Tagg Sets Sights On Travers: ‘It’s Very Important To Me’

Moments after Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law captured Saturday's 152nd running of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., trainer Barclay Tagg could be heard asking those in charge of the trophy presentation to hurry things up – he had to get back to his horses.

The veteran conditioner, who accompanies each set of morning workers to the track on his pony, takes a hands-on approach to horsemanship.

Tagg said that Tiz the Law has been easier to handle than most horses.

“He's so easy to deal with. If you ask him to go fast, he goes fast. If you ask him to go slow, he goes slow,” said Tagg.

Assistant trainer Robin Smullen also serves as the main exercise rider for Tiz the Law, and Tagg credits her with much of the Constitution colt's success.

“I'll say it – he's been handled perfectly, too. I've had Robin ride him and Robin can ride anything,” said Tagg. “She's a brilliant horsewoman and I can't say enough about her. She has the heart of a lion, the judgment of Solomon and the patience of Job.”

Tagg and Sackatoga Stable teamed up in 2003 to campaign Funny Cide, who won that year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness before running third in their Triple Crown bid in the Belmont.

While the connections are the same, and both horses are New York-breds, Tiz the Law and Funny Cide have many differences.

Tiz the Law posted a number of strong works leading into the Belmont Stakes, including a five-eighths effort in 1:00.53 on June 8 and an easy half-mile in 50.42 on June 14 over Big Sandy. The controlled final breeze for Tiz the Law was in sharp contrast to the bullet 57.82 Funny Cide clocked heading into the 2003 Belmont Stakes.

Smullen credits Tagg for understanding what each of the horses in his care needs, and putting them in a position to be successful.

“Barclay is so good at getting them to the right spot at the right time,” said Smullen. “We tightened the screws [on Tiz the Law], but in the last work we go in 50. And everybody asks, did you want to go that slow? Yeah. We did. That was on purpose. He's just so good at it.

“Our work two weeks out is usually our serious work and the last work before the race is the easiest work, if you have the horse that can do it,” she added. “With Funny Cide, you couldn't. His last work before the Belmont he went in 57, but this horse is easy to ride 90 percent of the time.”

Tagg mapped out all the details as Tiz the Law prepared for his first start in nearly three months following his score in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 28 at Gulfstream Park. Smullen said he even planned out the celebration for jockey Manny Franco, who offered the slightest of fist pumps along with a cathartic yell as the New York-bred hero crossed the wire to give Tagg a personal Triple Crown.

“Barclay told him not to be jumping around on the horse. Sometimes they shift their weight [in the saddle] and it's bad,” said Smullen. “So Barclay said to Manny, if you're winning, don't do that. Just don't. That's the stuff that nobody thinks about, but he does. It might be the difference between making the next race or not making it.”

Tiz the Law's sophomore season kicked off with a win in the Grade 3 Holy Bull on February 1 and Tagg will be charged with keeping the colt in good order through a campaign he would like to see include Grade 1 stops in the $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8 at Saratoga Race Course; the Kentucky Derby on September 5; the Preakness on October 3; and the Breeders' Cup Classic on November 7.

Tagg said to keep Tiz the Law at the top level, he'll continue to listen to what his colt has to say.

“You have to pay attention to your horse. He tells you whether it's too much or too little,” said Tagg. “He tells you all that stuff if you pay attention to it. You have to show up every day. You have to see if he eats every day and if he eats every night.”

Tagg said he prefers to feed his horses later in the evening, and he's there each night to monitor that each food tub is emptied.

“I like to come back at night and if I can see his nose in the tub eating, I'm happy,” said Tagg. “If one of them has walked away and is eating hay in the corner when his feed is sitting there, that's a signal there's something wrong. Maybe it's nothing too bad, maybe the groom gave the horse two cups instead of one cup, but you need to find all this stuff out.

“A lot of guys have horses all over the place, but we don't. So, we have to make everything work,” he added.

The morning training, the perfect trip engineered by Franco, and even the celebration went according to plan.

And plans for Tiz the Law's next race – the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers – are already underway.

“He came out of the race great,” said Smullen. “He ate up and then he came out and grazed for an hour. His legs are good, his attitude and energy are good.”

For the next few days, Tagg said Tiz the Law will walk the shed row.

“He'll walk for three days and we'll graze him every afternoon like we do,” started Tagg. “The fourth day we'll take him out and jog him once around backwards to see how he moves and how he is and if he eats up that night we'll go to galloping. And ten days after that we'll give him an easy breeze, a half-mile.”

The wheels are already in motion as Tagg looks to add another trophy to his cabinet.

“I've never won the Travers and I want to win it,” said Tagg. “It's very important to me.”

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Belmont Unplugged: Without Fans, The Essence Of The Sport Was Absent

I am proud to say I have covered every Belmont Stakes since 1998.

I watched in awe as American Pharoah emphatically ended a 37-year Triple Crown drought and the roar of a Belmont Park crowd capped at 90,000 all but carried him to a gate-to-wire 5 ½-length triumph in 2015.

I watched in dismay as Birdstone ran down wildly popular 2004 Triple Crown threat Smarty Jones and a record throng of 120,139 spectators at Belmont Park instantly fell silent, realizing there would be no Smarty party. Triumphant owner Marylou Whitney was so disturbed by the outcome that she apologized to Roy and Pat Chapman, who bred and owned Smarty.

