TIZ THE LAW MAKES IT LOOK EASY
SARATOGASPRINGS, NY » Winning the Triple Crown wasn’t the only bit of unfinished business Barclay Tagg and Sackatoga Stable left behind at the close of Funny Cide’s storybook 3-year- old season in 2003. There was also the matter of winning t he Travers, a race Funny Cide was forced to miss because of illness.
Sweeping the 2020 Triple Crown with Tiz the Law would no doubt be considered a greater accomplishment than winning the Travers. But Tiz the Law’s memorable Travers victory on Saturday probably rates a surprisingly close second – especially for a team with close ties to New York in general and Saratoga in particular. Plus, with the Derby and Preakness yet to be run, there’s still the possibility of a Triple Crown.
The race unfolded much as Tiz the Law’s previous victories had, with the Constitution colt breaking well and settling into a comfortable stalking position under Manny Franco. Uncle Chuck, the 2-1 second choice and considered the chief threat to the favorite, took the field through a moderate half-mile in :48.36 and three quarters in 1:11.95.
Uncle Chuck was still in front as the two leaders approached the quarter- pole, but the optics were not good for the son of Uncle Mo. While
Luis Saez was scrubbing away on the Californiabased colt, Franco had yet to ask his mount to do much. Tiz the Law edged away to a short lead turning the corner, accelerating at once when Franco shook his reins a time or two at the three- sixteenths pole. The advantage grew to 4½ lengths at the furlong pole and 5½ at the wire.
Caracaro got up for second, with Max Player two lengths further back in third. Uncle Chuck finished sixth of seven, beaten 11 lengths.
While the main track was delivering fast times all day, it is worth mentioning that Tiz the Law’s electronic clocking of 2:00.95 was essentially the same as Easy Goer’s hand- timed 2:00.80 in 1989. Only Travers win
ners Arrogate in 2016 and long- time track- record holder General Assembly in 1979 ran a faster mile and a quarter than Tiz the Law did on Saturday.
“It’s just so exciting,” Sackatoga managing partner Jack Knowlton said on the Fox Sports telecast. “He’s 1-2, there’s a lot of pressure. We thought we had the best horse, but the way he did it . . . .”
It was a great race, and of course Saratoga Race Course looked beautiful, as it does in every season, in person or on television. One couldn’t help wishing the circumstances had been different, though, that there was no such thing as the coronavirus and that the grand old track was packed to the rafters and boundary fences with tens of thousands of fans cheering on Tiz the Law, as they had Holy Bull in the 1994 Travers and Rachel Alexandra in the 2009 Wood
ward.
Track announcer John Imbriale did his best to make it sound as though he was addressing a full house when he called out, “Here he is, Saratoga’s hometown hero, Tiz the Law!” as the four-time G1 winner cruised across the finish line, alone as usual. Gamine’s Test Gamine’s seven-length margin of victory in the Test Stakes wasn’t as visually impressive as her 18 ¾-length masterpiece in the Acorn, but the message was the same: this is one serious racehorse. Her winning time of 1:20.83 for seven furlongs was a couple of ticks off Darby Creek Road’s hand-timed track record of 1:20.40 established in 1978.
Jimmy Barnes, assistant to Bob Baffert, hinted at Gamine’s possible next start when he said they were “looking forward to stretching [her] out.” The Kentucky Oaks is scheduled for Sept. 4.