Tiz the Law Derby favorite, sweeping all four of his graded preps
Tiz the Law: locked and loaded
As the strangest and longest Kentucky Derby prep season finally nears an end – eight months’ duration instead of four, with competition all but shut down during the middle months of April and May – the 20 qualifiers are all but set. The only remaining prep offering qualifying points is Saturday’s Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park, and it’s worth only 20 points to the winner.
It is also clear that Tiz the Law will be the Derby favorite. The NY-bred colt swept all four of his graded preps, three of them G1s, and was never more impressive than he was in his 5½-length Travers triumph last Saturday. Trainer Barclay Tagg reported that Tiz the Law came out of the race well and would probably get in two more breezes at Saratoga, in addition to daily gallops, before heading to Churchill Downs a week or so before the Derby.
Tiz the Law won his four graded preps by a combined 16½ lengths, and in each case he effectively had the race won in mid-stretch. The only time he gave up any late ground was in the Belmont, where he was already in front by 4½ lengths at the eighth pole. At the finish, the margin was 3 ¾ lengths. One has to search hard to find weaknesses in Tiz the Law’s game. Playing devil’s advocate – and in an effort to inject a bit more drama into the run-up to the Derby – there is this fact: Tiz the Law has not raced against any of the six horses ranked immediately behind him on the list of Derby qualifiers. They are, in order, Authentic, Art Collector, Honor A. P, Ny Traffic, King Guillermo and Thousand Words. Following are brief remarks on each.
Authentic cruised through the Sham Stakes and San Felipe over the winter, winning both by open lengths. Things got tougher at nine furlongs, however, as Honor A. P. went by him with ease in the Santa Anita Derby, and Authentic was
all-out to hold on in the Haskell. Ten furlongs will be even more of a stretch for the Into Mischief colt.
There were no doubt skeptics when little-known Art Collector dominated the Blue Grass by 3½ lengths.
Fewer of those skeptics remained after last Saturday’s Ellis Park Derby, when the Bernardini colt wired a mixed group of 3-year-olds by 3¼ lengths. This year’s wiseguy horse could go off as second choice in Derby wagering.
Honor A. P. looked terrific blowing by Authentic in the Santa Anita Derby but was unable to get to
Thousand Words in the Shared Belief Stakes, falling ¾ of a length short. The 8½-furlong race was a good tune-up for the Derby, though, and Honor A. P. remains as well suited for 10 furlongs as any horse in the field.
Ny Traffic has finished in the money in all five 2020 starts, but his lone win came in an allowance back on Jan. 11.
Most recently, the NYbred colt came within three-quarters of running down Authentic in the Haskell.
King Guillermo was overlooked at 49-1 when he won the Tampa Bay Derby by nearly five lengths. Run back in a division of the Arkansas Derby on May 2, he finished second behind highly regarded (but since retired) Nadal.
Thousand Words started off the year with a narrow win in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes. Losses followed in the San Felipe (fourth) and Los Alamitos Derby (second), by four lengths to Uncle Chuck. Sent to the front in the Shared Belief, Thousand Words responded by out-finishing odds-on Honor A. P.