I watched in disbelief as Big Brown not only was unable to finish the historic sweep in 2008 but did not finish at all. He was inexplicably pulled up by jockey Kent Desormeaux in upper stretch.

In my fifth decade as a sportswriter, never have I covered anything remotely similar to the 152nd Belmont Stakes in Elmont, N.Y., on Saturday. And I never hope to again.

The first major sports event in New York since the Big East men's basketball tournament was halted on March 12 without reaching the championship game merely served as a grim reminder of the tension and anxiety this and every other New Yorker has experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even as business slowly resumes in a state that became the epicenter for the virus, with 387,272 confirmed cases and 24,686 deaths, I found everything surrounding the oddity of the Belmont being run as a one-turn mile-and-an-eighth opening leg of the Triple Crown as discomforting.

Start with the signage.

“Germs are all around you. Stay healthy. Wash your hands.”

Hand sanitizing station in an empty box seat area for owners and trainers

And another: “Face mask required at all times.”

Then there was the relative silence. When Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York,” blared over the loudspeaker system, not one voice rose in salute.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” track announcer John Imbriale began, “here is the field for the 10th race.”

Ladies and gentlemen? Exactly who was he addressing? Few hard-boot racetrackers would identify with that. Other onlookers involved photographers, reporters and security guards. Even owners of the starters in the 10-horse field were denied the opportunity to attend, hardly sensible since the vastness of Belmont Park would have allowed them to be spaced 600 feet apart, never mind the recommended six feet for social distancing.

There was not a peep when the starting gate sprang open and Tap It to Win shot to an early lead. There was no wall of sound when Tiz the Law, the only Grade 1 winner in a lackluster field hardly befitting a Triple Crown race, spun out of the turn for home and wrested command.

There was a smattering of applause when jockey Manny Franco approached the winner's circle with the popular New York-bred that is owned by Sackatoga Stable, a partnership based in upstate New York that also sent out 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide. The clicking of cameras was heard when Franco reached into the traditional blanket of carnations and threw petals into the air in the finest moment of his career.

Perhaps only winning trainer Barclay Tagg was comfortable with the setting. He said of racing without spectators: “Actually, it was very nice. I'm not trying to be a jerk about it, but I thought the quietude was very nice.”

Tagg has not changed since he conditioned Funny Cide. He much prefers to be out of the spotlight. There is reason to believe he prefers the company of his horses to most human beings. And they might indeed pose less of a health threat these days.

Steve Asmussen, whose Pneumatic took fourth while impossible longshot Jungle Runner ran last, described the New York atmosphere as “surprising.”

“There ain't a deli open anywhere,” Asmussen said.

Small-business owners are fighting for survival in a city that paid a steep price for population density, a mass transit system allowed to remain filthy throughout the early stages of the pandemic and controversial decisions by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that included ordering nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients, a directive later reversed.

When asked if the Belmont Stakes felt like the Belmont Stakes, Asmussen responded: “It felt like this year's Belmont Stakes. This year since March 1 is unprecedented. Everything is kind of surprising, if it happens at all. I'm very thankful to the New York Racing Association and the state for putting it on at all. Tiz the Law deserves the opportunity, and he wouldn't get it next year. He's only 3 now. I think that's how important it is.”

In contemplating the signs and the silence, it was impossible not to reflect on the electricity that surrounded American Pharoah's coronation in a mile-and-a-half Belmont that lived up to its moniker that year as the “Test of the Champion.”

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, to protect Pharoah from the deafening noise he rightly anticipated,  had stuffed the youngster's ears with cotton. Good thing he did. When jockey Victor Espinoza tapped his hard-charging mount twice right-handed, the colt stormed home. A two-length margin turned to three. Then four. Then five.

Fans leapt into the air in jubilation with every stride. Cellphones rose as one to capture the historic finish. “And here it is, the 37-year wait is over! American Pharoah is finally the one! American Pharoah has won the Triple Crown!” announcer Larry Collmus exclaimed.

That is the essence of racing. That is the essence of sports. As a Belmont Stakes like no other reminded us, the fan in the stands means everything.

Tom Pedulla wrote for USA Today from 1995-2012 and has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Blood-Horse, America's Best Racing and other publications.

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Spectator-Free Belmont Stakes Day Wagering Tops $67 Million

Saturday's 12-race Belmont Stakes Day card at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., featuring six graded stakes and highlighted by Tiz the Law's victory in the 152nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, generated all-sources handle of $67,753,336.

Tiz the Law, the 3-year-old colt owned by Sackatoga Stable based in Saratoga Springs, became the first New York-bred to capture the Belmont Stakes since 1882.

To align with required health and safety measures implemented in New York to mitigate risk and combat the spread of COVID-19, the Belmont Stakes Day card was held without spectators in attendance. To properly account for the schedule adjustments made in response to the pandemic, the Belmont Stakes was run at a distance of 1 1/8-miles instead of the traditional 1 ½ mile test.

For the first time in history, the Belmont Stakes served as the opening leg of the Triple Crown, with the Kentucky Derby moved to September 5 at Churchill Downs and the Preakness rescheduled for October 3 at Pimlico Race Course.

All-sources handle on the 152nd Belmont Stakes itself, carded as Race 10, was $34,088,475.

The 2019 all-sources handle was $102,163,280, a NYRA record for a non-Triple Crown year.

The Belmont Park spring/summer meet continues through Sunday, July 12, with live racing conducted Thursday through Sunday. First post is 1:15 p.m.

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