Twin Creeks Farm | Horse Racing Free Tips

Angel Oak, Half-Sister To Tiz The Law, Inching Toward Career Debut

Randy Gullatt of Twin Creeks Farm, breeder of New York-bred four-time Grade 1-winner Tiz the Law, said he is looking forward to campaigning the popular colt's 2-year-old half-sister Angel Oak with trainer Todd Pletcher for their Twin Creeks Racing division.

While Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law dazzled with dominant efforts in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Grade 1 Runhappy Travers at Saratoga over the summer for conditioner Barclay Tagg, Angel Oak has trained alongside Pletcher's Belmont Park-based contingent since the beginning of October after arriving from the WinStar Farm Training Center.

Angel Oak, a gray or roan daughter of Mission Impazible out of the graded stakes-winning Tiznow mare Tizfiz, logged a bullet half-mile breeze from the gate over the Belmont training track in 48.05 seconds on Monday, the fastest of 42 recorded works at the distance.

“She's got a little bit of a ways to go, but she had a nice gate work just the other day, so she's been making some progress,” Pletcher said. “She's always been a nice training filly, pretty forward and very professional. She looks like she's got some talent.”

Pletcher said Angel Oak will likely not be ready to race for another month.

“She will probably be ready at the end of the next condition book, I would expect,” Pletcher said.

The current Aqueduct condition book runs through November 29.

Gullatt spoke high volumes of Angel Oak and said she shares some of the same positive characteristics as her accomplished half-brother.

“We always have liked her,” said Gullatt who manages Twin Creeks Racing with director Steve Davison. “She has a very similar personality to her mother. She's just very classy and very easy to train, which are some of the same things the brother has. So far, we like what we see so we're expecting good things out of her.”

Foaled in New York, Tiz the Law spent his first 90 days in the Empire State before shipping to Gullatt's care at Twin Creeks Farm in Versailles, Kentucky where he was raised through his yearling year. Tiz the Law was purchased for $110,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred Yearling Sale.

Gullatt said both Tiz the Law and Angel Oak were classy and manageable as young horses.

“They were very classy and easy to work with,” Gullatt said. “That trait is strong with what we've seen out of that mare as well as Mission Impazible. It's just something that we try to find. Classiness, desire and being easy to manage are all good characteristics and she has them all.”

While Tiz the Law, by Constitution, has thrived at a route of ground, Gullatt said he believes Angel Oak may be better running at shorter distances due to her natural speed that she has displayed in morning training.

“If I had to guess, I would say she's probably more of a sprinter, middle distance horse but we haven't seen anything to say she couldn't go further,” Gullatt said. “She does have some quickness and she could use that to her advantage going shorter distances. It's hard to gauge a horse before it has started.”

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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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Tiz The Law Completes Preparations For 152nd Belmont Stakes

Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law, bred in New York by Twin Creeks Farm, breezed a half-mile Sunday on Big Sandy in his final preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, to be held without spectators, on Saturday, June 20 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Jockey Manny Franco was aboard Tiz the Law who visited the Belmont main track at 5:30 a.m. The Constitution bay, working solo from the half-mile pole, breezed through splits of 26.50, 50.42 and out in 1:03.12.

Trainer Barclay Tagg said he was pleased with the colt's final prep.

“He went well. We weren't looking for anything special today,” said Tagg, who ponied Tiz the Law to and from the work.

Tiz the Law, who worked five-eighths in 1:00.53 on Monday on the Belmont main, was eager to work once released from the pony.

“When Barclay turned me loose, he got strong a little bit, but when we passed the seven-eighths to the three-quarters he settled down a little bit and he did it nice,” said Franco. “He did it really well and really easy, so I'm very happy with the work.”

A winner at first asking in August at Saratoga Race Course, 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 prepared for his sophomore season at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla., which began at Gulfstream Park with a convincing three-length score in the Grade 3 Holy Bull in February which garnered a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure. Last out, he romped the nine-furlong Grade 1 Florida Derby by 4 ¼-lengths on March 28.

Tiz the Law will travel the same distance on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes, which will be run at 1 1/8-miles around one turn as the opening leg of the Triple Crown for the first time in history.

Franco said Tiz the Law provides him with options to navigate the trip.

“He makes my work a lot easier,” said Franco. “He's a versatile horse. He can be there on the pace or sit off, so I can do whatever I want.

“He's run here before and won and I think he likes the track,” added Franco. “So, that's to our advantage.”

The probable field for the Belmont Stakes currently stands at eight horses, including Dr Post (Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz, Jr.), Farmington Road (Pletcher, Javier Castellano), Jungle Runner (Steve Asmussen, Reylu Gutierrez), Max Player (Linda Rice, Joel Rosario), Pneumatic (Asmussen, Ricardo Santana, Jr.), Sole Volante (Patrick Biancone, Luca Panici), Tap It to Win (Mark Casse, John Velazquez) and Tiz the Law (Barclay Tagg, Manny Franco). Modernist, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, is on the bubble.

Tagg said he would prefer to receive an outside post for Tiz the Law at Wednesday's post position draw.

“I'd like to be in 5, 6 or 7. I'd like him to be outside,” said Tagg.

The Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, rescheduled from May 2 to September 5, will go as the second leg of the Classic series, with the Preakness Stakes, originally slated for May 16, to close out the Triple Crown on October 3 at Pimlico Race Course.

As the exclusive broadcast partner of the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown, NBC Sports will present live coverage from Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes Day beginning at 2:45 p.m. Eastern.

Belmont Stakes Day June 20 will feature six graded races including four Grade 1 events led by the historic Belmont Stakes, which will offer 150-60-30-15 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

Rounding out the Grade 1 entertainment on Belmont Stakes Day are the $300,000 Acorn for 3-year-old fillies going one mile; the $250,000 Woody Stephens presented by Claiborne Farm, a seven-furlong sprint over Big Sandy for 3-year-olds; and the $250,000 Jaipur, presented by America's Best Racing, for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on turf, which offers a berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. A pair of one-mile turf races for sophomores, previously contested at nine furlongs, completes a stakes-laden card with the Grade 2, $150,000 Pennine Ridge and the Grade 3, $150,000 Wonder Again for fillies.

NYRA Bets is the official online wagering site for the 152nd running of the Belmont Stakes, and the best way to bet the 2020 Belmont Park spring/summer meet. Available to customers across the United States, NYRA Bets allows horseplayers to watch and wager on racing from tracks around the world at any time. The NYRA Bets app is available for download for iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

For more information, please visit www.BelmontStakes.com.

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