Tiz the Law Breezes at Saratoga With Travers in Sight
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher
Tiz the Law breezes a bullet five furlongs in :59.63 July 18 at Saratoga Race Course
Sackatoga Stable's Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner Tiz the Law breezed five furlongs in :59.63 July 18, his first work at Saratoga Race Course this summer. The move, the fastest of 20 at the distance, was in preparation for the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) Aug. 8.
The Constitution colt, working solo under exercise rider Heather Smullen, breezed through splits of :24 2/5 and :35 3/5 and galloped out three-quarters in 1:12.84 on a fast main track.
Trainer Barclay Tagg liked what he saw.
"I thought the work was good. He did it just right. The time was good. Everything was good," Tagg said.
Tiz the Law will breeze twice more ahead of the Travers, which offers qualifying points to the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) on a 100-40-20-10 scale for the top four finishers.
"He came out nice and strong," said Sackatoga Stable operating manager Jack Knowlton. "Obviously, the new racetrack was no impediment for him, so it's just one more step. We've got three weeks from today. He'll have two more works and then we're ready to go. You can see how fit he is."
The Travers will be Tiz the Law's first race at the Spa since he won on debut Aug. 8, 2019.
The New York-bred colt will stretch out to 1 1/4 miles for the Travers after winning a shortened Belmont Stakes at 1 1/8 miles. Like most leading 3-year-old dirt horses in the country amid an altered racing schedule in 2020, he has not yet raced the Travers distance.
Knowlton said he relishes the opportunity to run Tiz the Law in the Travers, especially since Sackatoga Stable's 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness (G1) hero Funny Cide was scratched from that year's Travers after a pre-race scope showed mucus in his lungs.
"There's nothing like the Derby, but obviously we would like to win the race that Funny Cide didn't have a chance to run in," Knowlton said. "Hopefully, this will be a steppingstone to success in Kentucky. We're on a nice roll. We won a classic, we won two other grade 1s, and we won three out of three this year, so four out of four going into the Derby would be great."
Besides his Belmont win, Tiz the Law's stakes victories include the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and Curlin Florida Derby (G1) this year at Gulfstream Park and last year's Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.