Gentlemen:

It's fun to speculate at this point, but there is no way to tout a potential Derby winner or non-contender at this stage.

I caught FUNNY CIDE last year only because I was lucky enough to be at Aqueduct for the Wood Memorial run on a drying out surface where the rail became quicksand after the 4th race. I watched FUNNY CIDE battle back on EMPIRE MAKER who was on the best part of the track with 'CIDE on the rail. I also watched him pull up 3 lenghths ahead of 'MAKER on the turn eliminating any doubt I had that he could handle the 10 furlongs. It took me until mid-April to, as someone posted prior, get that "itchy feeling."

That being said, if you put a gun to my head and forced me to bet two bucks in the futures, I would stab with LUCKY PULPIT.



Good Luck,
Joe B.