Tiz the Law has first work since November, being pointed to Holy Bull

HALLANDALE, Fla. – One of the premier 3-year-olds stabled in the area this winter is Tiz the Law, winner of the Grade 1 Champagne in just his second start, who ended his 2-year-old campaign finishing a troubled third as the odds-on favorite over a sloppy track in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs.

Tiz the Law turned in his first work since the Kentucky Jockey Club on Monday at Palm Meadows, breezing an easy half-mile in 50.40 seconds with exercise rider Heather Smullen aboard, the final quarter in 24, according to DRF clocker Donald Harris.

“Everything was perfect,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “I told [Heather] I didn’t want him to go fast, I just wanted him to finish strong up the stretch, and he was really full of himself the whole way. I wanted to give him a little time off before getting him going again, but we wound up missing a couple of works because of bad weather on the wrong days. So this first work came a little later than I wanted to start back, although we should have plenty of time to get him ready.”

Tagg is aiming the New York-bred Tiz the Law for the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Feb. 1.

“It would have been nice to have won the race at Churchill Downs because I think he could have been champion if he had,” Tagg said. “But it was just a matter of circumstances we couldn’t do anything about. It was a crummy track because of the rain, he got away slower than we wanted, couldn’t get good position, they kept him boxed in, he was wedged between horses down the stretch and was still trying to finish strong. I can’t blame the jock [Manny Franco] or the horse. I just hope he’ll be the better for the experience moving forward.”

Turf allowance races top card

A pair of allowance events on the turf will highlight Wednesday’s New Year’s Day program, with a new purse increase raising the pots to $51,000 for both races.

The seventh race will be decided under optional-claiming conditions at nine furlongs and drew a full field of 12, plus one also-eligible. An hour later, another dozen fillies and mares will go 1 1/16 miles under entry-level allowance conditions, with the Chad Brown-trained duo of Smooth With a Kick and Clairvoyance among the leading contenders.

The co-features will be the third and fifth legs, respectively, in the Rainbow 6, which offers a guaranteed jackpot of $1.5 million.