The racehorse Funny Cide captured the hearts of America in 2003. The first New York-bred gelding, which died Sunday, has ties to both the Capital Region and the North Country.

“It kind of snuck up on him, I guess,” Funny Cide co-owner JP Constance said of the night before Funny Cide passed away. “But he was doing very well. And then it was Rob in the bar that said, 'We'd better run him to the vet.'”

What You Need To Know

  • Funny Cide, a horse co-owned by six friends from Sackets Harbor, won the 2003 Kentucky Derby

  • The horse passed away Sunday after complications from colic

  • Funny Cide was 23 years old

From his Sackets Harbor home near the corner of Derby and Funny Cide drives, Constance, one of the Sackets Six, met with fellow “Sixer” Peter Phillips to talk about the passing of the Kentucky Derby winner, who was owned by them, along with four other friends from school.

“Funny Cide had an outstanding retirement and the Kentucky Horse Park that absolutely loved him, worshiped him [and] treated him very well,” Constance said.

By winning the 2003 Kentucky Derby, Funny Cide put himself and the Sackets Six on the national map. However, it wasn't always that way, especially the days leading up to the Derby, when the six — who didn't have that traditional horse racing money — weren't even sure if they could afford to go to the race.

“We checked to see what we could get for limos," Phillips remembered. "We checked to see what we could get for, you know, a tour bus-type thing. And it was just too [expensive]. We hadn't won a lot of money."

So the group reached out to a local Kentucky school district and got a bus.

“We were the only school bus. And among all of these huge, powerful looking tour buses, it was either [Peter Phillips] or Harold Cring that said, ‘How do we know which one we are?’” Constance joked.

Of course, it would only take two minutes before everyone would know.

“It really is too hard to describe," Phillips said. "I was just in awe."

A bus, a horse and even a jockey would all eventually make their way to Sackets Harbor to thank the small community that offered a world of support.

“It not only brought all of us together, but it brought the whole community together,” Phillips added.

Sackets Harbor Deputy Mayor Mark Pacilio most certainly remembers.

“This is the place. This was the bookstore,” Pacilio said walking past his old business.

Pacilio co-owned and helped run a small bookstore in downtown Sackets Harbor from 2001-2005, including after the Kentucky Derby. And there was one book that was in very high demand.

“It probably was the most highly demanded book because it happened here that those two, those six guys were here in this village,” Pacilio said.

At the time, also a village trustee, Pacilio helped set up a viewing party downtown, Funny Cide’s race at Belmont.

“Big TVs that were loaned from Wal-Mart [were] right up on the porch,” he remembered. “And that Saturday, we had thousands and thousands in the streets.”

It was all for one very special horse and six men who took a risk.

Funny Cide died after complications with colic/abdominal pain. He was 23.