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Tiz The Law Expected Favorite For Pool 6 Of Kentucky Derby Future Wager

Sackatoga Stable's multiple Grade I winner Tiz the Law has been at the top of the Kentucky Derby standings for nearly 10 months and is the expected favorite in Pool 6 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDFW”), which will run Friday to Sunday.

Pool 6 of the KDFW will run concurrently with Pool 2 of the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager. In addition to Win and Exacta betting, an Oaks/Derby Future Double is part of the wagering menu. The wagers will open Friday at noon (all times Eastern) and the KDFW will close Sunday at 6 p.m. while the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will close 30 minutes later at 6:30 p.m.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both the $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) and $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (GI) were postponed to the first Friday and Saturday in September, respectively. This weekend's Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will be the final opportunity to wager on the race prior to the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks while the KDFW will offer an additional pool on Aug. 7-9.

Veteran odds maker Mike Battaglia has installed Tiz the Law as the 5-2 morning line favorite out of 24 betting interests in Pool 6 of the KDFW. Trained by Barclay Tagg, Tiz the Law has been one of the top individual betting favorites in each of the first five pools of the KDFW. So far, the highest odds that Tiz the Law offered was 11-1 in Pool 1. In the last four pools, he closed at odds of 8-1, 7-1, 7-1 and 2-1, respectively. Tiz the Law is expected to have one additional prep race prior to the Kentucky Derby in the $1 million Travers Stakes (GI) on Aug. 8 at Saratoga.

One of the other horses that is likely take betting interest is Bruce Lunsford's $600,000 Blue Grass (GII) winner Art Collector. Trained by Tommy Drury, Art Collector went off at 20-1 in Pool 5 of the KDFW, which closed three weeks prior to his Blue Grass victory. Art Collector solidified his spot in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby and currently sits at No. 4 on the leaderboard with 100 points.

Other top betting interests in Pool 6 of the KDFW include C R K Stable's $400,000 Santa Anita Derby (GI) hero Honor A.P. (5-1); Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman's late Triple Crown nominee Uncle Chuck (10-1); and Spendthrift Farm, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables' Santa Anita Derby runner-up Authentic (10-1).

Seven betting interests in Pool 6 of the KDFW were not offered in Pool 5: Attachment Rate (50-1); Dean Martini (50-1); Major Fed (50-1); Modernist (50-1); Shared Sense (30-1); South Bend (50-1); and Storm the Court (50-1). This is the first pool that Attachment Rate, Dean Martini and Shared Sense have been offered and the first time since Pool 1 that South Bend has been offered.

Dean Martini, Rushie and Shared Sense are not currently nominated to the Kentucky Derby but can become eligible with a $45,000 late payment due at the time of entry.

Here's the complete Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 6 field (with morning line odds): #1 Art Collector (9-2); #2 Attachment Rate (50-1); #3 Authentic (10-1); #4 Cezanne (20-1); #5 Dean Martini (50-1); #6 Dr Post (20-1); #7 Enforceable (30-1); #8 Honor A. P. (5-1); #9 King Guillermo (30-1); #10 Major Fed (50-1); #11 Max Player (30-1); #12 Modernist (50-1); #13 Mystic Guide (50-1); #14 Ny Traffic (50-1); #15 Pneumatic (30-1); #16 Rushie (30-1); #17 Shared Sense (30-1); #18 South Bend (50-1); #19 Storm the Court (50-1); #20 Thousand Words (50-1); #21 Tiz the Law (5-2); #22 Uncle Chuck (10-1); #23 “All 3-Year-Old Fillies” (12-1); and #24 “All Other 3-Year-Old Males” (15-1).

In the Oaks Future Wager, top 3-year-old fillies Gamine (9-5) and Swiss Skydiver (3-1) are expected to take much of the betting attention in the field of 24 interests.

Gamine, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert and owned by Michael Petersen, scored a dazzling 18 ¾-length victory in the $300,000 Acorn (GI). The undefeated daughter of Into Mischief has been highly regarded since her debut in early March and defeated eventual $400,000 Ashland (GI) winner Speech two starts ago in a first-level allowance event at Oaklawn Park.

Gamine could clash with Peter Callahan's three-time graded stakes winner Swiss Skydiver on the first Friday in September. Trained by Kenny McPeek, Swiss Skydiver was the runner-up behind Art Collector in last weekend's Blue Grass at Keeneland. McPeek reported his plans remain in flux when it came to try Swiss Skydiver once again against males in the Kentucky Derby or point toward the Kentucky Oaks.

