Knowlton Faces Changing Situation With Tiz the Law

For Jack Knowlton and his slightly more than 30 partners in Sackatoga Stable, about a month ago, the March 28 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) promised to be a festive time. They could feel the growing excitement and anticipation as their leading Triple Crown candidate, Tiz the Law, prepared to take a final step that would paint their 3-year-old as a favorite to win the May 2 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).

Now, Knowlton and Co. will be running Saturday at Gulfstream Park in a race much akin to Aqueduct Racetrack's Remsen Stakes (G2), except for its grade 1 status and an extra $500,000 in purse money over the New York stakes for 2-year-olds.

"That's a good analogy with the Remsen," Knowlton said. "Both races are at 1 1/8 miles."

Beyond that, the Remsen is traditionally five months before the Kentucky Derby, and now, in a world battling COVID-19, that's about the same time frame between the $750,000 Florida Derby and the rescheduled Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby.

"The change in the Kentucky Derby is a disappointment because we thought we had a clear path to it  and we had a horse who was mature enough to run a mile-and-a-quarter on the first Saturday in May," said Knowlton, a Saratoga Springs, N.Y., resident whose partnership gained fame by winning the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes (G1) with the New York-bred underdog gelding Funny Cide. "Maybe now some horses can catch up and get better by September, but there's nothing we can do about that with what's happening in the world.

"We're hoping we can keep him healthy and sound and get him to the starting gate on the first Saturday in September. That will be a huge deal and the thrill of a lifetime for all of our partners if we can do it. But it's so far out. We're a little more than five months away and you know things will happen and horses will fall off the trail by September."

Of a more immediate concern is being able to run Tiz the Law, a son of Constitution , Saturday at a perilous time in history when tracks and businesses across the country are shuttering due to the virus. Even with quality rivals such as Ete Indien, Gouverneur Morris, and Independence Hall, Tiz the Law figures to be the favorite March 25, when entries are taken for the race, based on a win at 2 in the Champagne Stakes (G1) and an impressive three-length score in the Feb. 1 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream, his lone start at 3 for trainer Barclay Tagg.

"We'll be devastated if we can't get this race in. We have a big ownership group and we had our typical cast of 60-70 people at the Holy Bull, but obviously that can't happen Saturday with the track closed to the public, and it's a disappointment that we can't be together for the race. Yet in the whole scheme of things, looking at what the world is dealing with, it's not a big consideration," said Knowlton, who is currently staying in a winter home near Gulfstream Park. 

"The big thing is that as long as he runs Saturday and finishes first or second it should guarantee him (of enough qualifying points to start in the Kentucky Derby)," he added. "We're just holding our breath that we can run on Saturday and run well and then then we'll be in a position to call our own shots."

Getting a big chunk now of the 170 points up for grabs Saturday, as opposed to later in the year, is essential for Knowlton's group and Tagg because of all the uncertainty surrounding the sport due to the pandemic. The status of the May 16 Preakness Stakes (G1) and June 6 Belmont Stakes (G1) are in limbo and the Arkansas Derby (G1) has already been shifted from April 11 to May 2, the original date for the Kentucky Derby.

Knowlton said the Arkansas Derby could be a next target for Tiz the Law but added that making plans beyond that are impossible because of questions about when major races for 3-year-olds, other than the Kentucky Derby, will be contested. For example, the traditional spot for the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) is the last weekend at Saratoga Race Course in August, or one week before the transplanted Kentucky Derby. Since the New York Racing Association has yet to release its 2020 stakes schedule for the Saratoga meet, there's no telling if NYRA will move its centerpiece stakes or keep it in its usual spot to compete with the Run for the Roses.

"The future is such a big unknown and it will be changing day by day. We have no idea when racing and everything else will get back to normal," Knowlton said. "As for our path forward with Tiz the Law, we have no clue. For me, being a Saratoga guy who races in New York, and him being a New York-bred, the Travers is a race want to run in. That was always on the radar screen after the Triple Crown races. Now we have no idea about the path of getting to the Travers.

"There are so many unanswered questions. I want to run in the Travers and the Derby but even if they move the Travers to early August do you want to run your horses in two 1 1/4-mile races back-to-back a month apart? For the Travers to attract the field they want they would have to space it five or six weeks away from the Kentucky Derby and then you are competing with the Haskell (G1, July 18 at Monmouth Park)."

Given all of the dire and frightening circumstances, Knowlton's latest Triple Crown bid bears little to his first taste of success in the series with Funny Cide. Knowlton and Lou Titterton are the lone members of the current group that raced Funny Cide and brought a Triple Crown bid into the Belmont Stakes, where the beloved $3.5 million earner finished third.

While Funny Cide flew under the Triple Crown radar until he won the Kentucky Derby, Tiz the Law has been a top candidate for the past six months, creating a different kind of pressure. The advent of social media has also changed the kind of attention focused on the series. Yet for Knowlton and Titterton, what's happening now to their small stable is something they did not expect, in more ways than one.

"Never in my life did I expect the words 'Kentucky Derby' to be part of our vocabulary at Sackatoga Stable," Knowlton said. "But to have it happen like this, with everything that is going on, is something I never could have envisioned."