Tag: jack knowlton

Team Tiz The Law, Artist Montgomery To Sign Travers Stakes Posters On Aug. 24

Renowned equine artist Greg Montgomery and the connections of 2020 Travers Stakes winner Tiz the Law — jockey Manny Franco, trainer Barclay Tagg, and Sackatoga Stable operating manager Jack Knowlton — will sign copies of Montgomery's 2021 Travers Stakes poster on Tuesday, Aug. 24 at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. This year's poster, which is the 36th in Montgomery's iconic series honoring the Travers, features Tiz the Law winning the 151st edition of the Midsummer Derby. Posters will be available for purchase for $50. 

Exactly one year after winning his career debut at Saratoga Race Course, Tiz the Law returned to the famous Spa oval with a 5½-length victory in the 2020 Travers with Franco in the irons. The New York-bred son of Constitution entered the Travers following victories in the Belmont Stakes, Florida Derby, and Holy Bull Stakes. Tiz the Law was retired earlier this year with a career record of 6-1-1 from nine starts and earnings of $2,735,300. He is now a stallion at Coolmore America in Kentucky. 

Franco, who currently ranks No. 9 among North American jockeys with earnings of more than $8.8 million this year, has won 1,556 races in a career that began in 2013. Along with the Travers and Belmont, his top victories include the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Diana Stakes, Sword Dancer, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Fourstardave Handicap, Frizette Stakes, and Vosburgh Stakes, among others. 

Tagg has won 1,595 races in his distinguished career, including all three Triple Crown events. He won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes with Sackatoga's champion Funny Cide in 2003 and completed his career sweep of the American Classics when Tiz the Law won the Belmont in 2020. Along with Funny Cide and Tiz the Law, Tagg has trained millionaires Showing Up, Nobiz Like Shobiz, and Tale of Ekati. 

Knowlton has served as Sackatoga's operating manager since 1995. He has also contributed to the thoroughbred racing community in New York and nationally, serving as a member of the NTRA Jockey Insurance Working Group, as a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing in New York State, and on New York State's Task Force on Retired Race Horses. He also played a leadership role in assisting the New York State Gaming Commission in organizing Aftercare Summits in Saratoga Springs in 2015 and 2016. Under Knowlton's leadership, Sackatoga Stable has consistently been a supporter of various aftercare organizations, including Old Friends at Cabin Creek and Equine Advocates.

Montgomery has been producing artwork associated with Saratoga Race Course's famed Travers Stakes since 1986. The annual Travers posters represent the longest continuing series of art featuring a single event by a single artist in racing history. Montgomery has worked as an art director for General Electric and Capital Region Magazine, as well as design editor for the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union. In 2008, he published the book “The History and Art of 25 Travers” along with writer Vic Zast. In 2015, his Travers series was featured in an exhibit at the National Museum of Racing, entitled Greg Montgomery: 30 years of the Travers. 

Montgomery's Travers poster series has been inspired by the rich history of the Travers Stakes, the first race contested on Saratoga Race Course's opening day on Aug. 2, 1864. Named in honor of William R. Travers, the first president of the Saratoga Association, the inaugural Travers Stakes was won by future Hall of Fame member Kentucky, a horse Travers owned in partnership. 

One of the most prestigious races in America, the Travers has been won by Thoroughbred immortals such as Hall of Famers Buckpasser, Damascus, Easy Goer, Eight Thirty, Hindoo, Holy Bull, Native Dancer, Man o' War, and Twenty Grand. A total of 24 Hall of Fame racehorses have won the Travers.

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Thoroughbred Owner Conference Panel Discusses Importance Of Communication, Integrity

The 2021 Thoroughbred Owner Conference series reached the halfway mark with its fifth virtual session, which was held July 6 and featured the perspectives of leading owners and trainers. The conference series is hosted by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and presented by Bessemer Trust, Dean Dorton Equine, Stoll Keenon Ogden, and Stonestreet Farm.

The session, “Owners & Trainers,” was sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds, Taylor Made Farm, and The Green Group. Moderated by Carolyn Conley, panelists included owners Len Green, D.J. Stable; Jack Knowlton, Sackatoga Stable; and Don Little Jr., Centennial Farms. They were joined by Mark Casse, who trains for D.J. Stable; Barclay Tagg, who trains for Sackatoga Stable; and Jimmy Jerkens, who trains for Centennial Farms.

Each member of the group discussed what makes a successful owner/trainer partnership and offered advice to new and prospective owners. Among the suggestions were to choose trainers who will make you a priority and know how to train the types of horses that you want to be racing, whether they are claiming horses or graded stakes horses.

“Try to find a trainer that you're important to and has time to talk to you,” Green said. “Being honest…everyone thinks that's for granted, but it isn't. You need to have common goals.”

“Horsemanship is a key element. I look for someone who doesn't have such a big stable that you're going to be lost,” Knowlton said.

The group also emphasized the importance of trainers who prioritize the welfare of the horses in their care, both on the racetrack and in terms of aftercare.

From the trainers' perspective, the group expressed appreciation for their current owners. They echoed the owners' sentiments of wanting honesty, integrity, and trust as well as owners who encourage them to give horses time off when necessary.

“For the most part, I like giving horses a break. It's something I like doing. You have to have owners who will let you do it,” said Casse.

Don Little pointed out that the racehorse ownership experience should be a positive one. “This is a fun investment. People need to look at this as entertainment.”

He also stressed the importance of aftercare.

“All owners should know that [aftercare] is part of your responsibility if you get in this business,” he said. “Don't just get in to be an owner and win big races; you've got to be conscious about the end result for those horses that aren't at the top level. It's a priority.”

The sixth session of the series, “Jockeys,” will be held on Tuesday, August 3, at 2 p.m. ET. It is sponsored by Airdrie Stud, Starlight Racing, and The Green Group. It will be moderated by former track announcer Tom Durkin, and panelists will include retired jockeys Donna Barton Brothers, Chris McCarron, and Gary Stevens.

All sessions will be recorded and made available to registered guests. There is no registration fee for the live or recorded virtual conference series, but registration is required. For more information about the owner conference series, including the full schedule of panels and registration, please visit ownerview.com/event/conference or contact Gary Falter at gfalter@jockeyclub.com.

OwnerView is a joint effort spearheaded by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to encourage ownership of Thoroughbreds and provide accurate information on aspects of ownership such as trainers, public racing syndicates, the process of purchasing and owning a Thoroughbred, racehorse retirement, and owner licensing.

The need for a central resource to encourage Thoroughbred ownership was identified in the comprehensive economic study of the sport that was commissioned by The Jockey Club and conducted by McKinsey & Company in 2011. The OwnerView site was launched in May 2012.

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Sackatoga Stable Partner Roger Sofer Passes Away

Roger Sofer, a partner in the Sackatoga Stable syndicate that owned GI Belmont S. winner Tiz the Law (Constitution), passed away Wednesday after a bout with leukemia. He was 71.

Sofer, a Houston resident, received the diagnosis that he had leukemia in March 0f 2020, right about the time that Tiz the Law was emerging as one of the leading contenders for the GI Kentucky Derby. He began treatment immediately, undergoing chemotherapy seven days a week. He was let out of the hospital just in time to watch Tiz the Law win the GI Florida Derby, getting home about an hour before the race.

With Tiz the Law continuing to flourish, Safer had found something to take his mind off of his fight against leukemia.

“Tiz has been great because he gives me something else to think about,” Sofer told the TDN in September. “The Houston press has been really good to me. My story has been in the papers here quite a bit. They got all the clippings up in the unit at the hospital, so everybody there knows my story and everybody there is rooting for Tiz.”

After hearing the diagnosis, Sofer grew determined to attend the Derby. With his health beginning to improve, he would have met that goal, but decided not to attend because of the coronavirus outbreak.

“I am devastated,” said Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga. “He just loved the game. He was passionate about it. This is a big loss for Sackatoga and for me personally, He was one of the people I was closest to. We spent an awful lot of time together, particularly at Saratoga. He was just a great guy.”

Sofer was born in Queens and had been a lifelong fan before deciding to go into ownership. He bought a few horses on his own and went in on some others with the team at Hidden Brook Farm. He met Knowlton in 2008 and decided to give Sackatoga a try after watching the stable's Doc N Roll (Wheelaway) win the Cab Calloway S. for New York breds at Saratoga.

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Tiz The Law: Best-Laid Plans For A 4-Year-Old Campaign Go Awry

To borrow a term used by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I was skeptically hopeful when Coolmore announced it had bought the breeding rights to Tiz the Law following the Constitution colt's 3 ¾-length victory in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, shortened to 1 1/8 miles and run as the opening leg of the Triple Crown on June 20.

Hopeful because of the comment made at the time by Jack Knowlton, managing partner of Tiz the Law's owner, Sackatoga Stable, that the partnership was “excited to see what Tiz the Law has in store on the track for the remainder of his 3-year-old year and beyond…”

Skeptical because I know what kind of pressure stallion operations like Coolmore can place on owners and trainers when they get their tentacles into a top prospect. And let's face it: Coolmore's emphasis is on acquiring stallion prospects with early racing success. Only two horses on the sizable stallion roster at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., raced as 4-year-olds after winning Grade 1 races at 2 or 3: Mo Town and Maximum Security.

So when I saw the news release from Coolmore stating that Tiz the Law had been retired from racing “on veterinary advice” and with no further explanation, my hopefulness turned to flat-out skepticism. I'd seen this movie before.

After seeing the Tweet, Knowlton called to assure me this was not some manufactured excuse to shuffle Tiz the Law into his next career before the 2021 breeding season begins.

“We're crushed,” Knowlton said, saying he called Sackatoga's 30-some partners with the bad news. “Believe me, nobody wanted him running next year more than me. We were so looking forward to the Pegasus (Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Jan. 23).”

He added that the race he really wanted to win this coming year was Saratoga's G1 Whitney at his hometown track in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Knowlton called Tiz the Law's G1 Travers win at Saratoga his personal highlight of the stable star's 3-year-old season.

Knowlton said Robin Smullen, assistant to trainer Barclay Tagg, “sensed something wasn't right” after she took Tiz the Law out for a routine gallop Tuesday morning at Palm Meadows training center. He was scheduled to breeze on Jan. 3 in what would have been his sixth workout since a disappointing sixth-place finish as the favorite in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

“I got the call from Barclay that I always dread,” Knowlton said. “Our vet took X-rays and found there was significant bone bruising in the lower part of the cannon bone in a front leg. We had another vet take a look at it and both said the same thing: 'You really don't have any choice.'

“I'm really thankful that Robin caught it when she did.”

We're rarely privy to stallion contracts between a stud farm and a horse's owner, a major exception being Coolmore's deal to buy the breeding interests of American Pharoah from Ahmed Zayat. That contract became an exhibit in a lawsuit filed against Zayat by a lender.

The stallion deal, signed in January of the eventual Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup Classic winner's 3-year-old season, spelled out the retirement plans for the horse, specifically saying it could be no later than Nov. 30, 2015. Prior to then, the contract stated, “In the event that the horse is under performing or is injured, a panel of Ahmed Zayat, Paul Shanahan (a Coolmore associate) and (trainer) Bob Baffert will meet to discuss and decide whether to modify or terminate the horse's racing career. Each person shall be entitled to one vote. Any decision to modify or terminate the horse's racing career will be made upon the affirmative vote of at least two persons.”

Knowlton said he negotiated the contract to ensure Tiz the Law had the opportunity race at 4. He said there were contingencies for himself, Tagg and an Ashford representative to discuss what to do if the horse went off form.

But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. That's especially true when you're dealing with a finely tuned athlete like a Thoroughbred racehorse.

Tiz the Law goes off to stud with six wins from nine starts over two racing seasons, including four Grade 1 victories. He was defeated in his final two starts, beaten on the square by Authentic to be second in the G1 Kentucky Derby and then failing to hit the board for the only time in the Breeders' Cup.

He was in good hands throughout his career, trained by someone whose “numbers” may not fit the criteria for some Hall of Fame voters but whose wisdom and old school horsemanship have earned the respect of his peers.

Tiz the Law's owners are in the game for the fun of racing, not the business of breeding like the corporate stables that now dominate – a band of Davids competing against an army of Goliaths. Like kids on a Ferris wheel, they wanted to go around one more time.

I remain skeptically hopeful that someday soon we'll see another horse who was a Grade 1 winner at 2 and a Classic winner at 3 that will be pointed for and complete a full campaign at 4.

But I'm not holding my breath.

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