Funny Cide and Edgar Prado finished second, five lengths back. The 4-year-old gelding, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2003, was foaled just a few miles from Saratoga Race Course at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbred Farm. The Saratoga Breeders' Cup was his first race at Saratoga and he, along with a pint-glass giveaway and beautiful summer weather, attracted 70,175 fans, the second-largest crowd in track history.
Evening Attire, who won the 2002 Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap in 2:02 4/5, earned $150,000 for Mary Grant, Thomas Kelly and Joseph Grant with this 2004 victory. Evening Attire is now 11-10-3 from 35 starts with earnings of $2,269,990. He is particularly impressive at the Spa where he is 5-0-2 from eight starts with earnings of $511,430.
Funny Cide broke from the No. 5 post position in the seven-horse field. He was pulled through quick fractions of :23 and :46 2/5 by frontrunners The Lady's Groom and Congrats, and stuck three wide around the Clubhouse turn. On the backstretch, Prado was able to settle Funny Cide into a stalking position, but the fuel had been spent and the damage had been done.
"He lost ground all the way," said Barclay Tagg, the trainer for Funny Cide. "If you have to go wide around both turns in any race, it's a disadvantage. I thought he had a shot at the top of the stretch, but I knew he lost a lot of ground." Jockey Prado added, "The horses in front of me were drifting. He was very wide going to the quarter pole. He was trying hard. He ran hard, but the winner was just much the best today."
Evening Attire settled about five lengths behind the frontrunners and followed Funny Cide around the track. Around the turn for home, the field compacted and momentarily left Evening Attire at the back of the pack, but Velasquez's patient ride left a lot of horse for the finish. In the stretch, Bowman's Band, under Jorge Chavez, took the lead along the rail, Funny Cide joined him at the front and Evening Attire followed. Evening Attire found an extra gear and pulled away.
"Going into the first turn, he was sitting there in good shape," Kelly said. "Cornelio rode him well. When he's on his game, he'll stalk and the jock will have a lot of horse. Once they straightened away, he kicked in that long stride and finished good. This was a great confidence builder for him."
Kelly said that Evening Attire would likely be pointed to the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup (Gr. 1) at 1 1/4 miles on Oct. 2 at Belmont Park. Evening Attire won the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 2002. "He's very well suited for the mile and a quarter," Kelly said. "He's kind of an old throwback horse: the longer the better. I knew he was into it today."
