttle in and out. With him, the shorter distance to travel, the better."

EYE OF THE TIGER (Fifth) - Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer made a quick stop by Barn 42 before catching an early flight to San Francisco to check on Eye of the Tiger.

"He came out of the race fine and ate up good," assistant trainer and exercise rider Art Calva said. "We took him out and jogged him on the road and he is good on all four."

Calva said plans are indefinite with Eye of the Tiger.

"We will probably know in a few days. Jerry will talk with Mr. (John) Gunther in a few days and decide whether to fly them all back (Hollendorfer had four horses stabled here) or go on to Pimlico," Calva said.

Eye of the Tiger was Hollendorfer's first Derby starter after having been here two previous times with horses that were sidelined by injury and never made the race.

"We were talking about that coming back to barn last night," Calva said. "We finally got around that ring."

BUDDY GIL (Sixth) - Trainer Jeff Mullins said, "It is a pretty strong possibility we will go to Pimlico" with Buddy Gil after giving the Santa Anita Derby winner the once-over Sunday morning before heading back to California.

"He came out of the race good and we will give it a day or two," Mullins said. "I really have to decide by this afternoon because there is a plane to California on Monday. So, if he is still here tomorrow afternoon, there is a good chance he is staying."

OUTTA HERE (Seventh) - Outta Here, who passed six horses in the stretch to finish seventh and less than five lengths off the board, is scheduled for a Monday morning return to his home base at Hollywood Park.

"I am undecided (about Outta Here's next start)," trainer and co-owner Bill Currin said. "We will go back home and reassess where we are, either the Belmont or some California grass races."

TEN CENTS A SHINE (Eighth) and SCRIMSHAW (11th) - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said his two Derby starters came back in good order and that Scrimshaw would point toward the Preakness with the Belmont a possibility for Ten Cents A Shine.

"I think we will go on with Scrimshaw and train here and then go in the Wednesday before the race like we have done for 22 years," Lukas said. "The other horse, I liked his race and I get five weeks to do some more work with him."

Was Lukas surprised by the race's outcome?

"It was no surprise," Lukas said. "If Funny Cide gets a better trip in the Wood Memorial, he might have won that. But yesterday was a well-run race for a field that size. Everybody had a chance to lay it down and run."

TEN MOST WANTED (Ninth) - Trainer Wally Dollase said Ten Most Wanted was scheduled for a Monday flight back to California.

"I think he might have a low grade virus. We are going to take some blood before the flight tomorrow," Dollase said. "He'll be fine. I think he is stressed, just like me."

Ten Most Wanted had trained sharply here after his Illinois Derby victory and was the third choice in the race.

"We vanned him (eight hours) to San Francisco (for the El Camino Real Derby) when it was wet and then shipped to Kentucky and vanned to Chicago and back and it may have been too stressful," Dollase said.

"This horse, he is just so strong, I didn't notice it. He didn't handle the crowds well at all and I probably should have just gone back to California with him and then come here rather than taking him to Keeneland where I had other horses."

DOMESTIC DISPUTE (10th) - Trainer Patrick Gallagher said his newly acquired Domestic Dispute came out of the Derby in good order but no decision had been made on the colt's next start.

"He will stay here (at Andrew McKeever's barn) for a few days and then we will make a decision," Gallagher said, not ruling out a shot at the Preakness.

OFFLEE WILD (12th) - Trainer T.V. Smith said Offlee Wild came out of the Derby in fine shape and that the colt's next start is undecided.

Smith was training his first Derby starter, as was Barclay Tagg, conditioner of Funny Cide.

"I am thrilled that if we couldn't win it, a guy like Barclay could," Smith said. "He broke all the rules. He didn't train over the track, he had never won a stake over a mile and he had the first gelding to win since 1929. That was great."

SUPAH BLITZ (13th) - The Manny Tortora trainee was scheduled to leave Louisville on Monday or Tuesday for a 30-day break at the farm according to the trainer, who arrived in Gainesville, Fla., Sunday morning after an all-night drive from Louisville.

"The horse came out of the race fine," Tortora said of the colt that had had the most starts of any entrant in Derby 129.

Megan Connolly walked Supah Blitz around Barn 14 Sunday morning and indicated turf racing may be next for Supah Blitz.

INDIAN EXPRESS (14th) - Three-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert said that Indian Express appeared to come out of his rugged Kentucky Derby journey well and said he would consider a run in the Preakness for the colt.

The son of Indian Charlie survived what was probably the roughest trip by any of the 16 Derby horses when he missed the break and got off a step slowly under his rookie Kentucky Derby rider, 20-year-old Tyler Baze. The speedy colt was rank and steadied repeatedly by Baze while searching for room behind horses in the run to the first turn. He advanced to sixth at one point, but faded to 14th - a finish that matched the worst by a Baffert-trained horse in the "Run for the Roses."

"I feel cheated!," said a smiling Baffert. "When I looked up and saw Tyler Baze was skiing down the frontside until the backside, I said 'Oh, man.' That poor kid - I felt so bad for him. I told him that if you miss the break on a speed horse, you can forget about it. He was just trying to save his life."

Baffert said Indian Express would remain at Churchill Downs and, if all goes well over the next few days, the Santa Anita Derby (GI) runner-up could go on to the second jewel of the Visa Triple Crown. But Baffert said it is unlikely that Baze would ride the colt if he does go on to Baltimore.

"I told him, 'It's a good experience for you,'" said Baffert. "I told him I would probably take him off the horse if I run, but I don't know if I'm going to run. I'm just going to wait a week so. I'd like to go (to the Preakness) with him. I feel cheated, but at the same time I've got to see how the horse is doing."

Baffert said Robert and Beverly Lewis' Senor Swinger, winner of the Crown Royal American Turf (GIII) on May 2 in his debut on the grass, is "possible" for a return to the main track for the Preakness.

L "That option is open," said Baffert. "He came out of his race great. It looks like the Wood (Memorial) was a pretty strong race, huh?"

Senor Swinger finished fifth in the Wood Memorial, a race in which Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide ran second to eventual Derby runner-up Empire Maker. Baffert said his decision on a Preakness bid for Senor Swinger could depend on the availability of jockey Pat Day, who rode Senor Swinger in the Crown Royal American Turf and has won the Preakness five times.

"If I could get Pat Day then I'd go and take a shot," he said.

LONE STAR SKY (15th) - Walter "Buddy" New's Lone Star Sky, 15th in the Kentucky Derby, was reported to be doing well on the morning after the race by trainer Tom Amoss.

"He's a hundred percent healthy," said Amoss, who participated in his first Kentucky Derby.

Lone Star Sky was steadied in traffic nearing the first turn and was never closer than 14th in the 16-horse field. Amoss said he was not sure what would be next on the colt's agenda.

"I think we take a serious step back here," he said. "We'll re-evaluate not only what race is next, but how much distance we're going to put into him."

BRANCUSI (16th) - Trainer Patrick Biancone, reached at Keeneland Sunday morning, said that Brancusi sustained a small quarter crack in his right front during Saturday's running of the 129th Kentucky Derby. "It is a shame that it had to happen in the Derby but it is fortunate that it is not a knee or an ankle," said Biancone, who plans to ship the colt to New York next week.

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