The winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby is a gelding, Funny Cide.Why would anyone geld an animal that is to run in races of that quality ?Surely the value is not in the prize money but in the stud fees later, and in any case if you have a good colt why would you not want to use the bloodline? Geldings are not allowed in the original Derby, at Epsom, but it's inconceivable that any would be good enough to enter (fillies can run though they never do as there is the fillies' equivalent, The Oaks, at the same meeting ).

This horse was gelded because he was a cryptorchid. Cryptorchidism is a inherited genetic defect in which one of the testicles was retained, and is said that in this situation it is sterile and lacking the ability to produce testosterone.

So this horse was not a good canidate for breeding purposes.

Thanks Piggins. I suppose here in Newmarket, of all places, I should have guessed that it was prompted by a condition of that sort and not some eccentric decision concerning temperament or some such !

If you have all mares and your raising horses there is also another reason. You may decide you want to keep this certain colt because of the color or good possiblity of it becoming, say a roping horse or jumper. You have all mares and you want to keep this horse. In that case you may have to guild it in order to make sure it never breeds back. In the case of the other guilding that was running in that race, the man that owns it and the ranch he was trained on here in Idaho is normally a roping horse ranch. He even has chutes for the cattle and everything there. That may have been part of the reason. The horse had good speed but never watched a cow. I think when the jockey that rode him saw him, he knew he could run in the derby. I don't know this for sure but I know we have guilded horses because we have mostly mares and very seldom keep a colt.