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Tiz the Law To Shuttle to Chile

Tiz the Law (Constitution–Tizfiz, by Tiznow), a four-time Grade I winner who is finishing up his first year of covering duties at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, will shuttle to Haras Paso Nevado in Chile for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season, Turf Diario reported Thursday.

A $110,000 graduate of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-Bred Sale in 2018, Tiz the Law raced in the maroon-and-gray colors of Sackatoga Stable and was trained by Barclay Tagg to a four-length victory in the GI Champagne S. in just his second career start. After suffering his first career defeat when a troubled third in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S., the blaze-faced bay colt won his first four starts of 2020, including the GI Curlin Florida Derby, the GI Belmont S. and the GI Runhappy Travers S. A game runner-up in the GI Kentucky Derby last September, Tiz the Law was unplaced in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic and was retired to the breeding shed with a record of 9-6-1-1 and earnings of $2,735,300.

Tiz the Law's boom sire Constitution has been nearly as big a hit in Chile as he has in the U.S., with 44 individual winners, among them seven black-type winners, including the top-level scorers Breakpoint (Chi)–now in training with Chad Brown at Belmont Park–First Constitution (Chi) and Alaskan Queen (Chi).

Haras Paso Nevado has been home to several Ashford shuttlers over the years, including the late Scat Daddy, Lookin at Lucky, Powerscourt (GB) and Verrazano. More recently, they have welcomed young Coolmore sires Practical Joke and Classic Empire to their roster.

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Navarro, Others, Ask Federal Judge to Recuse Herself

Lawyers for banned trainer Jorge Navarro and six other defendants in the alleged nationwide racehorse doping conspiracy informed United States District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil late on Thursday that a “Motion to Recuse” filing is imminent that will ask her to step away from handling their cases.

A motion to recuse is a formal request for a judge to remove him/herself based on prejudice or conflict.

Either side in a case can make this motion, but the moving party bears the burden of proving that there are reasonable grounds that the judge would not act fairly and/or objectively, and any alleged prejudices must be outlined in an affidavit.

A judge facing a recusal motion can ask another judge to rule on it, and a recusal would mean an alternate judge gets assigned. Motions to recuse that are deemed to be delaying tactics are expressly forbidden, but not unheard of.

The request from Navarro, which was joined by defendants Seth Fishman, Jordan Fishman, Erica Garcia, Christopher Oakes, Michael Tannuzzo and Lisa Giannelli, was filed eight days before the first status hearing in the case since November is scheduled to be held. That May 14 hearing is expected to include the judge's long-awaited timeline for the trial.

In the form of a letter filed May 6 in U.S. District Court (Southern District of New York), Navarro and the other defendants stated, “We write to advise your Honor that, following a joint conference amongst counsel for the Defendants, Defendants are contemplating a Motion to Recuse your Honor. The issue was raised with the government [May 6] on a telephone conference.”

In light of the expected motion to recuse, the defendants are also asking that the judge “hold in abeyance any rulings” that might be forthcoming with regard to the defendants' previously filed motion to dismiss the case entirely.

The federal case against the alleged network of racehorse dopers is the result of a March 2020 spate of arrests in relation to a purported years-long conspiracy to manufacture, mislabel, rebrand, distribute and administer performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds across America and in international races.

There are seven other defendants whose cases are also being adjudicated by Vyskocil; others under the auspices of different judges.

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Belmont Stakes Under Consideration for Malathaat

Malathaat (Curlin), the undefeated filly who is coming off a win in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks, could go next in the June 5 GI Belmont S.

“It has crossed our minds,” Shadwell Farms Vice President and General Manager Rick Nichols said of the Belmont. “One issue would be whether or not we could get John Velazquez. If Medina Spirit (Protonico) wins the [GI] Preakness Stakes., obviously John will have to choose him for the Belmont. No one would blame him for choosing that horse.”

Nichols said a final decision will be made in “about a week.”

