TIZ A ROMP
Three takeaways: Tiz the Law answers every key question in unique, classy performance Favorite Tiz the Law coasts to victory in unprecedented first leg of Triple Crown series
Tiz the Law kicked off the 2020 Triple Crown series with a four-length victory in the Belmont Stakes. Here are three takeaways from the race as we begin a long wait for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby and the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes:
Tiz the Law delivered as classy a performance as you could ask for from a heavy favorite. The New York-bred colt went off as a 4-5 favorite, unusually heavy for the first leg of the Triple Crown series. Those odds spoke to the quality Tiz the Law had demonstrated but also to a field diminished by injuries to undefeated challengers Nadal, Charlatan and Maxfield.
So in a sense, Tiz the Law could only hold serve in the Belmont. With the race featuring mild competition and going 1 1⁄8 miles instead of the usual 1 1⁄2, he would not be asked any questions he had not already answered.
It’s easy for a star to disappoint under such circumstances, but Tiz the Law did not. Instead, he showed all the traits that will make him difficult to beat for the rest of the year. He broke sharply and sat comfortably in third as Tap It to Win pushed the early pace. Jockey Manny Franco, who’d never ridden a horse nearly this good on the Triple
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NEW YORK — Tiz the Law has won an unprecedented Belmont Stakes, claiming victory Saturday at the first race of a rejiggered Triple Crown schedule in front of eerily empty grandstands.
The 3-year-old colt from upstate New York charged to the lead turning for home and now can set his sights on the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby and Oct. 3 Preakness. All three legs of this year’s Triple Crown schedule were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Belmont, usually the series capper, was initially scheduled for June 6.
Tiz the Law gave New York a hometown champion in its first major sporting event since the coronavirus pandemic seized the area. He’s the first New York-bred horse to win the Belmont since Forester in 1882.
“It’s a lot smaller crowd, that’s for sure,” said owner Jack Knowlton, who watched from a restaurant patio in the familiar surroundings of Saratoga Springs.
The 4-5 favorite won by four lengths, covering the 1 1⁄8 miles in 1:46.53. Dr Post finished second and Max Player was third.
The race was shortened from the usual 1 ½-mile standard to account for competitors’ unusual training schedules. Horses kicked off from a starting gate placed atop the backstretch, rather than in front of the grand