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‘Everything Was Good’: Tiz The Law Breezes In Advance of Runhappy Travers On Aug. 8

Sackatoga Stable's Grade 1 Belmont Stakes champ Tiz the Law, bred in New York by Twin Creeks Farm, breezed five furlongs in 59.63 seconds Saturday at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Spring, N.Y., in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers, a 1 1/4-mile test for sophomores, on August 8.

Tiz the Law visited the main track at 8:45 a.m. under mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s. The Constitution bay, working solo under exercise rider Heather Smullen, breezed through splits of 24.40, 35.60 and galloped out three-quarters in 1:12.84 over a fast main track.

Trainer Barclay Tagg, on track to oversee the breeze, said he liked what he saw.

“I thought the work was good. He did it just right. The time was good. Everything was good,” Tagg said.

Tiz the Law will breeze twice more ahead of the Runhappy Travers, which offers 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

“He came out nice and strong,” said Sackatoga Stables operations manager Jack Knowlton. “Obviously the new racetrack was no impediment for him, so it's just one more step. We've got three weeks from today. He'll have two more works and then we're ready to go. You can see how fit he is.”

A winner at first asking in August at Saratoga, Tiz the Law followed up with a four-length score in the Grade 1 Champagne in October at Belmont. He completed his juvenile campaign with a close third in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club, contested on a sloppy strip at Churchill Downs.

Tiz the Law wintered at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla., and opened his sophomore season at Gulfstream Park with a three-length score in the Grade 3 Holy Bull in February. He then dominated the nine-furlong Grade 1 Florida Derby by 4 1/4 lengths on March 28.

Last out, Tiz the Law captured the first leg of the revised Triple Crown when 3 ¾-lengths the best in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Belmont Stakes.

Tagg and Sackatoga Stable traveled the Triple Crown road in 2003 with New York-bred in Funny Cide. The Distorted Humor chestnut prevailed by 1 3/4-lengths in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby under jockey Jose Santos. He followed up with a 9 3/4-length score in the Grade 1 Preakness, but finished third in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes after setting the early pace in his Triple Crown bid.

Knowlton said he relishes the opportunity to run Tiz the Law in the Runhappy Travers, especially since Funny Cide was scratched from the 2003 Travers.

“There's nothing like the Derby, but obviously we would like to win the race that Funny Cide didn't have a chance to run in,” Knowlton said. “Hopefully this will be a stepping stone to success in Kentucky. We're on a nice roll. We won a Classic, we won two other Grade 1s, and we won three out of three this year, so four out of four going into the Derby would be great.”

Tiz the Law, who leads all contenders with 272 Derby qualifying points, will contest a unique Triple Crown scenario that will continue with the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, rescheduled from Saturday, May 2, to Saturday, September 5, as the second leg of the Classic series. The Grade 1 Preakness, originally slated for May 16, will close out the Triple Crown on October 3 at Pimlico Race Course.

The Runhappy Travers Day card is headlined by the “Mid-Summer Derby” for the country's most talented 3-year-olds and is one of three Grade 1s on the day, joining the $300,000 Ballerina 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 1/2-furlong turf sprint for older males, and the Grade 3, $150,000 Waya , a 1 1/2-mile turf route for older fillies and mares.

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Tiz the Law Turns in First Spa Breeze

Leading sophomore Tiz the Law (Constitution) turned in his first published breeze since shipping to Saratoga Saturday morning as he eyes the Spa’s GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 8. Working solo around 8:45 a.m. under exercise rider Heather Smullen, the GI Belmont S. hero was clocked in :59.63 with internal splits of :24.40 and :35.60 and a six-furlong gallop-out in 1:12.84. Click for XBTV video.

“I thought the work was good,” said trainer Barclay Tagg. “He did it just right. The time was good. Everything was good.”

Tiz the Law will breeze twice more before the Travers.

“He came out nice and strong,” said owner Sackatoga Stables operations manager Jack Knowlton. “Obviously the new racetrack was no impediment for him, so it’s just one more step. We’ve got three weeks from today. He’ll have two more works and then we’re ready to go. You can see how fit he is.”

A debut winner against New York-breds at Saratoga last Aug. 8, Tiz the Law took the GI Champagne S. in October downstate. After a third-place run with trouble in the GIII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at Churchill in November, he’s a perfect three-for-three this year, with scores in the GIII Holy Bull S. and GI Curlin Florida Derby before turning to Big Sandy to take the repositioned Belmont by 3 3/4 lengths.

The post Tiz the Law Turns in First Spa Breeze appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Travers ‘The Logical Spot’ For Peter Pan Winner Country Grammer

Following a victory in Opening Day's Grade 3 Peter Pan at Saratoga Race Course, Country Grammer is a likely candidate for the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8, according to his connections.

Owned by Paul Pompa, Jr. and trained by Chad Brown, the 3-year-old son of second crop sire Tonalist notched his first graded stakes score in the 1 1/8-mile event for sophomores over the main track. Guided by Irad Ortiz, Jr., Country Grammer broke sharply from post 2, tracked in fourth off a moderate pace, found an opening along the rail around the far turn and established command at the top of the stretch holding off Caracaro to win by a neck, registering a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.

“If he comes back well, the Travers would be the logical spot. It's coming back a little soon but so far, so good,” Pompa, Jr. said. “We always have liked this horse, but the COVID-19 situation has created gaps, just due to lack of racing.”

Country Grammer arrived at the Peter Pan off a third-place finish against allowance company at Belmont Park, running 6 ½ lengths to eventual Belmont Stakes fifth-place finisher Tap It To Win. After a fourth place finish in his career debut on grass, he switched to the main track, breaking his maiden by 3 ½ lengths at Aqueduct going the Peter Pan distance.

Pompa, Jr. said the 1 1/4-mile Runhappy Travers should suit Country Grammer.

“Chad always liked him, but he never trained well at Belmont for some reason,” said Pompa, Jr. “We knew he would appreciate going two turns. Should we go to the Travers, we think the extra eighth of a mile is to his advantage.”

Country Grammer, bred in Kentucky by Scott Pierce and Debbie Pierce, is out of the Forestry broodmare Arabian Song and his third dam Willstar produced Group 1 winner on turf Etoile Montante. He was purchased for $450,000 at the OBS April Sale in 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where he was consigned by Wavertree Stables.

Should Country Grammer move forward to the Runhappy Travers, he would be Pompa Jr.'s second contender in the “Mid Summer Derby”. In 2016, he owned sixth-place finisher Connect, who went on to defeat that year's Kentucky Derby top three finishers in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby en route to a Grade 1 Cigar Mile triumph.

“He beat a real tough field in the Pennsylvania Derby that year,” Pompa, Jr. said. “There were a lot of serious horses in the race that year and it was the first year they made it a Grade 1. Exaggerator, Nyquist and Gun Runner were all in there, so he beat a really nice field.”

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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.”