Other top fillies expected to take betting attention in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager include Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Madaket Stables' Speech; Kaleem Shah, Mrs John Magnier, Michel Tabor and Derrick Smith's come-backing $100,000 Santa Ysabel (GIII) winner Donna Veloce (12-1); Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC, Thomas Reiman, William Dickson and Deborah Easter's $300,000 Rachel Alexandra (GII) victor Finite; and Ciaglia Racing, Highland Yard, River Oak Farm and Dominic Savides' Ashland runner-up Venetian Harbor (12-1).

Pool 2 entrants Altaf (30-1), Mundaye Call (50-1), Paris Lights (50-1) and Project Whiskey (50-1) are not currently nominated to the Kentucky Oaks but can become eligible with a $500 late nomination on Aug. 15. Queen of God (50-1) was not originally nominated to the Oaks but Churchill Downs officials have received her late $500 nomination fee.

Here is the field for Pool 2 of the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager (with morning line odds): #1 Altaf (30-1); #2 Bayerness (50-1); #3 Bonny South (30-1); #4 Donna Veloce (12-1); #5 Dream Marie (50-1); #6 Envoutante (30-1); #7 Finite (12-1); #8 Gamine (9-5); #9 Harvey's Lil Goil (20-1); #10 Impeccable Style (30-1); #11 Mundaye Call (50-1); #12 Paris Lights (50-1); #13 Pleasant Orb (50-1); #14 Project Whiskey (50-1); #15 Queen of God (50-1); #16 Shedaresthedevil (30-1); #17 Speech (8-1); #18 Spice is Nice (20-1); #19 Swiss Skydiver (3-1); #20 Tempers Rising (50-1); #21 Tonalist's Shape (30-1); #22 Venetian Harbor (12-1); #23 Water White (50-1); and #24 “All Other 3-Year-Old Fillies” (20-1).

On March 17, Churchill Downs Incorporated announced the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (GI) would be rescheduled from Saturday, May 2 to Saturday, Sept. 5 amid public health concerns in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Future Wagers feature $2 Win and Exacta wagering, and provides fans of Thoroughbred racing with opportunities to place bets on possible entrants in the Kentucky Derby at odds that could be far greater than those available on the day of the race. A special Oaks/Derby Double wager also will be offered.

Bets for the KDFW can be placed on TwinSpires.com and other online wagering outlets across North America. There are no refunds in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager. Should Churchill Downs officials determine during the duration of the three-day pool that one of the wagering interests has experienced an injury, illness or other circumstance that would prevent the horse from participating in the Kentucky Derby, betting on the individual horse will be suspended immediately.

More information and real-time odds are available online at www.kentuckyderby.com/futurewager.

The post Tiz The Law Expected Favorite For Pool 6 Of Kentucky Derby Future Wager appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘Back With Another Chance’: Tiz The Law Arrives In Saratoga To Prep For Travers

Sackatoga Stables' Tiz the Law shipped from Belmont park up to Saratoga on Monday, reports The Daily Gazette, in order to prep for this year's edition of the Grade 1 Travers Stakes. The 3-year-old colt won the Belmont Stakes in his most recent outing, and is expected to run in the Aug. 8 Travers before the rescheduled Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.

“Like (trainer) Barclay (Tagg) said, he's always wanted to win the Travers, and obviously I've always wanted to win the Travers,” Sackatoga's Jack Knowlton told The Daily Gazette. “We were deeply disappointed that (Sackatoga and Tagg's 2003 Kentucky Derby winner) Funny Cide got sick and we weren't able to run it. Now we're back with another chance, and maybe we can do what we did with the Belmont.”

Tiz the Law gave Tagg and Sackatoga the victory in the Belmont Stakes they'd been denied with Funny Cide, 17 years after the “gutsy gelding” took the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Though the three-race series is out of order in this unusual 2020 season, Knowlton and Tagg are looking forward to their chance to bring another New York-bred to racing's center stage.

“He's a good horse,” Knowlton continued. “We'll find out how good, because there's going to be challenges.”

Kentucky Derby Consignor Standings Presented By Keeneland: Knowlton’s Million-Dollar Stretch For Tiz The Law

Since we've already examined the purchase of Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law from the perspective of consignor Sequel New York in this series – which can be read here – this time around, we'll look at the transaction from the viewpoint of Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable and trainer Barclay Tagg.

Anytime someone whispers “one more time” in the ear of the person beside them at a Thoroughbred auction, the goal is to not become the unfortunate person that let the next great racehorse slip away over a few thousand bucks.

