Belmont Stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

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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Aftermath: Pletcher, Rice Ponder Next Starts For Belmont’s Second- And Third-Place Finishers

Trainer Todd Pletcher reported that Dr Post emerged from his game runner-up effort in Saturday's Grade 1 Belmont Stakes in good order, and that the son of Quality Road could be slated for more Grade 1 action.

Pletcher, a three-time winner of the Belmont, said the Grade 1 $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 18 at Monmouth Park or the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8 at Saratoga are both likely targets for the dark bay colt.

“Both of those races are in play. It just depends on how he bounces out of the race,” Pletcher said at his barn Sunday morning. “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.”

Owned by Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable, Dr Post arrived at this year's first leg of the Triple Crown off a stakes triumph in the Unbridled at Gulfstream Park on April 25 after breaking his maiden over the South Florida oval just one day after Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law picked up a second Grade 1 victory in the Florida Derby.

“We always felt confident that a lot of ground won't be an issue for him. It was a very encouraging effort,” Pletcher said. “Considering he broke his maiden the day after Tiz the Law won the Florida Derby, that's a lot of progress to make in short period of time. Hopefully he keeps improving.”

Bred in Kentucky by Cloyce C. Clark, Dr Post is out the graded stakes-winning Hennessy broodmare Mary Delaney and was a $400,000 acquisition from the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Hunter Valley Farm.

Pletcher also debuted a potential rising star on Saturday afternoon in Wertheimer and Frere's Happy Saver, who graduated at first asking by 5 ½ lengths under Irad Ortiz, Jr.

“He had been training well,” Pletcher said. “We were looking forward to getting him started. I have to admit, the win was more impressive than I could have hoped for. It's always exciting when you have that. It surprised me when he showed as much as he did.”

The winning effort garnered an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

Pletcher is not in any hurry to run the talented son of Super Saver against stakes company.

“There are plenty of options, so we'll let him take us where we need to go,” Pletcher said.

In the Belmont Stakes, Pletcher also saddled stakes-placed Farmington Road who finished a distant eighth and said that the track was tough to make up ground on Saturday.

“We'll have to find a track that's more kind to closers,” Pletcher said.

Third-Place Finisher Max Player Gains Valuable Experience

George E. Hall's Max Player rallied from second-last in the 10-horse field to finish third in the Belmont. Trainer Linda Rice said the Honor Code colt came out of his first race in four months in good order on Sunday morning.

“He came out good and looked good this morning; no problems,” Rice said.

Max Player, with Joel Rosario aboard, tracked in ninth position as Tap It to Win led the field through the opening quarter-mile in 23.11 seconds an the half in 46.16. While Tiz the Law made a strong move out of the turn that propelled him to his 3 ¾-length victory, Max Player went seven-wide from the upper stretch but kicked on impressively, besting Pneumatic by 2 ½ lengths to finish on the board.

“He was a little further back than I hoped,” Rice said. “I was hoping we'd have been a little closer early in the midpack. He had a lot to do because of that. He ran a little green into the kick-back once again. Joel had to circle pretty wide, but he was running at the end of it.”

Though showing some signs of inexperience, Max Player has been consistent, with a career record of 2-1-1 in four starts. The Kentucky bred ran second in his debut in November at Parx before ending his juvenile campaign with a maiden-breaking win at second asking in December at the same track.

In his stakes debut, he topped an eight-horse field to win the Grade 3 Withers by 3 ¼ lengths on February 1 at Aqueduct, registering an 86 Beyer for his victory in the Kentucky Derby prep race.

Making his first start off the layoff, Max Player earned a personal-best 92 Beyer for his effort in the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile Belmont Stakes.

“Coming off a 4 ½-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.”

Rice said she had no confirmed next steps yet for Max Player but will talk with Hall and come up with a plan. The Saratoga summer meet runs Thursday, July 16, through Monday, September 7, and includes multiple options for 3-year-olds on the main track, led by the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers at 1 ¼ miles on August 8 and also including the Grade 2, $150,000 Jim Dandy at 1 1/8 miles on September 5.

“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,” Rice said.

Rice saddled her first Belmont Stakes entrant in 17 years, when Supervisor finished fifth in 2003. Already just one of 10 women to train a Belmont Stakes runner, Rice had the second-best finisher from that group, with only the Dianne Carpenter-trained Kingpost coming closer when second to Risen Star in 1988.

Despite being run at a shorter distance and without spectators, Rice said earning the black type in a Triple Crown race for the first time in her career was special. He also said Max Player showed the potential to possibly run in the Kentucky Derby on September 5 at Churchill and the Preakness on October 3 at Pimlico if things continue to go well.

“It was pretty exciting, it would have been more exciting if we had our typical crowd that could join us, but it was great and I think he ran well enough to show that he could possibly win a Classic in his future,” Rice said.

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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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