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Tiz the Law in Good Order After Travers Romp, On to Derby

Sackatoga Stable’s GI Runhappy Travers S. winner Tiz the Law (Constitution) was bright-eyed the morning after his dominant 5 1/2-length victory in Saratoga’s marquee race, for which he received a career-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure. Shortly after training concluded for the morning, trainer Barclay Tagg was at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch standing next to the garland of carnations that had been draped around the now four-time Grade I winner’s neck Saturday. Tagg said his star 3-year-old colt was in good order.

“He looks fine,” Tagg told the NYRA notes team. “I was very pleased with the way he ran. He did everything a good horse ought to do and did it perfectly.”

After becoming the first New York-bred to win the GI Belmont S. in 138 years, Tiz the Law became the first horse bred in the Empire State to win the Travers since Thunder Rumble in 1992. Tiz the Law will now point to the GI Kentucky Derby Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs, which Tagg won with Sackatoga’s Funny Cide in 2003.

“He seems to terrorize the competition when he makes his move,” Tagg said. “Every race I’ve seen, even the first one, has been great. He came off that turn, and I thought, ‘They’re going to run by him like he’s standing still’ and then I look again and he’s three in front. It was the same way yesterday. I thought, ‘Get into him, Manny’ and he just kept running, running, running.”

Tiz the Law will likely have two breezes prior to the Derby, according to Tagg.

“He’ll gallop every day,” Tagg said. “He’ll have about 10 days before we breeze him again. We’ll probably only be able to get two breezes in him before we go out there. We’ll go out there a week ahead of time.”

Travers runner-up Caracaro (Uncle Mo) is likely Derby bound, reported trainer Gustavo Delgado. The lightly-raced colt would be making just his fifth career start in Louisville.

“He came back very good. He’s happy, he ate his food, he’s relaxed. Right now, he’s sleeping. Everything’s good,” Delgado said. “We’ll check with the vet and talk with the owners and my son and decide. As long as there’s no problems, we’ll go to the Derby. Yesterday was a big race, a strong race. I consider Tiz the Law the best horse in the country.”

Third finisher Max Player (Honor Code), who also ran third in the Belmont, has enough qualifying points to be trainer Linda Rice’s first Derby starter, but Rice said she would wait a bit to make a decision on the race.

“He came out of it really well,” Rice said. “He’s a little tired, but otherwise, he’s in good shape. He’s continued to improve and taken baby steps forward. So, we were pleased with that. He’s been pretty consistent and has been moving forward with gentle progress. We’re happy with that. We’re certainly going to keep [the Derby] option open. We’ll give it a few days and I’ll discuss it further with George and Joe De Perio [president of co-owner SportBLX Thoroughbreds] and talk about that later in the week.”

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Caracaro ‘In Another Category’ Than Delgado’s Other Derby Starters

Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing's Caracaro has alternated wins and losses in his brief career, and trainer Gustavo Delgado is hoping that pattern continues as he points the lightly-raced colt to Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers at Saratoga.

Caracaro ran second in his unveiling last December at Gulfstream Park, returning to the South Florida track with an impressive six-length maiden triumph four weeks later. He exited that race with a minor injury that needed time, and he went unraced until finishing second by a neck to fellow Travers aspirant Country Grammer in the Grade 2 Peter Pan on Saratoga's opening day July 16.

For the first time this year, the Travers will offer 100-40-20-10 qualifying points to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, postponed from May 2 to September 5. Caracaro earned 20 points for his Peter Pan effort, and Delgado is looking to ensure the son of champion Uncle Mo's spot in the Run for the Roses.

“We have the chance to run in the Derby. He came here to win,” Delgado said. “It's only three weeks back from the Peter Pan but we have to take the chance. The horse is doing very good. He came back very good, and he likes the track. The horse is very talented, but we need to have good luck.”

Delgado's 31-year-old son and assistant, Gustavo Delgado, Jr., has been with Caracaro since they arrived in Saratoga from South Florida last month. His father, one of Venezuela's most successful trainers who won his country's Triple Crown a remarkable four times before moving to the U.S. in 2014, joined him this week.

Delgado Jr. said the turnaround from the Peter Pan to the Travers is a concern, particularly with their main goal, the Derby, looming in another four weeks. The final leg of the Triple Crown, the Grade 1 Preakness, will be run October 3 at Pimlico Race Course.

“He's doing really good, actually. After the last race we were concerned about running him back after three weeks, but we went easy on him. We only made him gallop,” Delgado, Jr. said. “We did a couple open gallops, nothing with time, and he seems to have accepted that. I think he's ready to run a nice race. We like what we see. The last couple of days he's doing really good. We always wanted to get the points. The horse is good, we're here in Saratoga and he likes the track, so let's do it.”

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, aboard in the Peter Pan, gets the return call in the 1 ¼-mile Travers, a race the fellow Venezuelan has won a record six times, most recently with Catholic Boy in 2018. They will break from post 7 in a field of eight led by even-money program favorite Tiz the Law.

The Delgados were entered to run once before in the Travers, but Majesto had to be scratched after spiking a fever the morning before the 2016 race. They have been to the Derby twice, running 18th with Majesto and 13th with Bodexpress in 2019, and are looking forward to making a third trip.

“The only good thing about the virus is that we have a shot now to make the Derby,” Delgado, Jr. said. “Since he got in the barn last year, we always considered him a nice horse. We're not a big barn where we get a quantity of nice babies every year. We went to the Derby with Majesto and Bodexpress, and you can tell this horse is doing things that the other two didn't do. He's in another category than them.”

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Delgados Derby Dreaming With Late-Blooming Caracaro

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – This summer, the road to Churchill Downs runs through upstate New York and has brought Caracaro (Uncle Mo) from South Florida for the historic GI Runhappy Travers S. Saturday.

Though the Travers is often the late-August goal for the owners and trainers of talented 3-year-olds, the COVID-19 pandemic has produced a serious rewrite of the schedule for elite races and briefly changed its status. Long ago dubbed the “Midsummer Derby,” the 2020 Travers at Saratoga Race Course is a stepping stone to the GI Kentucky Derby Sept. 5.

In their quest for Derby points, trainer Gustavo Delgado and his son and assistant Gustavo Delgado, Jr. shipped lightly raced Caracaro to Saratoga Race Course last month. Caracaro earned 20 points with his narrow second-place finish to Country Grammer (Tonalist) in the GIII Peter Pan S. on opening day, July 16. Those Peter Pan points have him in 25th place, close, but still outside the safety zone to secure one of the 20 berths. The Travers, with 100-40-20-10 points available, is their last chance.

“We’re thinking about qualifying for the Derby,” Delgado, Jr. said. “If he runs in the top three and he comes out good, hopefully we will make the Derby.

Caracaro is making his fourth career start for co-owners Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing and drew post seven in the eight-horse Travers. He will be ridden by Javier Castellano, who holds a record six victories in this event.

Delgado, a hugely successful trainer in his native Venezuela, laughed as he said that the colt–who was injured after his maiden victory Jan. 11 and had six months between starts this year–might make it to the Derby after all.

“Right now, with the pandemic there is a chance,” he said. “If there is no pandemic there is no chance.”

Delgado, Jr. stepped in and translated the rest of his father’s words: “I would say that the only good thing about the virus is that we have a shot in the Derby again.”

If Caracaro delivers a big performance in the 151st Travers, he would take the Delgados to their third Derby. Since emigrating from Venezuela in 2014 and opening a stable in Florida, they have had Majesto (Tiznow), 18th in 2016, and Bodexpress (Bodemeister), 13th last year. Delgado, Jr. said they did everything to get to Louisville with Majesto and Bodexpress.

“There is no comparison to this horse,” Delgado Jr. said. “This horse is way more talented than the last two.”

Caracaro showed that ability in his six-length win in the one-mile maiden score at Gulfstream, the second start of his career. The performance made him a Derby prospect and Rafael Celis of Global Thoroughbreds and his partner Lucas Noriego, who competes as Top Racing, had offers to buy the colt. During the vetting process, he was found to have a bone issue in is hind end that scuttled the sale. Caracaro did not need surgery, but required a three-month layoff.

“After the maiden race, there was a big group interested,” Delgado, Jr. said. “When we were doing the X-ray for the sale, that’s when he found out he had that. We did the right thing and gave him time. Our guess is that he was running with that problem before. He always showed something behind, nothing major, but that’s when we found out. Then we did the right thing and gave him time. We always considered him a good horse.”

