By Lisa Peterson

Newtown Kennel Club member Nadine Mahan’s Australian Shepherd bitch is due to have puppies about the same time as the Belmont Stakes this Saturday.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, except that Nadine and her husband David are making the trip to Belmont Park as one of the owners of the Triple Crown contender Funny Cide.

Funny Cide, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, owned by Sackatoga Stables, is trying to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed captured the title in 1978. This big red gelding also has a chance to win a $5 million bonus offered by VISA if he wins the last jewel in thoroughbred racing’s ‘triple crown’ series.

Watertown resident David Mahan, one of the few non-New York partners in Sackatoga Stables, said he doesn’t think about the money.

“It’s about having fun,” he said. “That’s what horse racing is all about.”

 What would be more fun? Owning the first gelding or the first New-York bred or the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years? Nadine Mahan pointed out it was also 25 years between Triple Crown winner Citation in 1948 and Secretariat in 1973. This is also the 30th anniversary of Secretariat’s record-breaking 31-length victory at the Belmont Stakes.

Or maybe becoming the top money-winning gelding of all time beating out John Henry at $6.5 million would be fun too.

“This whole trip has been mind-boggling,” Nadine Mahan said during a telephone interview from her home. Funny Cide, the first horse for them at the Derby, won the 129th running of the 11/4 mile race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky on May 3. “David kept saying if we win we’ll have to go to the winner’s circle and I said, ‘If we win?’ I’ll be reviving you and probably me too. All the ladies were complaining about the mud on their shoes and I said ‘What mud?’ I was floating over the track on the way to the winner’s circle.”

David Mahan added, “The biggest thrill at the Derby, other than winning, was walking the horse out of the paddock at Churchill Downs with 150,000 people screaming at you. I was more nervous at the Preakness because I wanted to have a chance at the Triple Crown.”

Nadine said, “There was much more pressure at the Preakness because we had the non-believers,” But we just wanted him to not get hurt and watch him finish the race.”

And finish the 128th Preakness at Pimlico Racetrack in Maryland on May 17 he did. In almost record-breaking style, Funny Cide won by 93/4 lengths. The record is 10 lengths, set in 1873, the first year of the Preakness.

“When we watched the replay of the race and as he turned the corner I saw his face. I swear he looked like he turned to the horse next to him and said ‘What are you doing tonight?’ and then said ‘Gotta go!’ and took off for the finish line,” Nadine Mahan said.  

Another highlight for David Mahan was meeting Steve Cauthen at the Preakness.

“He came up to us and wished us luck with the horse and called him a ‘strong animal’. It was pretty cool because he was the jockey who won the last Triple Crown.”

Dogs and Horses

Nadine and David Mahan just celebrated their 14th anniversary in April. They both enjoy each others’ hobbies and the overlap shows. Her Australian Shepherd, due to whelp during Belmont, is named “Julep” after the mint julep drink synonymous with the Kentucky Derby. She said she discovered that drink on her first trip to watch the race in 1996. Her first Tibetan Terrier she named “Ruffian” and another “Filly”. She also shows Papillons.

“Julep” will be in good hands for her whelping. Her breeder Heather Braddock has agreed to keep her while the Mahans chase a dream.

Every year in August the Mahans rent a house near the Saratoga Springs racetrack in upstate New York. David used to have his own stable of horses and would race at the summer season track. Nadine would show her dogs at the local dog show circuit that month.

“David would come with me to the dog shows in the morning and I would go with him to the racetrack in the afternoon,” she said. “We both love the horses and the dogs.”

Being at Saratoga placed David at the right place at the right time. Three years ago he decided to close his own stable and become a partner in the Sackatoga Stables. He is now one of the 10 owners of Funny Cide.

“With more owners there is less of a downside, you can have better horses, better trainers and while the profits are less, I’m really doing this for the fun of racing,” he said. David praised those better trainers, Barclay Tagg and his assistant Robin Smullen, and Jockey Jose Santos and even the horse’s groom, who have all been wonderful.

Despite being thrust into the horseracing owner’s limelight, the Mahans still go to work every day.

“I’m still trying to run a business and I’ve had to spend three to four hours a day on interviews,” David said. On Sunday he was catering a wedding at his Mahan’s Lakeview Fine Catering in Wolcott when a television film crew arrived to shoot spots to air during the Belmont pre-show.

Nadine works the appointment desk at a doctor’s office in Waterbury. She recently made the decision to retire to spend more time at home with her husband and her dogs. She said she made this decision before Funny Cide won the Derby, but the office is still teasing her about retiring.

“ ‘What are you doing here?’ they asked me after the Derby. But after the Preakness they said, ‘No, really, what are you doing here?’ ” Nadine laughed. She’s now training her replacement and is heading off to Elmont, New York with her husband for a week of pre-Belmont festivities and a few visits to the track to watch Funny Cide get his final workouts before the big race.

“I don’t mind the attention, in fact, I don’t want it to end,” David said. But while he is riding the high right now, he said he enjoys giving back to the people who are Funny Cide’s fans. “Without a doubt, he is the people’s horse. This is for the people.”

Belmont

What do the owners of a Triple Crown contender wear to the 135th running of the Belmont Stakes?

“This is a special occasion and I’ll pick a pretty floral print dress,” Nadine said. “But David will wear his lucky suit.”

Funny Cide has more than just luck on his ‘cide’. Belmont Park on Long Island is his home track and is undefeated there with a 3-0 record. August Belmont Jr. built the 430-acre, mile and half racetrack in 1905 during the heyday of early American racing and it is considered one of the nation’s most beautiful tracks.

“He’s on the track every day and all he has to do is walk out of his stall and over to the paddock before the race,” David said. “Of course, I’d like to be in the winner’s circle. I’d really like to be ahead by 10 and pulling away. But, I wouldn’t mind a win by a head-bob either.”

 Nadine said, “If Funny Cide’s success is based on all the hopes and prayers of our friends and family then he will float over the finish line first. But, I hope he keeps his feet on the track so there will not be any objections.”

Objections? Yes, Funny Cide had a brush with controversy after the Derby in which a Miami Herald picture indicated there may have been some device in jockey Jose Santos’ right hand. After a formal investigation the matter was immediately dismissed.

“The first time I met Funny Cide I found him to have a nice demeanor. A very pleasant horse and he likes carrots,” Nadine said. “He knows what racing day means because of the change in his routine. He’s normally calm and collected but then he knows when it’s time to race. He loves to run!”

David added, “It’s been a dream – surreal – and I’m wondering when I’m going to wake up.”

Ideally, he will wake up in the winners circle at Belmont Park on Saturday with the 12th Triple Crown winner, a New York-bred local hero named Funny Cide.