BALTIMORE - "Funny Cide" barreled down the stretch for a runaway victory at the Preakness Stakes. <br>
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It was the second remarkable win in a row for the New York-bred chestnut gelding, journeyman trainer Barclay Tagg and an ownership group of high school pals who kicked in five-thousand dollars each to start Sackatoga Stable. <br>
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The win may have meant the most to jockey Jose Santos. It came just five days after he was cleared by Churchill Downs stewards investigating a photograph and a news report that raised the question of whether he carried something other than his whip when he rode Funny Cide to victory in the Kentucky Derby. <br>
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He won by 9 and three-quarters lengths, a-quarter of a length shy of ``Survivor's'' ten-length victory in the first Preakness in 1873. <br>
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On June seventh, Funny Cide will attempt to become the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since ``Affirmed'' in 1978. <br>
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Funny Cide will be the fifth horse in the last seven years with a Triple chance, and ninth since Affirmed swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont a quarter century ago. <br>
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A gelding has never won the Triple Crown.
