Stewart’s starts campaign with racing-themed masks
Hometown favorite Tiz the Law featured ahead of Travers Stakes
SARATOGASPRINGS, N.Y. » Ahead of the 2020 Runhappy Travers Stakes, Stewart’s Shops launched a new racing-themed face covering campaign featuring hometown favorite horse Tiz the Law.
The awareness raising initiative, designed to highlight the importance of wearing face coverings to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, includes in- store signs featuring Tiz the Law, a New York-bred thoroughbred from Sackatoga Stable set to compete and predicted to do well in the big upcoming race.
In the image, the horse is wearing a facemask with text on the sign stating “Tiz The Law says ‘ Wear a Mask!’”
Tiz the Law’s mask in the image, a product that’s available for fans to purchase at www.tizthelaw.com, is one with his name and a drawing of him racing.
These signs have been installed at all Stewart’s Shops in Saratoga County.
“We are happy to unveil our Tiz the Law campaign, just to really reinforce that mask message - the importance of wearing a mask,” Stewart’s Shops spokesperson Erica Komoroske said on Thursday at one of the company’s Saratoga Springs shops, where the new signage was prominently displayed.
Stewart’s Shops has seen increased mask compliance since July 9, when the New York State Department of Health began requiring businesses to enforce the mask mandate, Komoroske said.
This new effort is meant to continue spreading the word about mask wearing, Komoroske continued, while showing support for the racing tradition in the region.
“Really the goal is to get that message out about mask wearing,” she said. “It’s important and we just need to protect one another.”
In its own mask-related effort, Sackatoga Stable collaborated with locally-based Old Smoke Clothing Co., a clothing and lifestyle brand with a focus on the sport of horse racing, to create a custom Tiz the Law face
mask.
“We all thought, given the times that we’re in, that having a face mask made a lot of sense” co-founder and managing partner Jack Knowlton said, adding the product has been a bigger seller.
All profits from the masks and any products sold on Tiz the Law’s website go to charity, including local organizations like the Backstretch Employee Service Team and the NewYork Race Track Chaplaincy.
Happy with all of the buzz about Tiz the Law, Knowlton explained how the horse’s name, which works well with the mask campaign, comes from his parents’ names Constitution and Tizfiz.
When Knowlton gave the bay colt this title in 2017, “Little did I know that a year-plus later he was going to win his first race at Saratoga,” he shared, noting that this happened on Aug. 8, 2019, exactly one year before the approaching Travers.
In June, Tiz the Law won the 2020 Belmont Stakes, and he is the current favorite for the upcoming Kentucky Derby, which was postponed from the spring to Saturday, Sept. 5.
If his success continues, Tiz the Law could become a Triple Crown winner, as the Preakness Stakes has also been postponed to Saturday, Oct. 3.
The 151st edition of the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers will go to post at 6:15 p.m. and will be the centerpiece of a special 90-minute broadcast on FOX from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
First post on Travers Day is noon. Saratoga Live will air a special expanded broadcast with live racing analysis and coverage beginning at 11:30 a. m. on FS2. Starting at 1 p.m., FS1 and MSG Networks will pick up the coverage as well.
In addition to displaying Tiz the Law’s image in local stores, Stewart’s Shops is the exclusive retail partner for NYRA Bets gift cards which may be used to fund or open a NYRA Bets account to wager on the Runhappy Travers. In the first few weeks of this year’s Saratoga Race Course meet, more than 4,000 gift cards NYRA Bets gift cards have been purchased through Stewart’s Shops.
The gift cards, available in $50 denominations, are currently available at more than 150 Stewart’s Shops across the greater Capital Region.