Lava Man or Funny Cide?
 

Which horse is greater? How will history judge them if the racing world ended today? Which one is the "gelding of the decade?"

Wow...interesting question, they are closer than many think:
Lava Man...33/13-7-3 $3,504,706 6 grade one wins
Funny Cide..33/10-6-6 $3,443,103 3 grade one wins
Right now, I'd go with Lava Man as he appears to be getting better and still obviously a grade one horse, Funny Cide could regain old form but it's doubtful, I'd say he's a grade two horse and dropping. Still...a Derby winner is a Derby winner! Interesting that they each have 33 starts!

To me not even close... Lava Man.

Tough question. I love them both. Funny Cide had a brilliant 3 year old campaign but apart from that has only 1 significant win as an older horse in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 2004. Throw in a lot of pitiful efforts and he gets hazed and made fun of by many people.

Lava Man was a claimer when he was 3 so races like the Kentucky Derby werent in his vocabulary. But has he ever taken off these last 2 years? Wow, what a treat to watch and his fans are hoping the best is yet to come!

I'd give the slight edge to Lava Man, despite Funny Cide winning 2 legs of the Triple Crown. You can make the case that Empire Maker wasnt 100% in that Derby and that the Cliffs Edge broke down in a very weak rendition of the 2004 Jockey Club.

To be fair: Lava Man has 5 Grade 1 wins, not 6: 2 HGC's, 1 PC, 1 SA 'Cap, 1 Whittingham, a Grade 2 in the Californian, and 2 restricted wins: $1 M Sunshine Millions Classic and Khaled Stakes (T-NCR).

I'd put Perfect Drift ahead of Funny Cide.

I'd go with Perfect Drift.

You'd put a one-time Grade 1 winner ahead of a dual classic winner and a 5 time Grade 1 winner?

I think that Lava Man is far more talented on his best day, but history will always remember Funny Cide first - him being the 'gutsy NY-bred gelding' that won the Derby. If Lava Man were to win the Classic, however, things would change...

To the general public. Easy Funny Cide won the Derby and Preakness had all the national attention. Captured America's heart going for the Triple Crown. The whole blue coller connections with Sacatoga Stable and Barclay Tagg. If you ask 10 people on the streets who do they think is more famous it would be Funny Cide. They would say " Lava who?"

To the everyday horse fan - More than likely Lava Man is having a dream year.

So it all depends on who you are referring to.

No contest Lava Man is better at this point of his career but all and all Funny Cide did almost capture the triple crown

You are correct, for some reason, I thought the Californian was a grade one but it isn't...my bad!

well....tough question. lava man is the better of the two imo, but funny cide has accomplished more as far as having a place in history. dual classic winner, certainly will be remembered far longer by the general public. of course neither one is finished, i expect lava man to do more than he's done, he certainly is having a banner year this year.

"To the general public. Easy Funny Cide won the Derby and Preakness had all the national attention. Captured America's heart going for the Triple Crown. The whole blue coller connections with Sacatoga Stable and Barclay Tagg. If you ask 10 people on the streets who do they think is more famous it would be Funny Cide. They would say " Lava who?'"

Of those ten people on the street, 2 might have heard of Funny Cide and more than likely none would have heard of Lava Man. The last two horses the public knew are Cigar and Smarty, and now Barbaro.

I dont see what it matters who the non horse racing fans will know and who they will not know. Its sort of like asking a non baseball fan who they like in this year's playoffs. Most will say the Yankees because of their popularity.

Let us not forget that Lava Man has won grade 1's on both surfaces as well, which is quite an accomplishment.

I understand what you mean but when talking about how history will treat someone taking in the account of what the general public thinks helps play into the lore of the horse. Take Secretariet for example. EVERYONE has heard of him and that what makes news other than the DRF.
Lets just say if both were retired this weekend. Which one do you think would make the nightly news, ESPN and local newspapers. The Ky Derby winner.

I think its a loaded question. People remember the recent a lot more obviously. Therefore, Funny would have fewer backers. Its not his fault he's been placed in races by morons in the Sackatoga crowd.

That being said, Lava Man is ultra consistent and a much better horse than I originally thought. He gets the nod.