The Week in Review: Laying Down the Law, ‘Tiz’ Shines Amid Difficult Year

We’re barely halfway through, but 2020 is already destined to go down as the year reality and normalcy got bent so far out of shape that our sport became unrecognizable. Race meets nationwide have been canceled or curtailed. The Triple Crown races have been shifted out of order with one radical distance alteration. Jockeys soar through homestretches wearing protective masks as a pandemic precaution in front of eerily empty grandstands, where fans have been ordered to stay away for everyone’s own good.

We hear repeatedly how everyone in the industry is doing the best they can under arduous and unprecedented circumstances brought on by COVID-19. There is truth in that statement, but people can only do so much. For horse racing to persevere during difficult times, the best chance to pull us through is the Thoroughbred itself.

Now, after his tour-de-force romp in the GI Belmont S., it is clear that Tiz the Law (Constitution) has emerged the sport’s horse of hope.

It’s probably unfair to saddle Tiz’s compact, powerful bay shoulders with so heavy a burden. But the charismatic colt has been up to the task of handling everything thrown at him so far. His race record is a near-perfect 5-for-6, but that stat doesn’t fully encapsulate the flair and panache with which he’s dispatched his overmatched foes.

As an aggressive stalker, Tiz the Law’s early races were hallmarked by a knack for putting himself into precarious positions and then extricating himself with a Houdini-like flourish. He won sprinting in his Saratoga debut against New York-breds, then leapt the chasm to Grade I stakes company by annexing the Champagne S. after stumbling at the start and getting trapped on heels before finishing full of run.

His connections–owner Sackatoga Stable and trainer Barclay Tagg–thought the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile a month later might be too much too soon, so they instead pointed Tiz to the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at Churchill Downs Nov. 30. Off as the 3-5 favorite in a sea of slop, jockey Manny Franco repeatedly had to ride the brakes to keep Tiz from getting pocketed on the backstretch and again in the home straight. The colt ended up third, beaten three-quarters of a length, his only defeat to date.

After a brief Florida freshening, Tiz had his 3-year-old unveiling in the GIII Holy Bull S., a prep on the GI Kentucky Derby trail that has evolved into a notorious annual trap for highly touted sophomores (favorites going down in defeat in nine of the previous 11 runnings). Tiz shot out of the gate, cruised four deep into the clubhouse bend, then dove to the fence. This maneuvering meant yet another dicey backstretch placement for Tiz, who steadied off heels under more momentum-drag braking. But once repositioned outside, he relished the pursuit of prey, collaring the pacemaker and leaving the remainder of the field reeling with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure win that was easier than the three-length final margin suggested.

After missing a few days of training in early March because of a minor foot bruise, the GI Curlin Florida Derby was next. Tiz broke running and enjoyed a clean trip while energetically forcing the issue. He powered past the frontrunners at will, and for the first time left the impression that he was merely toying with the competition while honing a fast-maturing level of confidence into something akin to a swagger.

The pandemic had already disrupted the Triple Crown prior to Tiz’s Florida Derby win, but you didn’t hear the colt’s connections carping in public about how fate had stolen away their chance at favoritism in the Run for the Roses. Instead, Tagg and Sackatoga managing partner Jack Knowlton pretty much said they’d take on all comers at whatever race spacing and distances the Triple Crown turned out to be, perhaps even with a Saratoga stakes in between for good measure.

The Belmont S. ended up being first in the series, shortened to a one-turn nine furlongs out of deference to the coronavirus disruption. Tiz was once again fleet from the starting stall and Manny Franco gathered him up in hand while allowing the two main speed threats to come through to his inside. Always in striking range within 2 1/2 lengths of the lead, Tiz was a formidable presence while in authoritative stalk mode, coiled but not fully unleashed until the head of the vast Belmont Park homestretch. He nosed his distinctive white blaze in front coming off the turn, shot into an unmatchable gear when cued to quicken, and even while assertively handled through the lane didn’t appear to be fully extended or at the limits of his stamina reserves in another 100-Beyer trouncing.

Tiz the Law is an easy horse to root for. He can press the pace at a high cruising speed against the best East Coast sophomores and still stick around to win going away by open lengths. Every one of his victories has been decided by the eighth pole. He runs major-league speed numbers and never looks sapped or wilted. He’s sensibly managed by connections that clearly enjoy the journey as much as the outcome, and they’re transparent and highly quotable when asked to share their plans for Tiz. Even Tagg, known for decades as a “horseman’s horseman,” can come across as charmingly crusty, like he did on Saturday when he reportedly told a Belmont television interviewer that the trophy presentation and post-race questions had better be quick because he had work to do back at the barn.

Next up for Tiz is the GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga. The New York Racing Association just announced last week that the showcase race of the summer would be moved up several weeks to Aug. 8 in order to better mesh with the remaining two legs of the Triple Crown (Derby Sep. 5 and GI Preakness S. Oct. 3).

Fittingly, the date of the 2020 Travers will coincide with the one-year anniversary of Tiz the Law’s winning debut at Saratoga.

British turf writer Simon Barnes once wrote that “Too much hope is perhaps the worst sin in horse racing.”

That may be true. But right now our sport can use all the optimistic anticipation it can get. So bring on the hope–and the hype–for Tiz the Law.

