Belmont win would give Tiz the Law siblings a boost

Belmont Stakes favorite Tiz the Law was bred in New York by Randy Gullatt and Steve Davison’s Twin Creeks Farm. With a victory in the Belmont, Tiz the Law could provide a boost in the value of that operation’s two half-siblings to him. They are both by the young New York sire Mission Impazible.

Tiz the Law is from the first crop of Constitution, a Tapit horse whom Twin Creeks campaigned in partnership with WinStar Farm. WinStar now stands him in Kentucky. Tiz the Law is out of the Tiznow mare Tizfiz, winner of the Grade 2 San Gorgonio Handicap in 2009 at Santa Anita, and third in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Handicap at that track. She also won that year’s West Virginia Senate President’s Stakes at Mountaineer and the Edward J. Debartolo Sr. Memorial Handicap at Remington.

Twin Creeks purchased the mare for $125,000 out of the 2014 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

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“We bought the mare because she was a very good outcross to several of our stallions,” Gullatt recalled before Tiz the Law’s victory in this year’s Florida Derby, emulating his sire. “She had some quality on the racetrack and was a very classy mare.”

Tizfiz, who died of colic in the summer of 2019, has produced three winners from four starters. In addition to Tiz the Law, a Grade 1 winner at ages 2 and 3 for Sackatoga Stable, which purchased him as a yearling from Twin Creeks, she also is the dam of multiple stakes-placed Awestruck, by Tapit.

Meanwhile, Twin Creeks has continued to make significant investments in New York breeding. The operation’s multiple stud interests include two stallions it stands at Sequel in New York – multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire Mission Impazible, who has become one of the state’s leading young sires, and classic-placed Destin, whose first foals are arriving now.

“New York has an outstanding program for breeder awards and stallion awards,” Gullatt said. “We raced Mission Impazible and we were looking for a regional market to fit him. We wanted to breed our mares to him and support him, and the New York program made a ton of sense. We planned on racing quite a few of those progeny and we’ve been doing that now for several years.”

Mission Impazible has rewarded Twin Creeks and his other supporters by finishing as New York’s leading freshman sire of 2016, leading 2-year-old sire and second-crop sire of 2017, and leading third-crop sire of 2018. He was a solid fifth on last year’s general sire list in the state.

Mission Impazible’s 2-year-olds of this season include Angel Oak, a half-sister to Tiz the Law whom Twin Creeks plans to race and then retain to replace her dam in the broodmare band. Her value, and that of her foals, will continue to climb with her half-brother’s accomplishments. Tizfiz also produced a Mission Impazible colt in the spring of 2019, prior to her death.

“The filly is in Ocala at Susan Montanye’s SBM operation, and we plan on racing her ourselves,” Gullatt said. “Hopefully, she will be a broodmare for us in the future. She’s learning, and we’re taking our time with her.”

Solid meet for Big Brown

Eclipse Award champion Big Brown’s lone start at Belmont Park ended ingloriously. After winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, he was eased in the 2008 Belmont Stakes, resulting in his only loss in eight career starts. But more than a decade later, he has found a home in New York where he is thriving as a stallion. Now standing at Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions, Big Brown is enjoying a solid spring/summer meeting at Belmont Park, highlighted by Funny Guy’s win in the Commentator Stakes last Friday.

Big Brown sits second among New York sires by earnings, with a bankroll of $714,712 through June 14, trailing McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds’s Central Banker at $953,220. Third behind those two is the state’s perennial leading sire Freud, with $637,865 this year at Sequel Stallions.

Funny Guy won the New York Stallion Stakes in April 2019 at Aqueduct and the Albany Stakes last August at Saratoga, and placed in three stakes in his home state that season. In the Commentator, his first start in more than nine months, he defeated millionaire Mr. Buff by 1 1/4 lengths, with Central Banker’s top earner Bankit another neck back in third.

Big Brown, the sire of Grade 1 winner Dortmund, also is represented this season by New York-bred Somelikeithotbrown. A graded stakes winner last season, Somelikeithotbrown has been competing against open company this season and finished third in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy Stakes on June 6 at Belmont.

Starters from lone Effinex crop

New York-bred Grade 1 winner Effinex was warmly welcomed home to the Empire State to begin his stud career – but only sired one crop of foals before his untimely death. With the eyes of the racing world on New York this week, the late stallion will, appropriately, be represented by two starters Friday at Belmont Park.

A five-furlong maiden special weight for New York-bred juveniles kicks off Friday’s card, with Effinity, trained by Brad Cox, and Ocala Dream, trained by Tom Morley, representing Effinex. Both colts are out of mares by Freud.

Effinex, by Mineshaft, raced as a homebred for Russell Cohen, who famously named the horse in reference to a tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife. Effinex won the 2014 Empire Classic against New York-breds. He continued on to earn statebred horse of the year honors in 2015 with a strong season, highlighted by a victory in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap that November at Churchill Downs, one start after finishing second to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland. Effinex’s 2015 season also included victories in the Grade 2 Suburban and Grade 3 Excelsior, and a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

The following year, Effinex won the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and another edition of the Suburban, was second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and was third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. He retired at the end of that season with more than $3.3 million in career earnings.

Effinex retired to Questroyal North in Stillwater, N.Y., for the 2017 breeding season. He covered 110 mares that season, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. That summer, Effinex was relocated to McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds to continue his stud career. However, in October he died in his stall of a pulmonary aneurysm.