He’s following his dreams
Sackatoga Stable colt set for Grade II race after two huge victories
Zach Triner, a rookie with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, started his journey to the NFL in a conversation in a Siena dorm room./
The next stop for Tiz the Law is Churchill Downs. The undefeated 2-year-old colt, who has wowed the racing world with a pair of eye-popping victories, will make his next start in the Grade II, $300,000 Kentucky Jockey Club in Louisville on Nov. 30, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
If all goes according to plan, Tiz the Law could be back at Churchill on the first Saturday in May.
But, let ’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The young horse, owned by Sackatoga Stable, is already drawing comparisons to Funny Cide, the other New York-bred owned by the group back in 2003. It ’s much too early to start thinking about a Triple Crown run with this one. Or is it?
Tiz the Law has done much in his short career on the race track. After an impressive 41/4-length win in his first start at Saratoga, the son of Constitution broke the door down in the Grade I Champagne at Belmont last Saturday, winning by four lengths.
In both starts, he was never really asked to run.
“It was a big relief to get through (the Champagne),” said Jack Knowlton of Saratoga Springs, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable. “That was the third most ner vous I have ever been before a race.”
The other two were with Funny Cide before the 2003 Kentucky Derby and then in the Belmont Stakes, where the gelding failed to win the Triple Crown, finishing third.
Following the Champagne, Knowlton and trainer Barclay Tagg both agreed that Tiz the Law would not run in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 1. Part of the reason is that they don’t want to run their horse at 11/8 miles this early in his career. Part of the reason is that Santa Anita, site of the Breeders’ Cup, has come under heav y scrutiny since last December for a rash of horse deaths.
And, maybe the most important part is that they want to give Tiz the Law the best chance to get to the Kentucky Derby next May. Running in the 11/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club will be the final start of the year and then the horse will head to Florida.
“I’m very happy with him,” Tagg said Tuesday by cellphone from Belmont Park. “This is a very nice colt. It ’s never easy. You need a lot of luck.”
One thing that is for certain is that Knowlton has a horse that could be a major player next spring. After the success he had with Funny Cide, who was bought for $75,000 by Knowlton and his nine partners, he thought the ride through the bright lig hts was over.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would have a horse that has a legitimate chance to get to the Derby,” Knowlton said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would have a horse run in the Champagne.”
Tiz the Law’s entourage is bigger than Funny Cide’s was. There are 30 partners — and they are from California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York — and about 20 of them were on hand to watch the Champagne.
Only one of Knowlton’s gang from the Funny Cide days — Lew Titterton, who lives in Florida but summers in Saratoga — is part of this g roup. And, so far, so good.
“We never expected anything like this,” Titterton said Tuesday. “Wow is about all I can say. This horse is really something and, right
now, we don’t know what that something is. I am tickled pink.”
Tiz the Law cost Sackatoga $110,000, the second biggest price the group has ever paid for a horse.
Besides passing on the Breeders’ Cup, the decision was also made to skip the Grade II, $250,000 Remsen at Aqueduct on Dec. 7 at 11/8 miles.
Getting a race over the track at Churchill Downs was key as was not giving the horse the chore of going 11/8 miles in just his third start.
“We would always have the Remsen if something comes up,” Knowlton said. “The plan is to go to Kentucky and Barclay thinks it would be a good idea to have a race over that track. It just kind of checked all the boxes.”