Most of the time, that “one more time” bid isn't the one that saves a superstar from the clutches of another owner, but Jack Knowlton's $10,000 stretch over budget to land Tiz the Law at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale swung the fate of a future Belmont Stakes winner and earner of more than $1.1 million to date.

Knowlton entered the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion that day with a $100,000 budget targeted for Hip 311, a first-crop Constitution colt out of the Grade 2-winning Tiznow mare Tizfiz. The colt had passed every physical, pedigree, and veterinary test that trainer Barclay Tagg and assistant trainer Robin Smullen put before him, and trusting a partnership that spans 25 years, Knowlton decided to bid on Tiz the Law one more time.

“We went to $95,000, and we were going to lose him when the other guy went to $100,000,” Tagg said. “Jack didn't really want to go over $100,000, and then I looked over at him and he said, 'Go $10,000 more.' I'm glad we did…Turned out, it was a pretty good price.”

Though it was more than he planned to spend, Knowlton said the hammer price on Tiz the Law was safely within the $50,000 to $150,000 range of a normal Sackatoga Stable purchase. Based out of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the operation buys New York-bred yearlings and 2-year-olds almost exclusively, making Fasig-Tipton's New York-Bred Yearling Sale a destination event every year.

The Sackatoga operation tends to have about four horses in the stable at any given time, so with two fillies already on the team, Knowlton sent Tagg and Smullen looking for a colt at the New York-Bred Sale. The duo was responsible for Sackatoga's private purchase of dual classic winner and champion Funny Cide as a 2-year-old, which has earned them Knowlton's unflinching trust in the bloodstock realm.

“They have many, many decades of knowledge,” Knowlton said. “I have not tried to become an expert, because I have them at my side. My role is to make sure I can raise the capital to pay for the horses they pick out. I've learned I can go through the catalogs and we'll compare notes, but because I'm pretty much using the methodology that I learned from them, most of the time, we're on 80 or 90 percent of the same horses.”

Tiz the Law was stabled in consignor Sequel New York's usual corner of Barn 6 on Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga sales grounds. Tagg said he does not have a cookie-cutter picture of what he looks for in a horse at auction, but strong conformation and athleticism are musts.

“We just really liked him because he had such good bone on him, and his conformation was very correct,” Tagg said about a yearling Tiz the Law. “When you're trying to buy horses, you're trying to get the best conformation and the soundest-looking ones you can get, and they also have to have some pedigree to go with it, depending on what you're looking for.”

The colt was one of about four horses that passed muster with Tagg and Smullen after physical inspections. After the veterinarian's report came back with high marks, he was pegged as one of Sackatoga's primary targets in the catalog. It took a little bit more than expected to get the hammer to fall, but the result was life-changing.

Looking to the future, Tiz the Law would have easily qualified for the Kentucky Derby if it had been held in May, following a dominant spring campaign, but the 272 qualifying points that the colt sits on for the rescheduled classic in September all but guarantees him a spot in the gate. Tiz the Law's class-leading number of qualifying points also put Sequel New York safely on top in the latest Kentucky Derby Consignor Standings all on his own.

It's an exciting time for Tiz the Law's connections, but there is little time to rest on one's laurels in horse racing – especially on the accelerated calendar brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not long after rounding the first turn in his chase for a Triple Crown, Knowlton said he and Tagg will be headed to Timonium, Md., next week for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, with the aim of finding the next great New York-bred to team with the best New York-bred going today.

The post Kentucky Derby Consignor Standings Presented By Keeneland: Knowlton’s Million-Dollar Stretch For Tiz The Law appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Week in Review: Laying Down the Law, ‘Tiz’ Shines Amid Difficult Year

We’re barely halfway through, but 2020 is already destined to go down as the year reality and normalcy got bent so far out of shape that our sport became unrecognizable. Race meets nationwide have been canceled or curtailed. The Triple Crown races have been shifted out of order with one radical distance alteration. Jockeys soar through homestretches wearing protective masks as a pandemic precaution in front of eerily empty grandstands, where fans have been ordered to stay away for everyone’s own good.

We hear repeatedly how everyone in the industry is doing the best they can under arduous and unprecedented circumstances brought on by COVID-19. There is truth in that statement, but people can only do so much. For horse racing to persevere during difficult times, the best chance to pull us through is the Thoroughbred itself.

Now, after his tour-de-force romp in the GI Belmont S., it is clear that Tiz the Law (Constitution) has emerged the sport’s horse of hope.

