Tiz the Law dominant in victory
Tiz the Law has been good and lucky, two ingredients essential to success in horse racing.
He’s been dominant, too.
He raced to a 3 3/4-length victory Saturday in the Belmont Stakes to open the rescheduled Triple Crown. His five wins in six career starts have been by an average margin of 19 1/4 lengths. His only loss came at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes last year, when he finished third on a sloppy track.
In 11 weeks, he’ll get a chance to avenge that defeat over the same track in the Kentucky Derby.
Tiz the Law has an ambitious summer and fall campaign ahead of him if all goes according to plan.
Next up is the Travers on Aug. 8 at Saratoga, where Tiz the Law would be competing on his home turf in upstate New York. It’s where he won for the first time last August. As the first New York-bred Belmont winner since 1882, his following only figures to get bigger. However, it remains to be seen whether fans would be allowed to attend at any point in the Saratoga meet, which opens July 16.
“I’ve never won the Travers and I want to win it,” trainer Barclay Tagg said.
Then comes the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 and the Preakness on Oct. 3 — no word yet on spectators at either race — to close out the Triple Crown. The bay colt would finish the year in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7.
Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable — comprised of 34 partners who paid $110,000 for Tiz the Law — hasn’t been able to cheer his colt in person since Feb. 1 at Gulfstream in Florida. He watched Tiz the Law win the Florida Derby on March 28 from his condo near the track and the Belmont at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs. The colt has earned over $1.5 million.
“I keep telling everybody Barclay doesn’t get a lot of big horses and big opportunities,” Knowlton said about his trainer of 25 years, “but when he gets them he knows what to do.”
