In case anyone needed more proof that an animal sciences education provided by our college is top-shelf, they got it this spring. Both the trainer and veterinarian for Funny Cide, the horse that won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, are Penn State graduates—and proud of it.

Funny Cide didn't quite win the Triple Crown, falling short in the Belmont Stakes after winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. But Penn Staters everywhere were rooting for the horse, because his trainer was Barclay Tagg (Class of '61) and his veterinarian was Robert Vallance (Class of '63). Photo:Jeff Haynes/AFP/Getty Images

Trainer Barclay Tagg (Class of ’61) of Floral Park, New York, and veterinarian D. Robert Vallance (Class of ’63) of Laurel, Maryland, are at the top of their fields. Tagg graduated with a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry and Vallance earned a bachelor’s degree in animal industries.

In May, Tagg was concentrating on conditioning his horse to win the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore. For that race, Funny Cide—the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby and the first gelding to win in 74 years—was under the care of Dr. Vallance.

Vallance, reached on his cell phone at Pimlico the week after the Kentucky Derby, said beside Funny Cide, he has cared for a number of other well-known horses. “Probably the most famous horse under my care was Spectacular Bid in 1979,” he recalls. “That horse won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and then finished second in the Belmont Stakes. They found a safety pin in his foot the day before the last race and there was some question if that had anything to do with his disappointing showing.”

Vallance—who married a “State College girl,” Vicki Tombros, whose parents ran the Campus Restaurant over the Rathskellar for years—received his master’s degree in horse nutrition from Penn State in 1966. A native of western Pennsylvania, he is a 1970 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School.

Of his old friend Tagg, Vallance said all his attention was focused on getting his horse prepared to win the Preakness. “He’s an old-fashioned trainer in that respect,” Vallance said admir-ingly. “His horse comes first. He has been besieged by media—there was so much turmoil with publicity. He had to turn off his phones.

“Barclay Tagg and I were at Penn State at approximately the same time,” he adds. “He graduated two years before me. I knew him casually. I have been his veterinarian for a long time, treating his horses when he had them stabled in Maryland. We are pretty good friends.”

Vallance cares only for thoroughbred horses at race tracks, and has been doing so for 33 years. “I’ve had a pretty nice career,” he says. “Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences prepared me well. Tom Merritt was my adviser and I did horse nutrition research at the Penn State horse barns. He was very influential in my career in working with horses. The period I spent there was the best time of my life.

“I think Barclay Tagg feels the same way.”

—Jeff Mulhollem