Max Player, the third-place finisher behind Tiz the Law in both the Belmont Stakes and Runhappy Travers Stakes, has been transferred from trainer Linda Rice to Steve Asmussen and will be pointed to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5, according to majority owner George Hall.

Hall, who owns the horse along with SportBLX Thoroughbreds – a racing syndicate that sells shares in a portfolio of horses led by Max Player – did not give a specific reason as to why he removed the horse from Rice’s care.

The dominating victories last weekend by Tiz the Law and Art Collector further strengthened their position at the top of the list of candidates for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs, and several of those left in their wake are now seeking other options. They’ve seen enough. Combined with the attrition rate for this Derby owing to its postponement by four months, there is the very real possibility fewer than the maximum 20 horses could enter the Derby, which has not happened since 2003.

HENDERSON, Ky. – Art Collector emerged from his fourth straight victory in good order as trainer Tommy Drury starts making plans to get the colt ready for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby.

Art Collector earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure as a front-running, 3 1/4-length winner of the $200,000 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby on Sunday. It was the fourth open-lengths triumph in as many starts this year for the son of Bernardini, as well as his third straight triple-digit Beyer.

“Everything seems fine this morning,” Drury said early Monday.

HENDERSON, Ky. – Tommy Drury said he was so uptight as the Ellis Park Derby was being run Sunday that “I thought my legs were going to give out.”

Wait until the next one.

Drury, the trainer of Art Collector, ultimately had no reason for worry. Art Collector, on the lead the whole way, dominated the $200,000 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby to further confirm his status as one of the top challengers – if not the top challenger – to the clear-cut favorite, Tiz the Law, in the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Following his Saturday romp in the Runhappy Travers, Tiz the Law is by far the heaviest individually listed favorite in the 21-year history of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

Tiz the Law was the 11-10 favorite when the seventh and final pool toward the 2020 Derby closed Sunday following the customary three days of betting. Those odds easily break a record set when Empire Maker was 5-2 in the final pool of 2003. The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, has closed as low as 3-5 in prior years, but this is the lowest price ever on a separately listed interest.

Grade 1, $980,000 Runhappy Travers Stakes, 1 1/4 miles, Saratoga, Aug. 8, 2020
(100 Derby qualifying points for first, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Tiz the Law, by Constitution
Trainer: Barclay Tagg
Jockey: Manny Franco
Owner: Sackatoga Stable
Beyer Speed Figure: 109

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Seventeen years after winning the Kentucky Derby with the New York-bred gelding Funny Cide, who pulled off a 12-1 upset, trainer Barclay Tagg and Sackatoga Stable will be heading back to Churchill Downs with another New York-bred who will be a much shorter price in the world’s most famous horse race.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Approaching the three-furlong pole of Saturday’s Grade 1 Runhappy Travers Stakes, Tiz the Law, the clear leader of the 3-year-old division, sidled up alongside the pacesetting Uncle Chuck, an apparent top-ranked contender, and the stage was set for a stirring stretch battle before an empty Saratoga grandstand.

The fight didn’t last long.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dr Post, runner-up in the Belmont Stakes and third in the Haskell Invitational, worked a half-mile in 50.69 seconds on Friday morning over Saratoga’s main track.

Dr Post, who worked in company with 2019 Grade 1 Hopeful winner Basin – recently transferred to trainer Todd Pletcher – is preparing for a race on Sept. 5, Pletcher said. It could be the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs or the Jim Dandy at Saratoga or the Federico Tesio at Laurel Park, the latter a Win and You’re In race for the Preakness on Oct. 3 at Pimlico.

With his reputation battered by a four-race losing streak since February, Storm the Court, the champion 2-year-old male of 2019, tries turf for the first time in Sunday’s Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar.

It could be a short-term experiment.