Tiz the Law's Preakness status still undecided

ELMONT, N.Y. – The much anticipated decision regarding Tiz the Law’s starting status for the Preakness will not be made for at least another several days. It’s a decision, trainer Barclay Tagg and his assistant Robin Smullen agreed, that will basically be made by Tiz the Law himself.

Tiz the Law returned to Belmont Park from Churchill Downs last Tuesday, 72 hours after his second-place finish behind Authentic in the Kentucky Derby. He has done little more than jog and canter under Smullen, his regular exercise rider, since returning to the track last Thursday. His energy level going a slow and very easy mile here Monday morning over a fresh track after the renovation break was obviously nothing like what it had been in the days and weeks prior to both his victory in the Runhappy Travers or the Derby.

“He’s very stiff galloping right now,” Smullen said. “It’s nothing to worry about. He came out of his previous race in Kentucky the same way, and I think that racetrack has a lot to do with it. He’s an easy horse to train because either he takes a hold and drags you around there or he doesn’t. And when he doesn’t, it’s because he’s feeling a little stiff. It’s no big deal. He’ll tell us when he’s ready to do more than canter around there like he has the last few mornings. And right now, he’s not telling us he’s ready to do more.”

Tagg and Smullen also agreed it was likely the combination of having only four weeks between starts and the fact Tiz the Law is seemingly not comfortable over the Churchill Downs surface that contributed to his second-place finish as the odds-on favorite in the Derby. Tiz the Law, who had won the Florida Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers by a combined 13 1/4 lengths coming into the Kentucky Derby, has been beaten only twice in eight career starts, both those setbacks having come at Churchill Downs.

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“He’s come out of most of his other races better than he came out of this one,” Tagg said. “It’s pretty obvious he doesn’t really care for that track. He’s also never had to come back in four weeks before. It was a plan that had always worked out well in the past, although this time we had no choice. Look, he beat a lot of horses [in the Derby], many of whom were no slouches. And give the winner his due, he ran a great race. But you always question if he came back in four weeks at Belmont or Saratoga, tracks he’s really shown a fondness for, if things would have been different.”

It is expected that if Tiz the Law does bypass the Preakness, he would make his next start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.