Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Tagg’s attention to detail paid off with Belmont win
ELMONT, N.Y. – After Tiz the Law drew away from his nine rivals to win Saturday’s $1 million Belmont Stakes by 3 3/4 lengths, trainer Barclay Tagg and his assistant Robin Smullen quietly left the box seats from where they had watched and walked down to the winner’s circle.
There were no high-fives or fist bumps, just a few congratulatory pats on the back.
“Both of us were extremely confident going into this race,” Smullen said. “Then you have to say to yourself, ‘Come on guys, be careful. It’s horse racing and anything can happen in horse racing.’ But we would have been really surprised, had he had the right trip, if he had got beat. He just gives you so much confidence that he can do it and I really believe he can go any distance.”
An example of that confidence was evident in part of the instructions Smullen said Tagg gave to jockey Manny Franco – who was riding his first Belmont – on what not to do crossing the finish line.
“Barclay told him not to be jumping around on the horse,” Smullen said. “Sometimes [the riders] shift their weight and it’s bad. So, Barclay said to Manny, ‘If you’re winning, don’t do that. Just don’t.’ That’s the stuff that nobody thinks about, but he does. It might be the difference between making the next race or not making it.”
It’s that sort of attention to detail that makes Tagg successful with a stable that numbers around 25 horses. In addition to Tiz the Law’s victory Saturday, the Tagg-trained Pleasant Orb, a 39-1 shot, ran second to the 3-5 Gamine in the Grade 1 Acorn, and Highland Glory finished second to 6-5 favorite Sweet Melania in the Grade 3 Wonder Again Stakes.
Tagg, who at 82 became the oldest trainer to win a Belmont Stakes, said being around the barn and paying attention are key components in running a successful operation. After a long morning training, Tagg and Smullen are back in the afternoon to walk and graze their horses and then return at night to feed.
“If you go to bed at night and you don’t know whether he ate that night or he didn’t eat the next morning, it might work against you,” Tagg said. “I know everybody can’t do that. There’s a lot of guys out there with good horses that can’t do that because they can’t go everywhere because they’ve got them all over the place. We don’t have them all over the place so we got to make everything work.”
Tagg also credits Smullen for her horsemanship. She gets on Tiz the Law – as well as several other horses – regularly in the mornings, though she doesn’t work him.
“She’s a brilliant horsewomen,” Tagg said. “She’s got the heart of a lion, the judgment of Solomon, and the patience of Job.”
In this most unique Triple Crown campaign – where the Kentucky Derby will be run Sept. 5 and Preakness Oct. 3 – Tagg will have 11 weeks to get Tiz the Law prepared for the Derby. There will be one race in between, the Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 8.
Tagg will train Tiz the Law as he always has leading up to the Travers unless Tiz the Law shows him he needs to do something different.
“You got to pay attention to your horse,” Tagg said. “He tells you whether it’s too much, or too little. He tells you all that stuff.”
Tagg has been training horses since 1972 and has won 1,584 races and his horses have earned $62.2 million in purse money. He doesn’t get the sale-stoppers at auction, and buys horses at reasonable prices. Tiz the Law, the only one Tagg bought at the 2018 New Yorkbred yearling sale in Saratoga, cost $110,000. He bought dual classic winner Funny Cide privately for $75,000. Showing Up, who turned out to be a multiple Grade 1 winner, was purchased for $60,000.
“You go through so many changes in this business where you have horses and you don’t have horses,” Smullen said. “We’re down to 20 to 25 horses and have been for a couple of years now. To have one that you picked out of the sale out of how many horses in the sale, and it turns out to be another good one?”
By winning the Belmont, Tagg has now won all three Triple Crown races, having captured the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Funny Cide in 2003. The accomplishment was not lost on some of the trainers who finished behind him on Saturday.
“Very happy for him. He deserves it. He works hard, does a great job,” said Todd Pletcher, trainer of Belmont runner-up Dr Post.
“I think it’s great,” said Bill Mott, the trainer of Modernist, who finished seventh in the Belmont. “I’m thrilled to see him win. It’s nice to see a guy who’s put his time in come up with another good horse. I know he had one in Funny Cide. This one looks the right one.”