Tiz the Law has been good and lucky, two ingredients essential to success in horse racing.
Oh, and he's been dominant, too.
The 3-year-old colt raced to a 3 3/4-length victory Saturday in the Belmont Stakes to open this year's rescheduled Triple Crown series. His five wins in six career starts have been by an average margin of 19 1/4 lengths. His only loss came at Louisville's Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes last year, when he finished third on a sloppy track.
In 11 weeks, he'll get a chance to avenge that defeat on the same track in the Kentucky Derby. Tiz the Law has an ambitious summer and fall campaign ahead of him if all goes according to plan.
Next up is the Travers Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course, where Tiz the Law would be competing on his home turf in upstate New York - it's where he won for the first time last August - and as the first Empire State-bred Belmont Stakes winner since 1882, his following only figures to get bigger. However, it remains to be seen whether fans would be allowed to attend at any point in the Saratoga schedule, which opens July 16.
"I've never won the Travers, and I want to win it," said 82-year-old Tiz the Law trainer Barclay Tagg, who completed a career Triple Crown on Saturday.
After that comes the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 and the Preakness Stakes at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course on Oct. 3 - no word yet on spectators at either race - to close out the Triple Crown trail. The bay colt would finish the year in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 7 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky.
Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable - made up of 34 partners who paid $110,000 for Tiz the Law - hasn't been able to cheer his colt in person since Feb. 1 at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. He watched Tiz the Law win the Florida Derby on March 28 from his condo near the track, and took in the Belmont from a restaurant in Saratoga Springs. The colt has earned more than $1.5 million.
"I keep telling everybody Barclay doesn't get a lot of big horses and big opportunities," Knowlton said about his trainer of 25 years, "but when he gets them he knows what to do."
AP photo by Seth Wenig / Tiz the Law (8), with jockey Manny Franco in the saddle, poses for a photo with assistant trainer Robin Smullen after winning the Belmont Stakes, the opener to this year's Triple Crown series, on Saturday in Elmont, N.Y.Keeping Tiz the Law healthy and happy is key, and that becomes even more of a challenge with this year's extended Triple Crown schedule. Instead of three races over five weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the series to be run out of order over 15 weeks.
Instead of running in the Kentucky Derby five weeks after his Florida Derby victory, Tiz the Law had to wait 12 weeks for the Belmont to open the Triple Crown series. Now, the colt is facing 11 weeks between the Belmont and the Kentucky Derby, with the Travers as his only race in between.
That's a long time to train and avoid injury and illness.
In 2003, Funny Cide got sick after losing the Haskell Invitational and didn't compete in the Travers. Tagg and Sackatoga Stable teamed up that year to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes with Funny Cide - a gelding that cost $75,000 - before his Triple Crown hopes were dashed with a third-place finish in the Belmont.
"You have to pay attention to your horse. He tells you whether it's too much or too little," Tagg said. "He tells you all that stuff if you pay attention to it. You have to show up every day. You have to see if he eats every day and if he eats every night."
Tagg is always a man with a plan. The Pennsylvania native gets on a pony to accompany each of his horses to the track in the mornings. He's at the barn in the evenings, too, making sure each one empties the feed tub. Not doing so is often a sign that something isn't right.
Tiz the Law's immediate schedule after a major race involves walking around the barn for a few days before jogging on the track, then galloping, followed by a workout at a moderate speed. It's a tricky balance of not going too fast or too slow but just right.
Injuries have already decimated the 3-year-old ranks. Charlatan and Nadal, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's undefeated duo that each won a division of the Arkansas Derby, are out. Charlatan could return in time for the Preakness; Nadal was retired. Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou won't make the Kentucky Derby. Maxfield is out until next year.
Tiz the Law is atop the leaderboard that determines the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field with 272 points. Honor A. P., in second with 120, skipped the Belmont because it came just two weeks after he won the Santa Anita Derby. Authentic, second at Santa Anita, is third on the leaderboard.