Only in 2020: A Late-Summer Kentucky Derby

As Labor Day approaches, racing fans are normally morose about the impending end of the Saratoga Race Course and Del Mar meets.

With summer coming to a close, the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) is in the rearview mirror and the Breeders’ Cup becomes the main topic of conversation after a major stakes.

But not in 2020.

During an unprecedented year that has defied description, the Labor Day holiday will mark the resumption of the Triple Crown at Churchill Downs under circumstances no one could have envisioned a year ago.

As bizarre as last year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) may have been with the disqualification of the victorious Maximum Security, the Sept. 5 edition of the Run for the Roses (7:01 p.m. ET, NBC) has it topped by several furlongs in the race for the peculiar.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered a score of racetracks across the country on the first Saturday in May, the $3 million Kentucky Derby was moved back to September and temporarily became the second jewel in the Triple Crown, winding up between the June 20 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) and the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes (G1).

Four months later, Churchill Downs will remain a virtual ghost town with no fans on a day that normally attracts 150,000 or more. Only horsemen and some guests, with masks on while practicing social distancing, will be scattered around the building. There will be some cheering during America’s most famous race, but it will come from a small chorus of voices, unlike the deafening roar that typically arises from the venerable facility—and most likely it will be many decibel levels below the voices of people outside Churchill Downs who have planned a social justice protest over the death of Breonna Taylor.

The Kentucky Derby will also be free of the standard question involving which 3-year-old will become the crop’s Triple Crown hopeful, instead giving Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law a chance to continue his bid and head to the Preakness, where he could become the 14th colt to complete a sweep of the series.

They are sights and sounds unique to 2020 that have created a mood like no other.

“It doesn’t feel like the Kentucky Derby. There’s no buzz. We’re going through the motions like it’s just another big race,” said trainer Bob Baffert, who will pin his hopes on a record-tying sixth Kentucky Derby victory on the duo of Authentic and Thousand Words. “But I’m sure when they leave the paddock and head toward the gate, we’ll feel it. Whoever wins will enjoy it and feel great. The rest of us will go back to our normal lives and wonder why we went.”

A silver lining to the surreal events of 2020 has been the emergence of Tiz the Law, a son of Constitution  bred in New York by Twin Creeks Farm. He’s unbeaten in four starts at 3 for octogenarian trainer Barclay Tagg and is coming off decisive victories in the Belmont Stakes and Travers. 

“He’s a unique horse. I keep pinching myself because he’s such a unique horse. Everything we’ve asked him to do, he just does it,” Tagg said. 

At a time when Triple Crown runners normally show fatigue, Tiz the Law’s 5 1/2-length victory in the Travers only widened the gap between him and those hoping to topple him from atop the 3-year-old rankings.

“He looks amazing. He doesn’t even look like he ran in the (Travers),” said 25-year-old rider Manny Franco, who will be seeking his first Kentucky Derby victory. “He probably looks better than he did before the Travers. It’s unbelievable.”

Tiz the Law has won six of his seven starts, suffering his lone loss when he was third last year on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2). He started his 3-year-old campaign winning the Feb. 1 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and has continued to develop in a stellar fashion that has rival horsemen tipping their hat in respect to Tagg.

“Barclay is a sharp guy. He knows how to get the job done. He’s done a masterful job with this horse. You have to give him a lot of credit,” Baffert said. “It’s hard to keep a horse in that kind of form for that long.”

A major question mark before the Kentucky Derby usually involves a 3-year-old’s ability to handle its 1 1/4-mile distance, but making matters even more imposing for the 15 other 3-year-olds, Tiz the Law’s Travers victory already placed a check next to that box.

“We’re psyched that we got the mile and a quarter already,” Franco said. “It’s something we don’t have to worry about.”

Sackatoga and Tagg are experienced in a more traditional Triple Crown chase. They won the 2003 Kentucky Derby—in a field of 16, just like this year—and Preakness with Funny Cide, who was also bred in New York.  

A third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes ended the gelding’s Triple Crown dream, which seemed destined to be a once-in-a-lifetime happening for a stable that usually campaigns about five New York-breds a year. Yet a group of 35 investors headed by Sackatoga founder and operating manager Jack Knowlton has again defied the odds while entering Saturday’s race with a much different outlook from May 2003. Funny Cide was a 12-1 longshot, but Tiz the Law is a 3-5 morning-line favorite and could match the record low of 2-5 since 1908.

“It’s a whole lot different than going in with Funny Cide. We thought we had the favorite with Funny Cide, but the fans didn’t think so,” Knowlton said. “Obviously, Tiz the Law will be the favorite. As an owner, the pressure is not on me, it’s on Barclay and Manny. But Barclay knows what he’s doing, and Manny is riding this horse with tremendous confidence.”

The morning line paints C R K Stable’s Honor A. P.  (5-1) as the main threat. A son of Honor Code , he won the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) for trainer John Shirreffs but then finished second to Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm's Thousand Words (15-1) in the Aug. 1 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar at a 1 1/16-mile distance.

Once-beaten Authentic (8-1), owned by Spendthrift Farm, Myracehorse.com, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables, was second, 2 3/4 lengths back, in the Santa Anita Derby but rebounded to win the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) in his most recent start.

“Both of my horses could not be coming in any better,” Baffert said.

The son of Into Mischief  figures to play a leading role in the early pace, though being the outside horse in a field of 16 resurrects memories of his loss to Honor A. P. when he broke slowly and outwardly from the outside post.

The starters also include 2-year-old champion Storm the Court, but he’s winless in five starts at 3 following his 45-1 victory in the TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and is a 50-1 shot.

He’s the only other grade 1 winner in a field where 13 starters are exiting a loss. 

That may not bode well for the longshots, yet even in 2020 there’s the hope that some of the surprises the Kentucky Derby is famous for—like Country House’s win at 65-1 last year or Giacomo’s 50-1 upset for Shirreffs in 2005—might resurface.

“Tiz the Law is the top horse and should be the heavy favorite, but they all get beat,” Baffert said. “I went there (in 2001) with Point Given and he looked unbeatable and he lost. Everything has to go smoothly in this race.” 

Considering that it’s 2020, having everything go smoothly Saturday just might be an awfully big ask of a very strange year.

  

Entries: Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1)

Churchill Downs, Saturday, September 05, 2020, Race 14

• Grade I
• 1 1/4m
• Dirt
• $3,000,000
• 3 yo
• 7:01 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Finnick the Fierce (KY)	Martin Garcia	126	Rey Hernandez	50/1
2	2Max Player (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	126	Steven M. Asmussen	30/1
3	3Enforceable (KY)	Adam Beschizza	126	Mark E. Casse	30/1
4	4Storm the Court (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	126	Peter Eurton	50/1
5	5Major Fed (KY)	James Graham	126	Gregory D. Foley	50/1
6	6King Guillermo (KY)	Samy Camacho	126	Juan Carlos Avila	20/1
7	7Money Moves (KY)	Javier Castellano	126	Todd A. Pletcher	30/1
8	8South Bend (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	126	William I. Mott	50/1
9	9Mr. Big News (KY)	Gabriel Saez	126	W. Bret Calhoun	50/1
10	10Thousand Words (FL)	Florent Geroux	126	Bob Baffert	15/1
11	11Necker Island (KY)	Miguel Mena	126	Chris A. Hartman	50/1
12	12Sole Volante (KY)	Luca Panici	126	Patrick L. Biancone	30/1
13	13Attachment Rate (VA)	Joseph Talamo	126	Dale L. Romans	50/1
14	14Winning Impression (KY)	Joseph Rocco, Jr.	126	Dallas Stewart	50/1
15	15Ny Traffic (NY)	Paco Lopez	126	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	20/1
16	16Honor A. P. (KY)	Mike E. Smith	126	John A. Shirreffs	5/1
17	17Tiz the Law (NY)	Manuel Franco	126	Barclay Tagg	3/5
18	18Authentic (KY)	John R. Velazquez	126	Bob Baffert	8/1