Having added a dominant victory in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes to his already accomplished resume, Tiz the Law's status as the top sophomore runner in the country was further reinforced Monday when the son of Constitution earned 39 first-place votes and 390 total points to remain the clear leader on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Three-Year-Old Poll.
Beginning with his seasonal debut victory in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes, Tiz the Law has won his four starts in 2020 by a combined 16 ½ lengths. After becoming the first New York-bred in 138 years to win the Belmont Stakes, Tiz the Law became just the third New York-bred Travers winner and first since Thunder Rumble in 1992 when he annexed the Mid-Summer Derby by 5 ½ lengths on August 8.
Trained by Barclay Tagg for owner Sackatoga Stable, Tiz the Law will now point to the Kentucky Derby on September 5 at Churchill Downs and currently sits atop the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 372 qualifying points.
“He'll gallop every day,” Tagg told the NYRA publicity team. “He'll have about 10 days before we breeze him again. We'll probably only be able to get two breezes in him before we go out there. We'll go out there a week ahead of time.”
Joining Tiz the Law in uncorking a statement-making performance this past weekend was Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector, who captured the Ellis Park Derby on August 9. That effort, combined with his win in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on July 11, earned Art Collector 296 points to move him up to second in the poll.
“Everything that we've wanted him to do, he's done,” trainer Tommy Drury said of Art Collector following his Ellis Park victory. “We're going into the race exactly the way we want to go into it.”
Honor A. P., who finished second in the Shared Belief Stakes on August 1, drops one spot to third with 277 points with Grade 1 Haskell Stakes victor Authentic (264 points) in fourth.
Top filly Gamine (204 points) moves up five spots to fifth in the wake of her handy victory in the Grade 1 Test Stakes on August 8 and she is followed in the rankings by her stablemate Thousand Words (162), who won the Shared Belief Stakes on August 1.
Graded stakes-winner King Guillermo (103 points) is seventh while Haskell runner-up Ny Traffic (99) and Swiss Skydiver (78) rank eighth and ninth, respectively. Caracaro, second behind Tiz the Law in the Travers, joins the top 10 for the first time with 71 points.
There was relatively little movement in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll as multiple Grade 1-winner Vekoma earned 13 first-place votes and 312 points to maintain the lead position for a second week.
Fellow top-level winner Tom's d'Etat (3 first-place votes, 271 points) holds in second followed by Grade 1 Whitney Stakes-winner Improbable (5 first-place votes, 268 points) in third.
Champion Maximum Security (5 first-place votes, 239 points) maintains the fourth spot with fellow Eclipse Award-winner Midnight Bisou (228 points) in fifth. Tiz the Law (12 first-place votes, 215 points) moved up two spots to sixth followed by champion Monomoy Girl with 1 first-place vote and 115 points. Zulu Alpha (113 points) ranks eighth while By My Standards (96) and Gamine (42) round out the top 10.
The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in both the Top Three-Year-Old Poll and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup in November.
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