“We'll talk some more about it and talk with Sheikh Hamdan's family and get their input,” Nichols said

The filly's trainer, Todd Pletcher, is no stranger to the Kentucky Oaks-Belmont route. In 2007, Pletcher went in the Belmont with Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy) after winning the Oaks. She is the last filly to win the Belmont and was the first to do so since 1905. Three fillies have won the Belmont.

Nichols admitted that there are not a lot of options right now for Malathaat against fillies. She will pass the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. at Pimlico. The Belmont Stakes card includes the GI Acorn S. for 3-year-old fillies, but the race is at one-mile around one turn and is not a good fit for the filly. The next Grade I race around two turns for 3-year-old fillies is the July 24 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.

“The further they go the better,” Nichols said. “There are not a lot of good choices for her. We could go in the [GII] Mother Goose Stakes, but it's only a Grade II race.”

Nichols said Malathaat returned to the track Thursday morning and galloped for Pletcher.

“Told loves her. He absolutely loves her,” Nichols said. “She's such a sweet filly around the barn. She's got so much class and has everything you'd want in a top filly.”

Malathaat kicked off her 3-year-old campaign with a win in the GI Central Bank Ashland and followed that up with a hard fought win over Search Results (Flatter) in the Oaks. A $1,050,000 purchase at Keeneland September, Malathaat is five-for-five lifetime.

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Mandaloun, ‘Caddo’ to Skip Preakness, ‘Bourbon’ Gets Green Light

GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun (Into Mischief) and stakes winner Caddo River (Hard Spun) will both pass on a run in next Saturday's GI Preakness S., trainer Brad Cox reported Thursday, significantly thinning the group of potential upsetters for Derby hero Medina Spirit (Protonico) in the Triple Crown's Middle Jewel.

“We made the decision in the last hour to bypass the Preakness and point for Grade I's throughout the rest of the season,” said trainer Brad Cox said of the Juddmonte homebred. “He has responded really well. We actually took him back to the track [Thursday] and jogged him about a mile and a half. He was moving extremely well, and energy level in good order–everything you want to see from a horse who just performed at a high level in a mile and a quarter race last Saturday.”

Cox continued, “The decision was made in consideration of the effects of two grueling races over a short period of time. He ran well and hard in the Derby and we want to give him some time off. It's in the best interest of the horse not to run him two weeks back. We'll target Grade I's later in the season with him.”

A close-up third in the Fair Grounds' GIII Lecomte S. in January, Mandaloun returned to take the GII Risen S. Feb. 13.

Cox added that Caddo River, who passed on a run in the Kentucky Derby after finishing second in the GI Arkansas Derby, will target the GIII Matt Winn S. May 29 at Churchill.

“He's been doing well,” offered Cox. “We just haven't done enough with him to pursue the Preakness, so we're going to target the Matt Winn at Churchill.”

Caddo River aired in Oaklawn's Smarty Jones S. in January before finishing fifth in the GII Rebel S.

Picking up the Preakness mantle, Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) has been confirmed to run next Saturday according to Steve Asmussen Thursday.

Expected to show early speed, Midnight Bourbon closed from well back to finish sixth in the Derby after a tardy start.

“We didn't think he got the opportunity that he deserved after he missed the break and his back end went out from underneath him,” said David Fiske, the longtime racing and bloodstock manager for the late Verne Winchell and subsequently for Verne's son Ron Winchell. “He got jostled around by the horses on either side of him, then lost some ground. He was pretty wide on the second turn; I think eventually he ran 52 or 56 feet farther than the winner. So that would have put him a little closer. And speed seemed to be lethal on Saturday. There weren't a whole lot of horses that were closing on the front-runners. Then the fact that it took two handlers to get him back to the barn to give him a bath, it didn't seem to take that much out of him. So, we thought we'd give it a try.”

Midnight Bourbon visited Churchills' starting gate for routine schooling Thursday, followed by a controlled gallop.

“The horse is doing great,” said Scott Blasi, the assistant trainer who oversees Asmussen's Churchill Downs operation. “I don't think he did a lot of running early [in the Derby], so he seems to have come out of the race pretty fresh.”

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