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‘I’ve Never Seen Him Take A Deep Breath’: Tagg Unconcerned About Travers Distance With Tiz The Law

Trainer Barclay Tagg is looking forward to Saturday's Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga with even money morning-line favorite Tiz The Law, and he doesn't believe the 1 1/4-mile distance will be a problem for the 3-year-old son of Constitution.

“He's done everything we've asked him to do,” Tagg told NYRA publicity after Wednesday's post position draw. “We've been very fortunate. I don't think any distance makes a difference for this horse. From what I've seen, I just don't have any feeling that he can't handle it. It would be nice to win it if we could.

“I've never seen him take a deep breath. I've never had him out of breath after a workout. I've never had him way out of breath after a race and he [cools] off very quickly. His lungs settle right down and nothing seems to be a hazard. I could be all wrong in that. It might change in another eighth of a mile, I don't know, but I've got no reason to worry about it.”

Tiz the Law will break from post position six in a field of eight, and the Sackatoga Stable colt will be ridden by regular jockey Manny Franco.

“I think he's matured enough now that outside or inside is not going to bother him too much,” said Tagg of the post. “I'd prefer that he's on the outside just because you have less chance of getting in trouble. Not that you can't, but you have less chance. I think post 6 is fine. Five would have been fine. Four would have been fine. Any of those three would have been fine with me.”

The Belmont Stakes and Florida Derby winner has a total of 272 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, and tops the current leaderboard approaching the rescheduled classic on Sept. 5. The $1 million Travers will offer 100-40-20-10 points to the top-four finishers.

With four weeks between the Travers and the Run for the Roses, Tiz the Law will face a field that includes lightly-raced Bob Baffert trainee Uncle Chuck, last-out winner of the Los Alamitos Derby.

“Bob Baffert does very, very well,” Tagg said. “He's got fresh stock all the time and good horses, so you've always got to be concerned. But if you let the concern bother you too much, you wouldn't be racing horses. You can't worry about that. All I worry about his having my horse get there the best we can get him there. He's done everything we've asked him to do.”

The full field for the Travers is as follows:

First Line – Orlando Noda – David Cohen (30-1)
Country Grammer – Chad Brown – Irad Ortiz, Jr. (6-1)
Uncle Chuck – Bob Baffert – Luis Saez (5-2)
Max Player – Linda Rice – Joel Rosario (6-1)
Shivaree – Ralph Nicks – Junior Alvarado (30-1)
Tiz the Law – Barclay Tagg – Manny Franco (1-1)
Caracaro – Gustavo Delgado – Javier Castellano (10-1)
South Bend – Bill Mott – Jose Ortiz (15-1)

The post ‘I’ve Never Seen Him Take A Deep Breath’: Tagg Unconcerned About Travers Distance With Tiz The Law appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Jack Knowlton Diary: ‘Machine-like’ Tiz the Law Terrific Entering Travers

Managing partner Jack Knowlton and his fellow Sackatoga Stable owners stepped out of a yellow school bus at Churchill Downs to gain an upset victory with New York-bred gelding Funny Cide in the 2003 Kentucky Derby. In another unexpected twist, Knowlton and Sackatoga have returned to the national spotlight with another stellar New York-bred.

Major Fed Team Decides To Skip Ellis Park Derby, Train Up To Kentucky Derby

Major Fed, runner-up in the Indiana Derby on July 8, had been under consideration for Sunday's Ellis Park Derby at the Henderson, Ky. track. Instead, Travis Foley, assistant and son to trainer Greg Foley, told the Daily Racing Form that the 3-year-old son of Ghostzapper will head straight to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.

Based at Churchill Downs, Major Fed worked a half-mile beneath the Twin Spires in :50.20 on Aug. 1.

“We're happy with where we are with him and comfortable with the points situation,” the younger Foley told drf.com. “Everything's good and we didn't feel like we needed the race in between.”

Major Fed also owns a second-place finish in the G2 Risen Star Stakes, and a fourth from the G2 Louisiana Derby, leaving him with a total of 38 points toward the Kentucky Derby. He currently sits 16th on the points leaderboard.

Ayr Meeting Abandoned

Wednesday’s meeting at Ayr was abandoned after the fourth race after heavy rain was found to have caused patches of false ground. The Scottish track had received more than an inch of rain on Tuesday and it continued to fall during the afternoon on Wednesday, causing conditions to deteriorate.

“Jockeys came in after the third race and reported they felt a bit of false ground,” Clerk of the Course Graeme Anderson told Racing TV. “We had a look but it just seemed to be a wetter area, a heavier patch. They came back in after race four and reported a couple of areas, one about the furlong-and-a-half mark and one about just the half-furlong. We had a look. They were pretty deep holes, just really heavy ground. We’d had eight millimetres since 12:30 [Wednesday] on top of 28mm [Tuesday]. It’s been relentless so it’s taken its toll.”

The card’s last five races were abandoned.

“It’s right in the centre,” Anderson added. “We looked at trying to run the races on the round course and abandon the sprint race, but there’s a fear you can’t avoid it during a race. It was better to be safe than sorry.

“It’s an area where we’ve never had a problem before. It just seems to be wetter than others and just holding water and the holes are starting to fill with the rain coming down. It’s going to ride false. I’m hoping it’s just a case of the amount of rain we’ve had and it’s nothing more than that, but we will definitely be investigating and see what caused it and see what it’s looking like. It’s two weeks on Monday for our next meeting and then the Gold Cup meeting about three and a half weeks after that.”

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