Tiz the Law Draws Post Six in Travers

GI Belmont S. winner Tiz the Law (Constitution) looks to take his next step down this unconventional GI Kentucky Derby trail in Saturday’s GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga. The even-money morning-line favorite will break from post six with regular rider Manny Franco in the irons.

“I think he’s matured enough now that outside or inside is not going to bother him too much,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “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 six is fine. Five would have been fine. Four would have been fine. Any of those three would have been fine with me.”

‘TDN Rising Star’ Uncle Chuck (Uncle Mo) is the second choice at 5-2 and is drawn in post three. The undefeated Bob Baffert pupil will be piloted by Luis Saez. Belmont third-place finisher and GIII Withers S. victor Max Player (Honor Code) and GIII Peter Pan S. winner Country Grammar (Tonalist) were both given 6-1 morning-line quotes. Trainer by Linda Rice, Max Player drew post four with Joel Rosario in the irons. Chad Brown pupil Country Grammar will be in stall two with Irad Ortiz at the controls.

The rest of the field is as follows: First Line (First Samurai), post one, 30-1; Shivaree (Awesome of Course), post five, 30-1; Caracaro (Uncle Mo), post seven, 10-1; and South Bend (Algorithms), post eight, 15-1.

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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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Max Player Tunes Up for Runhappy Travers

Max Player (Honor Code), who ran on nicely to complete the trifecta in the GI Belmont S. June 20, turned in his final serious work Monday morning ahead of a rematch with Tiz the Law (Constitution) in Saturday’s GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga.

Owned by George Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds, Max Player breezed five furlongs in 1:01.55 over the Belmont training track.

“We worked him in company head and head with another horse and they went five-eighths in 1:01.2. It was just a maintenance breeze,” said trainer Linda Rice. “It was just a nice comfortable breeze. I feel it was exactly what he needed. He’ll ship up to Saratoga on Wednesday and train there.”

Bred by Hall’s K & G Stables, Max Player, a $150,000 buyback at Keeneland September in 2018, broke his maiden at Parx at second asking last December, following that effort with a fast-finishing, 3 1/4-length victory in the GIII Withers S. Feb. 1. He was trained up to the Belmont and was beaten 5 1/4 lengths into third.

“He trained very well into the Belmont and had improved dramatically up to June when the Belmont ran,” said Rice. “Since then, we’ve been holding steady. I haven’t trained him quite as aggressively because he’s not coming off of a five-month layoff this time.”

The in-form Joel Rosario retains the call this weekend.

In other Travers developments:

–Trainer Orlando Noda has tabbed David Cohen to ride recent Saratoga maiden winner First Line (First Samurai) in the 10-furlong event. Cohen was aboard Golden Ticket (Speightstown) when he dead-heated with Alpha (Bernardini) in the 2012 Travers.

TDN Rising Star‘ Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) will pass the Travers in favor of the GII Jim Dandy S. Sept. 5. “We’ve been conservative with the horse up to this point and we’ll stay conservative for now,” trainer Mike Stidham said of the Godolphin homebred, third to Travers aspirant Country Grammar (Tonalist) in the GIII Peter Pan S. July 16.

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‘Level-Headed’ Max Player Puts In Final Work For Saturday’s Travers

George E. Hall and SportsBLX Thoroughbreds Corp.'s Max Player worked five furlongs in 1:01.55 seconds Monday on the Belmont dirt training track in preparation for Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers at Saratoga Race Course.

Trainer Linda Rice said the dark bay Honor Code colt is in good order and will ship up to Saratoga on Wednesday.

“We worked him in company head and head with another horse and they went five-eighths in 1:01.2. It was just a maintenance breeze,” said Rice. “It was just a nice comfortable breeze. I feel it was exactly what he needed. He'll ship up to Saratoga on Wednesday and train there.”

Max Player, bred in Kentucky by K & G Stables, graduated at second asking at Parx in December and followed up with a 3 ¼-length score in the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct Racetrack on February 1.

Last out, racing off a more than four-month layoff in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 20, Max Player rallied to complete the trifecta behind the victorious Tiz the Law and runner-up Dr Post.

This morning's breeze was the fifth over the Belmont dirt training track since his Belmont effort for the improving Max Player.

“He trained very well into the Belmont and had improved dramatically up to June when the Belmont ran,” said Rice. “Since then, we've been holding steady. I haven't trained him quite as aggressively because he's not coming off of a five-month layoff this time.”

Although Max Player won't have the chance to breeze over the Saratoga main track ahead of the Runhappy Travers, he will gallop here later in the week. Rice said she is confident the dark bay will handle the surface.

“He shipped to Parx and ran well. He shipped to Aqueduct and won the Withers on February 1st and had never trained at Aqueduct, he just shipped over from Belmont,” said Rice. “I'm not concerned. He's a pretty level-headed horse and he's easy to train in that respect.”

Joel Rosario, currently second in the Saratoga jockey standings, retains the mount.

Trainer Orlando Noda, who operates Noda Brothers with his brother Jonathan, confirmed Monday that jockey David Cohen would pick up the mount on maiden winner First Line for Saturday's Grade 1 Runhappy Travers.

First Line, a First Samurai chestnut, earned an 84 Beyer when graduating at fourth asking July 29 in a nine-furlong maiden route at the Spa.

Cohen guided 33-1 shot Golden Ticket to a dramatic dead-heat win with Alpha in the 2012 Travers. Noda said the veteran rider would gallop First Line on the Saratoga main track on Tuesday.

“I think he'll give us a good, honest ride,” said Noda. “He'll get on him tomorrow and gallop on the main track and get a feel for the horse.

“It doesn't happen very often to have a horse peak at the right time,” added Noda. “But everything happens for a reason and I think he'll outrun his odds.”

Trainer Mike Stidham said Godolphin homebred Mystic Guide, a closing third last out in the Grade 3 Peter Pan on Opening Day at Saratoga, would take a pass on the Runhappy Travers and point instead to the Grade 2, $150,000 Jim Dandy, a nine-furlong test for sophomores on September 5.

“We're not going to run in the Travers, we're going to hold off and probably run in the Jim Dandy,” said Stidham. “We've been conservative with the horse up to this point and we'll stay conservative for now.”

The field for Saturday's Runhappy Travers currently stands at eight and includes, Caracaro [Gustavo Delgado/Javier Castellano], Country Grammer [Chad Brown/Irad Ortiz, Jr.], First Line [Orlando Noda/David Cohen], Max Player [Linda Rice/Joel Rosario], Shivaree [Ralph Nicks/Junior Alvarado], South Bend [Bill Mott/Jose Ortiz], Tiz the Law [Barclay Tagg/Manny Franco], and Uncle Chuck [Bob Baffert/Luis Saez].

The “Mid-Summer Derby” to be contested at 1 1/4 miles for the country's most talented 3-year-olds is one of three Grade 1s on Saturday, joining the $300,000 Ballerina presented by NYRA Bets for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going seven furlongs in a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

The day will also see sophomore fillies compete in the prestigious Grade 1, $300,000 Longines Test at seven furlongs, with the card bolstered by the Grade 3, $200,000 Troy, a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint for older males, and the Grade 3, $150,000 Waya , a 1 ½-mile turf route for older fillies and mares.

The card will be broadcast on Saratoga Live on FOX Sports and MSG Networks.

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