Shades of Arrogate as Uncle Chuck takes on Tiz the Law in Travers
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Four years ago, trainer Bob Baffert shipped a lightly raced 3-year-old from California to take on a dozen horses, including the winners of two Triple Crown races, in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga. All Arrogate did that day was win by 13 1/2 lengths and smash a 37-year-old stakes and track record by running 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.36.
Saturday, when the Travers is run for the 151st time at spectator-less Saratoga, Baffert will again be represented by a lightly raced 3-year-old who will take on seven rivals, including Tiz the Law, the leading 3-year-old in the country.
What Uncle Chuck (2 for 2) does may be the most intriguing aspect of an already drastically different Runhappy Travers Stakes.
:: Get DRF's Betting Strategies for Saratoga's weekend cards
On June 12, eight days before Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes for his third Grade 1 victory, Uncle Chuck won his debut by seven lengths at Santa Anita. On July 4, Uncle Chuck won the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby by four lengths over Thousand Words, who came back to defeat Honor A. P. – a leading Kentucky Derby contender – in the Shared Belief Stakes last Saturday at Del Mar.
Uncle Chuck has garnered comparisons to Arrogate, who entered the Travers off an allowance win against two horses at Del Mar.
Baffert says Uncle Chuck, a son of Uncle Mo, reminds him of Arrogate in “the ground that he covers when he moves.”
It’s why Baffert started him out at two turns and why he thinks the horse is suited for 1 1/4 miles.
“I really think with his stride, he’s just a big, tall, lanky beautiful horse that covers a lot of ground,” Baffert said. “He has his sire Uncle Mo’s brilliance. If I have a horse for the Travers, I really like that horse.”
Baffert has won the Travers with Point Given, Arrogate, and West Coast. The latter two went gate to wire. Uncle Chuck, who will be ridden by Luis Saez from post 3, is a threat to break running and never stop.
“I hope when he turns for home, he’s right there and he could strut his stuff,” Baffert said. “We know he’s a good horse.”
Baffert is attempting to find out if Uncle Chuck is a Kentucky Derby horse. Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the Kentucky Derby was moved from May 2 to Sept. 5. The Travers offers its top four finishers qualifying points (100-40-20-10) toward the Kentucky Derby in the event the race draws more than 20 horses.
In Tiz the Law, the Travers features the pro-tem Kentucky Derby favorite. Tiz the Law, a New York-bred son of Constitution owned by the Sackatoga Stable and trained by Barclay Tagg, is 5 for 6 overall and 3 for 3 this year.
Though Tiz the Law has not run farther than 1 1/8 miles – this year’s Belmont was shortened to that distance from 1 1/2 miles – Tagg has been adamant the 1 1/4 miles of the Travers will be ideal for him.
“I’ve never seen him take a deep breath, I’ve never had him out of breath after a workout, I’ve never had him way out of breath after a race, and he blows off very quick,” Tagg said. “Nothing seems to be a hazard. I could be all wrong, it might change with another eighth of a mile, but I have no reason to worry about it.”
Tiz the Law, who will break from post 6 under Manny Franco, doesn’t figure to be far off the pace. He has put in three excellent workouts over Saratoga’s main track.
Max Player ran a decent third in the Belmont Stakes considering it was his first race in 4 1/2 months. Max Player has not handled the kickback of dirt in his face very well, and in the Belmont trainer Linda Rice felt jockey Joel Rosario, who was on Max Player for the first time, left the horse too much to do.
“I suspect Joel figured out in his last race – because we did discuss it afterwards – that he’s got to find him a clear path, get him away from the kickback, otherwise he’s going to lose momentum and lose position,” Rice said. “He may also be a little more aggressive with him early because I think he let him lay back there and get a little further back than he wanted.”
Country Grammer and Caracaro were separated by a head when finishing one-two in the Grade 3 Peter Pan, a 1 1/8-mile race run here on July 16. Trainer Chad Brown is confident Country Grammer will get the 10 furlongs of the Travers, but understands this is a step up in class.
“He’s going to have to run the best race of his life for sure, and we’re going to have to hope that a couple of these main contenders don’t want a mile and a quarter,” Brown said. “If they back up a little bit and we come forward, that’s the only scenario I see where we could have success in this race.”
Caracaro’s runner-up finish in the Peter Pan was his first race since he won his maiden in January. The 23-day turnaround has his trainer, Gustavo Delgado, a little concerned.
South Bend comes off a second-place finish to Dean Martini in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown. Following that race, he was purchased privately by a group that includes Gary Barber and Adam Wachtel and turned over to trainer Bill Mott, who ran second in last year’s Travers with Tacitus.
Shivaree ran second to Tiz the Law in the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream, but is coming off an 11th-place finish in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
First Line is coming off a maiden victory going 1 1/8 miles on July 29. His trainer, Orlando Noda, is enjoying a terrific meet, with 5 wins from 14 starters.
The Travers goes as race 11 on a 12-race card that begins at noon Eastern and includes the Grade 1 Ballerina, Grade 1 Test, Grade 3 Waya, and Grade 3 Troy.
The Travers (6:15 p.m. post) will be broadcast on FOX during a 90-minute broadcast beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern.