Sackatoga Stables | Horse Racing Free Tips

Tiz the Law Returns to Worktab

Sackatoga Stables’ Tiz the Law (Constitution) returned to the worktab for the first time since finishing second to Authentic (Into Mischief) as the favorite in the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby, breezing a half-mile in an easy :50.07 with regular exercise rider Heather Smullen in the irons.

“It was a nice, easy work,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “I wasn’t looking for much. I just wanted him to go out there and stretch his legs. He hadn’t done anything in three weeks.”

Prior to his hard-trying runner-up effort in the Derby, the New York-bred had been perfect in four starts at three, including the GI Curlin Florida Derby, the GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. Earlier this week, Sackatoga’s Jack Knowlton announced that Tiz the Law would give the Oct. 3 GI Preakness S. a miss and that the colt would be trained up to his first try against older horses in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 7.

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Quality Road Filly Tops First Session Of Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase At $1.5 Million

The 2020 yearling sales season kicked off on a sunny pre-autumn day Wednesday with the first session of the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase in Lexington, Ky.

A filly by Quality Road topped the session when sold for $1.5 million to Robbie Medina, agent for Joseph Allen.

Offered as Hip 232 by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, agent, the filly is out of Irish One Thousand Guineas winner Marvelous. That daughter of Galileo, who has already produced a stakes winner in Fort Myers, is out of Group 2 winner You'resothrilling, a full-sister to European Horse of the Year and successful sire Giant's Causeway. Marvellous is a full-sister to Group 1 winners Gleneagles and Happily, as well as to group stakes winners Taj Mahal and Coolmore. The session-topper was bred in Kentucky by Orpendale, Chelston and Wynatt.

The session's top colt was Hip 274, a son of 2019 leading sire Into Mischief, sire of this year's Kentucky Derby winner Authentic. Dr. Dermot O'Byrne purchased the top colt for $700,000 from the consignment of Denali Stud, agent. The colt is a half-brother to multiple graded stakes winner Made You Look, out of an Unbridled's Song daughter of champion Serena's Song. The colt was bred in Kentucky by Lewis Thoroughbred Breeding.

Also sold at that price was a daughter of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. Donato Lanni, agent for Michael Lund Petersen, purchased the filly, offered as Hip 285, from the consignment of Blue Heaven Farm. The filly is out of graded stakes winner Our Khrysty, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Bullsbay from the immediate family of Grade 1 winning millionaire Grecian Flight. The filly was bred in Kentucky by the consignor.

The session opened with an offering of preferred New York-bred yearlings. Those Empire-state breds were topped by a son of Tiznow purchased for $300,000 by Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable, who purchased this year's Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law at the New York Bred Yearlings sale in 2018.

Offered as Hip 135 by Hunter Valley Farm, agent, the Tiznow colt is a half-brother to three stakes horses, including Grade 2 winner Bye Bye Bernie. His dam, the stakes placed Gilded Time mare Eternal Grace, is a half-sister to the dam of New York-bred graded stakes winner Control Group. Hip 135 was bred in New York by Barry R. Ostrager.

The second-highest price in the New York-bred section was Hip 71, a colt by Candy Ride purchased for $295,000 by Dr. Dermot O'Byrne from the consignment of Eaton Sales, agent. The colt is the second foal out of the unraced Any Given Saturday mare Sweet Love, a full sister to graded stakes winner Adventist and a half-sister to three other stakes winners. Hip 71 was bred in New York by Joe Fafone.

The first session grossed $27,166,000 from 172 yearlings sold. The average was $157,942 and the median was $100,000.

“Statistically, we had no expectations,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning. “It's impossible to know how to compare this sale to the 2019 results. What we hoped to achieve was to have a viable marketplace, to have commerce to be conducted amongst buyers and sellers, to create an environment to help restore some confidence in the marketplace and provide it some stability and foundation for the 2020 yearling sales, and we're only halfway through. I'm going to be cautious in my overall analysis at this point, but I'm very, very encouraged.

“I think anytime you start a sale, there's a little bit of trepidation, and it takes a little bit of time to find its way, to get a little confidence, and I think that was certainly the case today, but as we progressed through the day, people gained more and more confidence,” he continued. “I think people have rolled up their sleeves, both buyers and sellers, and demonstrated that the game's alive and well. Hopefully we'll have a strong day tomorrow.”

Session results are available online. The Selected Yearlings Showcase continues Sept. 10 at 10 a.m..

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Tiz the Law Owner Fights Off Leukemia, Makes It To the Derby

Roger Sofer won’t be at Churchill Downs Saturday to cheer on Tiz the Law (Constitution) in the GI Kentucky Derby, but he will be at home, watching, hoping and rooting for a horse he co-owns along with 31 other partners in the Sackatoga Stable syndicate. He’s not complaining

Back in mid-March, right before the GI Florida Derby, Sofer got the chilling diagnosis that he had leukemia. He vowed to beat the disease but knew the odds were against him and he didn’t know what the next few months would entail.

“Roger is a fighter,” said Jack Knowlton, who heads the Sackatoga team.

The fighter is still standing, and he will make it to Kentucky Derby day.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” the 70-year-old Houston resident said. “It’s just a very slow process and I am tired all the time. But I’m not complaining.”

Sofer exercised regularly and kept his weight down, so he wasn’t too worried when he developed a rash in March. He had it checked out and the news was devastating. The doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center told him that he had a rare and aggressive form of leukemia and there was no known cure for what he had. They gave him a year.

“It was staggering,” he said. “I woke up with a skin rash and there was nothing else wrong with me. I am someone who works out six days a week, and has weighed the same for 40 years. Turned out it was leukemia.”

He began treatment immediately, undergoing chemotherapy seven days a week. He was let out of the hospital just in time to watch the GI Florida Derby, getting home about an hour before the race.

The Sackatoga family had already endured one tragedy. In October, Tiz the Law partner Bruce Phillips passed away. Sofer vowed that his story would not end the same way.

“I am looking forward to beating the brains out of this thing,” he said.

At least he had something to take his mind off of his illness. When Tiz the Law won the Florida Derby and Sofer vowed that not only would he attend the Kentucky Derby he would bring the doctor from MD Anderson who had helped him through his ordeal. If not for COVID-19, those would have been goals he would have met. Then there was the GI Belmont S. and then the GI Travers S. Sofer watched them all from home from what became his lucky television and wearing the same clothes every time.

“Tiz has been great because he gives me something else to think about,” Sofer said. “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.”

It wasn’t just the horse. He said Knowlton and the other Sackatoga partners have always done whatever they could to keep his spirits up.

“Roger is a tremendously caring guy,” Knowlton said. “He’s a huge, huge supporter of horse aftercare. I can’t say enough good things about Roger, and we were all really saddened by the situation he was in. We’re hopeful the treatment will be successful and he’ll be back with us watching the races next year.”

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 a 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.

“To be involved with Tiz the Law you never think you’re going to get lucky like we’ve gotten lucky with this guy. It’s dream,” he said.

While Sofer was hanging in, his doctors were still concerned and told him that he would die if not getting a bone marrow transplant. With his son acting as the donor, Sofer got the transplant July 2, 12 days after Tiz the Law won the Belmont. He’s convinced that the transplant has allowed him to turn another corner.

“We are going for the cure,” he said. “They don’t want to just make you feel better. They’re in the cure business here at MD Anderson.”

He is now receiving treatment just three days a week as an out patient and is not currently undergoing chemotherapy.

“The heavy lifting has been done,” Sofer said. “Thank God, I am doing well.”

His goal now is to stay that way.

“I really believe I’m going to beat these thing,” Sofer said. “I don’t know if I’m going to beat it for 20 years. But, overall, if I can just stay normally healthy I’m going to be around long time.”

Which might mean watching Tiz the Law win a Triple Crown or have another standout season next year. Being part of a once-in-a-lifetime horse and winning a battle against leukemia, Sofer has come to believe that anything is possible.

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‘The Pinnacle Of What We Hope For’: Tiz The Law A ‘Star Pupil’ On And Off The Track

Belmont Stakes hero Tiz the Law, born at Sequel Stallions in Hudson, N.Y., and raised in Versailles, Ky., by breeder Twin Creeks Farm, is the even-money morning-line favorite for Saturday's Grade 1, $1-million Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

The two outfits enjoy a strong relationship, with Sequel Stallions serving as home to the Twin Creeks Racing Stables' campaigned stallions Mission Impazible and Destin.

Becky Thomas, owner of Sequel Stallions, said Tiz the Law, a son of Constitution, displayed intelligence and athletic promise from his very first steps.

“We just showed him what we wanted him to do and he listened,” said Thomas. “We try very hard as a farm to be able to breed and raise a good horse and Tiz the Law is the pinnacle of what we hope for.”

Randy Gullatt, who manages Twin Creeks Farm for director Steve Davison, has been associated with Tiz the Law since the colt and his Grade 2-winning dam Tizfiz shipped to Kentucky just 90 days after being foaled.

Tiz the Law excelled at the 230-acre farm before shipping back up to New York for the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred Yearling Sale, and Gullatt said that not much has changed in terms of the horse's demeanor.

“He was very similar to what he is now,” Gullatt said. “Just very easy to manage, very happy, very intelligent and very pleasant to be around.”

Thomas said Tiz the Law exuded class ahead of the sale, where he was purchased for $110,000 by Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stables.

“I have found that horses who are smart may go to a place with new surroundings, look around and just process their new environment, but those kinds of horses are the ones that make good racehorses,” said Thomas. “You can go from one place to the next, ship them and move them because they're smart. They want to please you, they stay in their tub, they do the right thing, and they show well at the sale. Tiz the Law was a class act and a star pupil all the way through.

“I wish we could have all babies and yearlings like Tiz the Law,” Thomas added. “They're the kind that the veterinarian doesn't know because nothing is wrong with them. Your help goes to the sale and lead them out because they aren't problematic. He's one of those horses that are always wanting to please, did everything right, and are well-balanced.”

Tiz the Law was a winner at first asking at Saratoga for trainer Barclay Tagg on Aug. 8, 2019, exactly one year removed from Saturday's Travers.

The talented bay has since flourished, winning three Grade 1 races including last year's Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park, the Florida Derby in March at Gulfstream Park and most recently, the Belmont Stakes, where on June 20 he became the first New York-bred in 138 years to win the American classic.

Gullatt and Thomas have both identified Tiz the Law's athleticism as his most outstanding attribute.

“I think 'athletic' would be the word I use more commonly than others,” Thomas said. “He's not a big, stretchy horse, he's a medium-sized horse. Tiz the Law, even though he wasn't a big overpowering horse, he had really good length in his back and those horses cover a lot of ground and they have a lot of room to reach up under them when they're moving. In his case, how he runs is how he walked.”

“He was a very athletic horse,” Gullatt concurred. “He had a very good hind leg on him. I think his mind was just so good. He was very easy to please and loved his job. He wasn't an overly big horse, but it was all his athleticism and his mind that were his biggest strengths.”

In a game of ups and downs, Thomas said she takes a strong sense of pride in being associated with the development of a horse of Tiz the Law's caliber.

“We sure kiss a lot of frogs before we get to that prince,” Thomas said. “We work really hard to produce a product that succeeds in the sales ring and on the racetrack. It's important to me to be associated with these types of horses and types of mares. It's everything we work for.”

Gullatt won 89 races as a trainer before switching careers, and he praised Tagg for being able to keep Tiz the Law in top form throughout the year.

“What's amazing to me is that it's very difficult to do well for as long as Barclay has had this horse do well and just stay at that peak level,” Gullatt said. “So, I think it just goes to show the strength of the horse and how well he's fit Barclay's program. It's a match made in heaven.”

Fans of Tiz the Law can look forward to seeing his Twin Creeks Racing-owned 2-year-old half-sister Angel Oak, by Mission Impazible, make her debut this fall for trainer Todd Pletcher.

“She was up at Belmont and was off one day, so we decided to back off and give her a little break,” said Gullatt. “She's currently at WinStar but she's training every day and we hope to have her ready in the fall. There's a New York-sired stakes race in December that we have circled that I would love to make.”

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