Caracaro stayed with the Delgados at Gulstream Park West and returned to light training after his three-month hiatus. He had five breezes before making the trek to Saratoga to try to earn his way into the Derby. He moved to the lead of the Peter Pan in the stretch, but was collared by Country Grammer and lost by a neck. Delgado said he would have skipped the Travers if Caracaro had won the 1 1/8 miles Peter Pan and earned 50 points.

“We would go seven weeks [to the Kentucky Derby] not three weeks [to the Travers],” he said. “Seven weeks is very good. For the horse. For me. Every owner in the world likes to get to the Kentucky Derby.”

Delgado, Jr. picked up the translation for his father: “Normally, we would like to have more time between races, but right now we don’t have any more options.”

After the Peter Pan, Celis and Noriega–who also are partners in Bodexpress–heard from interested buyers, but they have retained ownership.

This weekend Caracaro will try again in the Travers, first run in 1864 and the marquee event of the Saratoga season. It was moved ahead a few weeks from its usual spot in late August to make it a Derby prep. This will be the earliest running of the race since 1916.

“We are here. The horse really likes the track,” Delgado, Jr. said. “He ran second and he ran a helluva race. The Travers is close to the Derby, but it will be hard for us telling the owners we don’t want to run in the Travers. Javier Castellano is open for us and the horse is doing good. So, a lot is going on from the owner’s standpoint. Everybody wants to try. If you have the horse now. It’s not like you are going to save time and see and then something happens after. You have the horse now and the horse is doing good now.”

Though his work tab shows two breezes since the Peter Pan, Delgado said he really could not work Caracaro between races.

“Everything is good. No problem,” he said. “He has only been galloping because he only had three weeks. It was six months, no races. Now it’s very difficult. We considered only galloping, to the Travers. It’s possible that we have good luck.”

The Delgados said they think the mile and a quarter distance of the Travers will suit their colt.

“The horse is going to be relaxed, he’s going to be on his own gallop,” Delgado, Jr. said. “We will feel better in the 10 furlongs. The 10 furlongs will be even better for our horse, that’s what we think. He’s a galloper. You can tell the way he strides he covers a lot of ground. We think he can go even better in the 10 furlongs than in a mile or a mile and an eighth.”

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Travers: Uncle Chuck ‘Will Have To Step It Up,’ Late-Running Max Player Should Love Distance

While Tiz the Law will have to wait to the fall to complete the Triple Crown trail [the Preakness is slated for October 3, just four weeks after the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5], he will be tested in Saturday's Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga by Uncle Chuck. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will ship the lightly raced but talented son of Uncle Mo, who enters 2-for-2.

Unraced as a juvenile, the quarter-million dollar purchase at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale won his debut by seven lengths on June 12 at Santa Anita and handled a step up in class with aplomb in a four-length victory at 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 3 Los Alamitios Derby on July 4.

“He's quick,” Baffert said. “He's a big, tall horse but he's really quick on his feet. He's got a tremendous stride. That's why I thought the mile and a quarter would suit him well. If you can win the Travers, it's a big thing. But Tiz the Law looks unbelievable. I watched his last work and he looked tremendous, so Uncle Chuck will have to step it up. It should be a great race.”

Baffert is a three-time Travers winner, including with Arrogate, who set both the stakes and track record when he dominated the field in 2016, hitting the wire in 1:59.36. Baffert won for a second year in a row with West Coast in 2017.
Luis Saez, aboard for his stakes win, will be in the irons against from post 3. Uncle Chuck is listed at 5-2.

“He's been training well, and I thought he deserves a chance to run in it,” Baffert said. “He's only had two races, but they were pretty impressive. The talent is there, he's just still figuring it out and putting it together.”

Another upstart in the Travers is Max Player, the Belmont Stakes third-place finisher, for trainer Linda Rice.

A winner of the Grade 3 Withers in February at Aqueduct Racetrack, Max Player has never finished off the board in four starts, posting a 2-1-1 ledger. Owned by George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds, Max Player is 15th on the Derby leaderboard with 40 points.

Max Player will stretch out to a mile and a quarter for the first time after competing at 1 1/8 miles in his previous two starts.

“He was closing ground at the end of the mile and an eighth in the Belmont, so I'm hoping the extra distance only works in his favor,” Rice said. “It would be great if we had an honest pace in this race, so it would set up better for a horse coming from off the pace.”

The Honor Code colt is listed as 6-1 on the morning line and will break from post 4 under Joel Rosario, who will have a Travers mount for the fifth consecutive year.

Rice was the first female to win a Saratoga training title when she paced all conditioners with 20 wins in 2009. She will be saddling her second Travers starter and first since Kid Cruz [fourth] in 2014.

“For someone who has raced in New York year round for quite some time now, the Travers is one of those races on your bucket list that you'd really like to win,” Rice said. “It's exciting to be in the race. It's disappointing that we won't have the crowds or the fanfare that goes with it, but I'd still be thrilled to win a race like the Travers.”

The top-two finishers of the Grade 3 Peter Pan on July 16 at Saratoga will make short turnarounds to rematch in the Travers, including the winner Country Grammer, who will bid to give four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown his first “Mid-Summer Derby” victory.

Country Grammer, owned by Paul Pompa, Jr., worked a sharp half-mile Saturday in 47.66 seconds in company with last year's Grade 1 Secretariat winner Valid Point.

A maiden winner at second asking when travelling nine furlongs in November at the Big A, Country Grammer was fifth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in his seasonal debut in February at Gulfstream. Following a closing third in a one-turn, 1 1/16-mile allowance event on June 4 at Belmont, Country Grammer made his return to two turns a winning one in the 1 1/8-mile Peter Pan on Opening Day July 16 at Saratoga.

Brown said the breeze, which was the colt's first since his Peter Pan win, went according to plan.

“The work went super. He's not a great work horse but for him it was one of the better works I've seen. He's gotten a lot stronger,” said Brown. “He's a May foal and he was always destined to fill out and get stronger as he goes along.”
Bred in Kentucky by Scott Pierce and Debbie Pierce, Brown said the bay son of 2014 Belmont Stakes-winner Tonalist should appreciate the additional furlong on Saturday.

“He's looking for more ground,” said Brown. “He's going to have to step it up obviously on short rest and the fact that it's a much tougher race. But the horse, physically, is doing everything you want him to do. We're excited to participate and give him a shot.”

Listed at 6-1, Irad Ortiz, Jr. will have the call from post 2.

Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing's Caracaro was the Peter Pan runner-up, a neck behind Country Grammer. Conditioned by Gustavo Delgado, the son of Uncle Mo ran second in his debut in December at Gulfstream at seven furlongs and broke his maiden with a six-length win at one mile on January 11 at the Florida track before taking the step up in class last month.

Delgado has won his native Venezuela's equivalent of the Triple Crown with Taconeo in 2007 and Water Jet in 2010. He will bid for Saratoga glory with Caracaro, who is listed at 10-1.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano holds a record six Travers wins, two more than the next-closest competitors all-time, and will aim for No. 7, piloting Caracaro from post 7.

Jacks or Better Farm's Shivaree ran second to Tiz the Law in the Grade 1 Florida Derby and will make his first start at Saratoga after compiling two stakes wins, capping his 2-year-old year with a victory in the Buffalo Man at Gulfstream Park and starting 2020 with a Limehouse win on January 4 at Gulfstream.

Trained by Ralph Nicks, Shivaree, a son of Awesome of Course, is listed at 30-1 with Junior Alvarado set to ride from post 5.

South Bend, the runner-up to Dean Martini in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby last out on June 27 at Thistledown, will make his first start for his new connections. Owners Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, Peter Deutsch and Pantofel Stable acquired South Bend and transferred him to the care of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

South Bend, an Algorithms colt, will go for his first graded stakes win, drawing post 8 with Jose Ortiz. He is listed at 15-1.

First Line will make his first stakes appearance in his fifth career start for trainer Orlando Noda, who also co-owns the First Samurai gelding with his brother Jonathan as part of Noda Brothers, LLC.

First Line broke his maiden at fourth asking on July 29 at the Spa and will return off a quick turnaround looking to give the 31-year-old Noda his first career stakes winner. David Cohen will ride from post 1 at 30-1.

“I think we got a perfect post,” Noda said. “He's going to come out running when the gates open and he might just fight the whole mile and a quarter. It is a quick turnaround, but I've hyped this horse up from before he even debuted. These are my points for the Derby. He's a longshot for a reason but he's going to outrun his odds and, God willing, we will win this race.”

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