SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Seventeen years later and Jack Knowlton is still asked about the yellow school bus that took him, his partners in Sackatoga Stable, their family, and friends from a downtown Louisville hotel to Churchill Downs for the 2003 Kentucky Derby. As Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga, tells it, fellow partner Dave Mahan asked a manager at the Galt House hotel how to transport 53 people to the track. Mahan was quoted a price of $3,600 for a luxury bus. “Dave said, ‘That is pretty expensive for a four-mile round trip,’ ” Knowlton recalls. “The guy said, ‘How much pride do you have?’ Dave said, ‘Not much.’ ” A few minutes later, the manager called Mahan back and said “I can get you a school bus for $1,300,” Knowlton continued. “Sold!” :: Become a DRF Bets member and get DRF's Kentucky Derby VIP Package for free The school buses – which multiplied throughout the series – added to the lore of the David-slays-Goliath story behind the New York-bred Funny Cide’s magical run through the 2003 Triple Crown. A $75,000 private purchase, Funny Cide upset the royally bred Empire Maker at odds of 12-1 in the Kentucky Derby, then crushed the Preakness before losing the Belmont Stakes to Empire Maker in the muck and mire of Belmont Park. For an outfit like Sackatoga, which purchases one or two modestly priced New York-breds at auction each year, it was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Same for trainer Barclay Tagg, whose success to that point had come mostly with turf horses. Like periodical cicadas who emerge every 17 years, Sackatoga and Tagg are back in the Derby. This time, however, they are not bringing a 12-1 shot to the event. Saturday, in the 146th Kentucky Derby – and the first one to be held in September – Sackatoga and Tagg have Tiz the Law, another modestly priced New York-bred who could be the shortest-priced Derby favorite since Arazi in 1992. “Never in the world did we expect there would be another opportunity,” Knowlton said. The Sackatoga Stable began with Knowlton and nine other friends, most from the upstate New York town of Sackets Harbor. It has blossomed to the point where there are as many as 47 partners in the latest group of 2-year-olds, which includes Saratoga Flash, who was to debut Friday at Saratoga. Only Knowlton and Lew Titterton are among those involved with both Funny Cide and Tiz the Law. Mahan, unfortunately, died in 2009 from brain cancer. Gus Williams, another original partner involved with Funny Cide, died in 2007 from a stroke. Of the current group, only Knowlton and Titterton experienced the trials and tribulations it took to get to this point. “We had a bunch of bad horses before Funny Cide,” Titterton said. “We didn’t expect anything in racing.” Titterton said things started to change for the stable when Knowlton found Tagg in the late 1990s. They acquired a horse named Bail Money, who from October 2000 until March 2002 went 3 for 14 and earned $108,665. He was claimed in March for $62,500, money that went toward the purchase of Funny Cide, according to Titterton. Funny Cide was a precocious 2-year-old who went 3 for 3 in statebred company. At 3, Tagg stepped him into open company. In his 3-year-old debut, Funny Cide finished fifth in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park under Jose Santos. :: Play the Kentucky Derby with DRF! Visit our Kentucky Derby shop for Packages, PPs, Betting Strategies, and more Tagg remembers being disappointed until he got a call from Ron Anderson, at the time the jockey agent for Jerry Bailey. “He said, ‘Why don’t you let Jerry ride that horse back?’ ” Tagg said. “I said, ‘Ron, are you kidding me? He was fifth. He said, ‘According to my notes, he was the best horse in the race and he’s probably the best 3-year-old out there.’ ” Tagg left Santos on, and at the request of Knowlton took Funny Cide to the Louisiana Derby, where he finished third. In his next start, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, Funny Cide ran a strong second, beaten just a half-length by Empire Maker, who was coming off a 9 3/4-length victory in the Florida Derby and who stamped himself as the horse to beat in Louisville. Tagg had confidence about the Derby, if only because he was sure his horse would run 1 1/4 miles. His confidence waned somewhat on the walk over from the Churchill backstretch to the paddock. “Walking over, going around the turn, he just froze up and stopped, refused to move,” Tagg recalled of Funny Cide. “I walked behind him and kept kicking sand on his hind legs. I didn’t know what the hell to do.” There were a couple of more stops and starts on the way to the paddock, which Tagg recalls was packed. “I thought, ‘God, he’s going to kill somebody,’ ” Tagg said. “Finally, he walked into the paddock, took a deep breath, and never showed any sign of fear or anything again. We gave him a turn in the paddock, we put the saddle on him, put the jock on him, and he went out and won the race.” Titterton recalled the walk over and Mahan saying, “We lost the race already, this horse is so upset.” Titterton said he stood next to Knowlton and marveled about how clean a trip Funny Cide was getting under Santos. “He raced on the rail almost the entire way,” Titterton said. “It’s easy to get trapped, but it never happened. It was like the hand of God. It opened up the whole race. He swung him out turning for home, and that was it.” The Preakness win was devastatingly easy, as Funny Cide won by 9 3/4 lengths. In his quest for the Triple Crown, Funny Cide encountered a sloppy track and a rested and healthy Empire Maker, who won the race. Funny Cide, a gelding who would go on to race until midway through his 7-year-old year and win a few more big races, now resides at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. When Tagg and Sackatoga bought Funny Cide for $75,000 they took a chance on first-crop sire Distorted Humor. When they bought Tiz the Law as a yearling for $110,000 in 2018, they took the same approach on first-crop sire Constitution. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2020: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Funny Cide was considered high-strung, difficult. Tiz the Law is much more laid-back. Tiz the Law won his career debut against New York-breds on Aug. 8, 2019. Exactly one year later, he won the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers by 5 1/4 lengths in arguably the most impressive performance by a 3-year-old male this year. In between, Tiz the Law won the Champagne, Florida Derby, and Belmont Stakes – all Grade 1 races. There has already been a stallion deal made with Ashford Stud for when his racing career is complete, with the potential of racing as a 4-year-old as part of the arrangement. “This horse, so far, he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and he doesn’t kill himself to do it, he makes sure to do it,” Tagg said. “He’s a very competitive horse, and I have no knocks against him and no worries about him. If there’s somebody better, then they’re better, and that’s all there is to it.” Though this year’s Derby will be run before an empty grandstand, Knowlton is hoping to have at least 30 people at Churchill Downs for the race. Yes, they plan to travel by school bus to get there. For Knowlton, the anticipation of this year’s Derby will be very much like the first day of school. “It’s just so different having a horse like this that’s been on the radar going to back to October and the Champagne,” Knowlton said. “Funny Cide came in under the radar. There were no high expectations. We had reasonable expectations that he was one of the ones, but with Tiz he’s at the top of everybody’s list, and I think legitimately so. Now, he’s just got to go out there and do it.”