Tiz the Law figures to be a big favorite in Belmont Stakes

by wageringman

8 months ago 0 17

Tiz the Law figures to be a big favorite in Belmont Stakes

A few short weeks ago, the Belmont Stakes, the first race of the reconfigured Triple Crown, was going to be a heavyweight prizefight.

Most of the major players in the 3-year-old division were going to converge on Belmont Park and put on a show on June 20. That, by the way, is 14 days after the Belmont Stakes was supposed to be run and the Triple Crown would have ended if this were a normal year. Of course, with the coronavirus pandemic, there is nothing normal about the world of sports these days.

The Belmont will still be run a week from Saturday, but the pop of that $1 million race has been muted a bit. The show stopper is still coming. Tiz the Law, who has been the best horse on the East Coast this year, will be the hands-down-no-doubt-about-it horse to beat in the Belmont, which, in this weird year, will be run at 1 1/8 miles instead of the traditional 1 1/2 miles.

The bigger story may very well be who isn’t coming. Eleven days ago, Nadal, one of the giants from Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s barn, was retired because of a leg injury. Over the weekend, his stablemate, the equally impressive Charlatan, was declared out of the Belmont and the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby because of an ankle injury. He might make the Preakness on Oct. 3.

Between the two of them, they were unbeaten in seven starts and were the biggest threat to Tiz the Law.

On Monday, trainer Brendan Walsh announced that his prized 3-year-old, Maxfield would skip the Belmont because the main goal is the Derby.

Excuse Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, which owns Tiz the Law, for wondering where everybody went.

“Two, three weeks ago, I said the Belmont could be like the Derby,” Knowlton said by phone from Saratoga Springs on Monday. “That is falling apart. I could not have been more wrong. What are the odds that what has happened, has happened?”

The New York Racing Association on Monday released a list of nine horses that are possible for the Belmont. Tiz the Law is the only one on it with a Grade I win. Only one on that list, the Todd Pletcher-trained Gouverneur Morris, has run against Tiz the Law. He was fourth, five lengths behind Tiz the Law in the Grade I Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on March 28.

Pletcher is pointing three horses to the Belmont. Farmington Road and Dr. Post are his other runners.

Tiz the Law had his second-to-last work before the Belmont on Monday. With regular rider Manny Franco on board, he breezed five furlongs in a time of 1:00.53. That was his first work in New York since Nov. 23. The New York-bred son of Constitution vanned back to his home track last week after spending the winter — and then some because of the pandemic — in Florida.

He will have one more work, either Sunday or Monday at Belmont, before he goes after his third straight win this year in the Belmont Stakes.

Despite having what looks to be a big edge by Tiz the Law over the rest of these Belmont horses, Knowlton is not crowing.

“Obviously, you have to like his chances of winning,” Knowlton said. “The three toughest competitors are not going to be there. But it’s still a horse race. We feel good about him, but we all know the winner of a race is not always the horse you expect to be the winner. All kinds of things can happen during a race. I am not taking anything for granted. There will be competition but I don’t want to trade places with anyone else.”

twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin