Tiz the Law is class of Belmont field
While there won’t be school buses of fans hoping to see a New York-bred horse make Belmont history, there is a busload of Triple Crown expectations heading into Saturday’s race.
Seventeen years ago, Jack Knowlton and the other owners of Funny Cide packed into school buses and headed to Belmont Park in New York, hoping to see the colt capture the home-track victory they had dreamed of. It didn’t happen. Now, however, Tiz the Law looks every bit like the best 3-year-old in the world and could deliver his owners and trainer Barclay Tagg the elusive crown.
It’ll take something spectacular Saturday from a watered-down field to prevent the Triple Crown favorite from becoming the first New York bred to win the Belmont in over 130 years and taking a powerful stride toward the Kentucky Derby.
“Barclay doesn’t get the kind of horses like Funny Cide and Tiz the Law very often, but when he does get an opportunity, he makes the most of it,” Knowlton said. “Fortunately, Tiz the Law is the kind of horse that seems to take everything in stride and he’s very easy to work with . ... From all indications, he’s doing as well as he’s been doing all year, and hopefully that’ll carry over into the Belmont.”
Tiz the Law won his two starts this year by a combined 7¼ lengths, including the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 28. He’s the class of the Belmont after injuries to Bob Bafferttrained Nadal and Charlatan and other defections in a year the coronavirus pandemic pushed the Kentucky Derby back to Sept. 5 and the Preakness to Oct. 3.
“Tiz the Law has been the best 3-yearold since January basically and he remains that,” retired jockey-turned-NBC Sports analyst Jerry Bailey said Tuesday. “He would’ve been favored in whatever Triple Crown race we ran first first, so we have a superstar that we’re going to see on Saturday.”