You Horses Go Northward, You Go Southward...I'm Gonna Walk Around Here in a Circle

[RolloTomasi]

Two weeks after a commanding victory in the Curlin Florida Derby (G1) March 28 at Gulfstream Park further established him as the country’s leading Triple Crown contender, it was back to work Tiz the Law Saturday morning.

Good, he’s in such great form right now, no reason to shut down on him with Oaklawn still up and running.

“He was just stretching his legs,” Sackatoga’s managing partner Jack Knowlton said. “We obviously don’t have anything on the horizon, but we have to keep him in training. “

That’s absolutely right. After he runs in the $750,000 Arkansas Derby rescheduled for the same day that the Kentucky Derby what’s this horse supposed to do?

“That’s his first work back. In a normal world he’d work back in 10 days, 11 days. We don’t want to go backwards on him, but we obviously have no idea where we’re going to run.”

I agree; this is not a normal world. It’s a complete mystery where this horse will run after the $750,000 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

His 122 qualifying points rank Tiz the Law first among prospects for the Kentucky Derby (G1), which was postponed from May 2 to Sept. 5 with live racing paused across the country out of health concerns. In a typical year, it is run five weeks following the Florida Derby, which has produced seven first-place finishers since 2001.

Well, fortunately, this year the $750,000 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park is run five weeks following the Florida Derby, so we dodged a bullet…

“The good news for us is, he won two races down here off eight-week layoffs, so Barclay can get them ready for a race,” Knowlton said. “He’ll keep him in training, not hard training, but something to keep him fit and then tighten up when we know we potentially have a race for him.”

This guy has it figured out, he’s got the hot horse right now and he’s gonna strike while the iron is hot, take the lion’s share of the $750,000 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park and then sleep easy knowing that his trainer can get the horse back in gear even if he has to sit on him for eight weeks or more…

A winner of $945,300 in five career starts, Tiz the Law suffered his only loss when third in the slop in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) Nov. 30 in his juvenile finale, which followed back-to-back wins to open his career including the Oct. 5 Champagne (G1) at Belmont Park.

Wait? What? The only time this horse lost a race it was at Churchill Downs? Well, obviously we’re not in a rush to go back there with this horse. Hell, CDI oughta be quaking in their boots if this horse completes his ascendency to the top of the 3yo ranks by winning the $750,000 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

Nothing is getting by this managing partner. He might very well opt for the Travers instead of the Kentucky Derby.

Knowlton said even without a defined target, Tiz the Law will likely remain on his typical pattern of working every seven days.

Yep, totally the way to go. Keep him going steady. After the $750,000 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn it’s entirely possible that some sort of spectator-less racing is allowed to take place. Then Tiz the Law might be able to get a prep race in ahead of the Travers…