Tiz the Law makes it look easy in five-furlong drill

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Heather Smullen had not sat on the back of Tiz the Law for about three months. It took less than a minute for her to realize how much the 3-year-old colt has changed in a short period of time.

Smullen guided Tiz the Law through a five-furlong workout in 59.63 seconds on Saturday morning over Saratoga’s main track. Working by himself, Tiz the Law went in fractions of 12.80, 24.41, 35.63, and got his final quarter in 24.00. He then proceeded to gallop out six furlongs in 1:12.84 and seven furlongs 1:26.20.

Tiz the Law, winner of the Belmont Stakes and Florida Derby this year, is preparing for the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers Stakes here Aug. 8 and then the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.

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“He’s impressive,” said Smullen, the niece of Barclay Tagg’s assistant trainer Robin Smullen. “I haven’t worked him since Florida. It’s not been that long, but he’s definitely maturing in all the right ways since then. He’s always been very smart, but he’s just getting physically bigger and stronger and more efficient than he was before.

“He’s not even trying to do anything, he just goes around there and it’s comfortable for him and it’s easy for him. It’s hard to describe, but before it felt like you were sitting on a 3-year-old, now it feels like you’re sitting on an older horse.”

It was the third, but most serious work Tiz the Law has had since the Belmont victory on June 20. Tagg wanted a strong gallop-out, noting that the Travers is 1 1/4 miles. On Saturday, the main track was fast and in good condition.

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“It was a good day to have a gallop-out,” Tagg said. “I don’t know what it’ll be next week. I might have to work him in the mud or something, and you wouldn’t want to have a big gallop-out.”

Tagg said Saturday’s workout was what he would have expected from Tiz the Law.

“I have to admit everything I’ve done with this colt I’ve had high expectations, and he’s never failed me,” Tagg said. “I’ve never gone to bed thinking I messed up, I wished I had done this with him or done that with him or I couldn’t figure out why he did this or did that. Everything’s been smooth.”

Jack Knowlton, head of the Sackatoga Stable that owns Tiz the Law, watched the work from the backstretch and said it was the first time he’d seen Tiz the Law on the track since before the Florida Derby on March 28.

Due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, owners had not been permitted ontrack in New York until Thursday.

“Couldn’t have been a better work,” Knowlton said. “Certainly seems to relish this new racetrack. Every track that he’s been on doesn’t seem to bother him.”

Code of Honor, Creed work together

About three hours before Tiz the Law worked, Code of Honor, last year’s Travers winner, put in a five-furlong work over the Oklahoma training track in 1:01.93 in company with the 3-year-old Creed. Code of Honor, most recently third in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, is pointing to the Grade 1 Whitney here Aug. 1. Creed, a winner of two straight at Belmont Park this spring, is pointing to the Grade 2 Jim Dandy on Sept. 5.

Fog obscured the early part of Code of Honor’s move, but he went his last three furlongs in 36.73 seconds, per track clockers.

“I’m very pleased with his work today,” McGaughey said of Code of Honor.