It’s probably unfair to saddle Tiz’s compact, powerful bay shoulders with so heavy a burden. But the charismatic colt has been up to the task of handling everything thrown at him so far. His race record is a near-perfect 5-for-6, but that stat doesn’t fully encapsulate the flair and panache with which he’s dispatched his overmatched foes.

As an aggressive stalker, Tiz the Law’s early races were hallmarked by a knack for putting himself into precarious positions and then extricating himself with a Houdini-like flourish. He won sprinting in his Saratoga debut against New York-breds, then leapt the chasm to Grade I stakes company by annexing the Champagne S. after stumbling at the start and getting trapped on heels before finishing full of run.

His connections–owner Sackatoga Stable and trainer Barclay Tagg–thought the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile a month later might be too much too soon, so they instead pointed Tiz to the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at Churchill Downs Nov. 30. Off as the 3-5 favorite in a sea of slop, jockey Manny Franco repeatedly had to ride the brakes to keep Tiz from getting pocketed on the backstretch and again in the home straight. The colt ended up third, beaten three-quarters of a length, his only defeat to date.

After a brief Florida freshening, Tiz had his 3-year-old unveiling in the GIII Holy Bull S., a prep on the GI Kentucky Derby trail that has evolved into a notorious annual trap for highly touted sophomores (favorites going down in defeat in nine of the previous 11 runnings). Tiz shot out of the gate, cruised four deep into the clubhouse bend, then dove to the fence. This maneuvering meant yet another dicey backstretch placement for Tiz, who steadied off heels under more momentum-drag braking. But once repositioned outside, he relished the pursuit of prey, collaring the pacemaker and leaving the remainder of the field reeling with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure win that was easier than the three-length final margin suggested.

After missing a few days of training in early March because of a minor foot bruise, the GI Curlin Florida Derby was next. Tiz broke running and enjoyed a clean trip while energetically forcing the issue. He powered past the frontrunners at will, and for the first time left the impression that he was merely toying with the competition while honing a fast-maturing level of confidence into something akin to a swagger.

The pandemic had already disrupted the Triple Crown prior to Tiz’s Florida Derby win, but you didn’t hear the colt’s connections carping in public about how fate had stolen away their chance at favoritism in the Run for the Roses. Instead, Tagg and Sackatoga managing partner Jack Knowlton pretty much said they’d take on all comers at whatever race spacing and distances the Triple Crown turned out to be, perhaps even with a Saratoga stakes in between for good measure.

The Belmont S. ended up being first in the series, shortened to a one-turn nine furlongs out of deference to the coronavirus disruption. Tiz was once again fleet from the starting stall and Manny Franco gathered him up in hand while allowing the two main speed threats to come through to his inside. Always in striking range within 2 1/2 lengths of the lead, Tiz was a formidable presence while in authoritative stalk mode, coiled but not fully unleashed until the head of the vast Belmont Park homestretch. He nosed his distinctive white blaze in front coming off the turn, shot into an unmatchable gear when cued to quicken, and even while assertively handled through the lane didn’t appear to be fully extended or at the limits of his stamina reserves in another 100-Beyer trouncing.

Tiz the Law is an easy horse to root for. He can press the pace at a high cruising speed against the best East Coast sophomores and still stick around to win going away by open lengths. Every one of his victories has been decided by the eighth pole. He runs major-league speed numbers and never looks sapped or wilted. He’s sensibly managed by connections that clearly enjoy the journey as much as the outcome, and they’re transparent and highly quotable when asked to share their plans for Tiz. Even Tagg, known for decades as a “horseman’s horseman,” can come across as charmingly crusty, like he did on Saturday when he reportedly told a Belmont television interviewer that the trophy presentation and post-race questions had better be quick because he had work to do back at the barn.

Next up for Tiz is the GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga. The New York Racing Association just announced last week that the showcase race of the summer would be moved up several weeks to Aug. 8 in order to better mesh with the remaining two legs of the Triple Crown (Derby Sep. 5 and GI Preakness S. Oct. 3).

Fittingly, the date of the 2020 Travers will coincide with the one-year anniversary of Tiz the Law’s winning debut at Saratoga.

British turf writer Simon Barnes once wrote that “Too much hope is perhaps the worst sin in horse racing.”

That may be true. But right now our sport can use all the optimistic anticipation it can get. So bring on the hope–and the hype–for Tiz the Law.

The post The Week in Review: Laying Down the Law, ‘Tiz’ Shines Amid Difficult Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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