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Travers Up Next for Tiz the Law

Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law (Constitution) exited his win in Saturday’s GI Belmont S. in fine shape and will now be pointed towards the Aug. 8 GI Runhappy Travers S.

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

Mapping out the next few days for the Belmont winner, Tagg said, “He’ll walk for three days and we’ll graze him every afternoon like we do. 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 10 days after that we’ll give him an easy breeze, a half-mile.”

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

Trainer Todd Pletcher is considering the Travers and the July 18 GI Haskell S. at Monmouth Park as possible next targets for Belmont runner-up Dr Post (Quality Road).

“Both of those races are in play. It just depends on how he bounces out of the race,” Pletcher said. “We were always confident that a route of ground will not be an issue for him. He finished up well. It was a very encouraging effort.”

Dr Post was making just his fourth start in the Belmont, following a maiden win at Gulfstream Mar. 29 with a win in the 1 1/16-mile Unbridled S. in Hallandale Apr. 25.

“Considering he broke his maiden the day after Tiz the Law won the Florida Derby, that’s a lot of progress to make in a short period of time,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully he keeps improving.”

Trainer Linda Rice was satisfied with Max Player (Honor Code)’s third-place finish in the Belmont.

“Coming off a 4 1/2-month break, I thought it was a very creditable effort,” Rice said. “You can build on this going forward. Going a mile and a quarter shouldn’t be a problem as well.”

As for what could be next for the GIII Withers S. winner, Rice said, “We’ll keep all the options open for now and sort it out when we get him back to the track in a week to 10 days.”

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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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No Need for an Asterisk, Tiz is Super

Tiz the Law (Constitution) won the GI Belmont S. Saturday, dominating nine rivals who were outclassed by the best 3-year-old colt in North America. Let the debate begin.

What, exactly, is Tiz the Law’s place in racing history and should he win the Triple Crown, does he belong in the same sentence as Secretariat, Citation, Seattle Slew and the other 10 immortals? Some will say no. Their point is that he won the first third of a Triple Crown that is unlike anything anyone has ever seen, starting with a Belmont run at a mile and an eighth. The argument is that this is so unlike the traditional Triple Crown it really isn’t a Triple Crown. That running the three races over 15 weeks rather than five makes it easier to win.

While some, but not all, of those points are valid, they miss a central point–this is a very good horse and it’s unfair to hold something against him over which nobody had any control. No asterisk is necessary.

What is the Triple Crown? It is a three-race series that consists of the GI Kentucky Derby, the GI Preakness and the Belmont. Nowhere does it say that the Triple Crown has to be, in order, the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont, with five weeks covering the start of the series to the end. In fact, that hasn’t always been the case. Nowhere does it say that the Belmont has to be at a mile and a half. Gallant Fox, the 1930 Triple Crown winner, won in a year when the Preakness was first and then the Derby.

Whether or not this Triple Crown is easier than a normal one is up for debate. Winning three Grade I races over a 15-week span is still a daunting task. Daunting but different.

The modern horse has a hard time putting together three big efforts within five weeks, but, for a Derby winner, the five weeks can actually be an advantage. The Preakness has become easily the least difficult race to win in the series. Year in and year out, it normally includes the Derby winner, two or three horses that didn’t run well in the Derby and a few new faces, none of them that good. That’s why so many horses over the last couple of decades have won the first two legs.

This is a completely different task. Tiz the Law will resurface in a Kentucky Derby that will, as is always the case, be the hardest of the Triple Crown races to win. At least one very serious horse in GI Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A.P. (Honor Code) will be there waiting for him. So will Santa Anita Derby runner-up Authentic (Into Mischief). There will also be, no doubt, some new faces that have yet to be tested but will be ready for prime time come Sept. 5. We may have even seen one on the Belmont card in Happy Saver (Super Saver). A first-time starter, he romped for Todd Pletcher in the fifth race and looked more than worthy of tackling stakes competition.
The 2020 Triple Crown is different. Different doesn’t mean easier. Tiz the Law will have to hold his form over a 15-week period and not get injured, which is far from easy. He will have to face a slew of new challengers. He will have to prove that he can handle the track at Churchill Downs, where he suffered his only career defeat, in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. last year.

If the Belmont were won by a 10-1 shot, probably no one would be thinking about the Triple Crown. But there are no doubts that Tiz the Law is good enough to pull this off. Time will tell if he is special, but, for now, we know that he is a very, very good horse who sits atop a division that has been decimated by injuries.

Who can beat him? You can’t possibly come up with a long list, but one horse who might belong in that group is the filly, Gamine (Into Mischief). As good as Tiz the Law was Saturday, he was not the most impressive performer on the card. Her GI Acorn was simply one of the best performances of modern times. She was that good.
She won by 18 3/4 lengths and obliterated the stakes record. As great as she ran, I don’t see any reason why trainer Bob Baffert and owner Michael Petersen wouldn’t run her next in a Kentucky Derby prep and find out if their spectacular filly belongs in the Kentucky Derby or not.

She might be able to beat Tiz the Law and so might Honor A.P. Then again, it might be that the New York-bred star is that much better than every other 3-year-old on the planet. That could mean a 14th Triple Crown winner, a deserving Triple Crown winner.

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