HORSE RACING Ailing entries reason to add more to field

Post time for Saturday's Travers Stakes is 6:25 p.m.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) -- Funny Cide had a fever, and Empire Maker had a slight cough.
With the fitness of racing's star 3-year-olds in question, the field for the $1 million Travers grew to eight Wednesday with the surprise entries of Peace Rules and Congrats.
After weeks of telling everyone Funny Cide was an unlikely starter as he recovered from a fever, trainer Barclay Tagg not only entered his Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner but said there's a "75 percent" chance the gelding will run.
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"He seems to be doing pretty nicely," Tagg said. "He came out of his last race pretty down and we're trying to build him back up."
Always the eternal pessimist, Tagg also said, "Seventy-five percent and highly unlikely are about the same, aren't they?"
Empire Maker denied Funny Cide's try for the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont Stakes.
In Funny Cide's last start, he was a dull third to Peace Rules in the Haskell on Aug. 3, and came down with a fever the next day.
As Tagg awaited results of blood samples taken from Funny Cide, he remained downcast.
"I'm not real keen on running this horse in a hard race in hot weather," he said.
And then there's Frankel, who admitted Empire Maker had a cough recently and decided to enter Peace Rules as an "insurance policy." There was also talk that Empire Maker was running a fever after he missed a day of training.
"There's been so many rumors going around about Empire Maker, I started to believe them, so I got some insurance," Frankel joked. "But everything's good on him."
Racing fans may have to wait until Saturday before knowing whether the rematch is on between Empire Maker and Funny Cide, or Peace Rules and Funny Cide for that matter.
Rules
Horses can be scratched until 45 minutes before a race. Post time for Saturday's Travers is 6:25 p.m.
Also entered for the 11/4-mile Midsummer Derby, the showcase event of the six-week Saratoga meeting, are Jim Dandy winner Strong Hope, Haskell runner-up Sky Mesa, Belmont and Swaps runner-up Ten Most Wanted and Ohio Derby winner Wild and Wicker.
Congrats, trained by Shug McGaughey, was third in the Jim Dandy.
Empire Maker and Peace Rules were the 8-5 morning line favorites, with Funny Cide at 3-1. Strong Hope, winner of five straight, and Sky Mesa were both 4-1.
Frankel said only one of his colts will run, so they were coupled in the betting seven though there are different owners. Jockey Jerry Bailey was named to ride both horses.
The plan is for Empire Maker, second by a neck in the Jim Dandy, to run Saturday, with Peace Rules scheduled for the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 2.