2020 racing at Saratoga has been met with both sadness and satisfaction. Safety precautions have ruled out spectators, bummer, but alas the greatest sport still thrives! Saturday, Saratoga serves up the Travers Stakes. This race offers 170 KY Derby points, 100-40-20-10 to the first 4 finishers, respectively. The Belmont Stakes, the first leg of the Triple Crown has taken place and Tiz the Law took the win in style. He is placed at the top of the KY Derby leaderboard with points in 5 KY Derby prep races! With such a high point value in the Travers, any contender that wins would get an automatic KY Derby entry. August 8th is Tiz the Law versus a field of 7 other colts in the Travers Stakes.
The contenders in the Grade 1, $1 million dollar, RunhappyTravers Stakes, for 3 year-old thoroughbreds, a dirt race of 1 and 1/4 miles, race 11 on a card of 12, posting at 6:14 PM ET are as follows by post position/horse/jockey/trainer/owner/breeder/and morning-line odds:
- First Line/D Cohen/O Noda/Noda Brothers LLC./Sather Family LLC/30-1
- Country Grammer/I Ortiz, Jr./C C Brown/Paul P Pompa, Jr./Scott and Debbie Pierce/6-1
- Uncle Chuck/L Saez/B Baffert/Karl Watson, Micheal E Pegram and Paul Weitman/Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, LLC./5-2
- Max Player/J Rosario/L Rice/George E Hall, SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp./K and G Stables/6-1
- Shivaree/J Alvarado/ R E Nicks/ Fred J Brei, Jacks or Better Farm, Inc./30-1
- Tiz the Law/M Franco/ B Tagg/Sackatoga Stable/Twin Creeks Farm/1-1
- Caracaro/J Castellano/G Delgado/Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing, LLC./S F Bloodstock/10-1
- South Bend/J L Ortiz/W I Mott/Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, Peter Deutsch and Pantofel Stable, LLC./15-1
Now, read on for more details by horse (state of breeding) sire-dam: (career entries – wins:2nds:3rds) and a bit more…
First Line (KY) First Samurai– Street Line: (4-1:1:1) is a gelding that has spent his career exclusively in New York. He broke his maiden in his last start, which was right at Saratoga.
Country Grammer (KY) Tonalist – Arabian Song: (5:2-0-1), this colt has raced 4 of his 5 starts in New York and is coming of a fresh win in the KY Derby prep, the Peter Pan Stakes at Saratoga.
Uncle Chuck (KY) Uncle Mo – Forest Music: (2:2-0-0) is one of two Uncle Mo colts in the race. He has been lightly raced but undefeated in California and he is on the KY Derby trail with a win in his last start, the Los Alamitos Derby. Trainer, Bob Baffert, has won the Travers several times.
Max Player (KY) Honor Code – Fools in Love: (4:2-1-1), this colt is a northern racer. He broke his maiden in his 2nd start, both were at Parx and following he finished first then third at Aqueduct and Belmont. In his last start he grabbed his KY Derby points in the Belmont Stakes.
Shivaree (FL) Awesome of Course – Garter Belt: (12:3-3-2) is the sole Florida colt. He raced 11 times at Gulfstream. Shivaree finished 2nd in graded stakes there including the KY Derby prep, the Curlin Florida Derby. He then finished 11th in his last start, at my hometrack, Keeneland, in the KY Derby prep, The Blue Grass Stakes,
Tiz the Law (NY) Constitution – TizFiz: (6:5-0-1) is the only homestate bred and the race’s favorite colt. He has won 5 of 6 starts. His last 5 races have all been KY Derby preps and he won points in them all. He got his start and broke his maiden at first asking right at Saratoga. Our regularly contributing handicapper took all the pictures in this post and he noted that Tiz the Law’s owner’s have been extremely fortunate in their success with freshman sired winners. Sackatoga Stable won the KY Derby with Distorted Humor’s Funny Cide and most recently the Belmont Stakes with Constitution’s Tiz the Law.
Caracaro (KY) Uncle Mo – Peace Time: (3:1-2-0) another Uncle Mo colt. He just came off an nice 2nd place finish at Saratoga, gathering KY Derby points in the Peter Pan Stakes. Of his 3 starts, he has always finished 1st and 2nd. His jockey, Javier Castellano, holds the record for Travers Stakes wins. That is 6 Man o’ War Cups!
South Bend (KY) Algorithms – Sandra’s Rose: (11:3-2-2) this colt started racing in KY winning his first 3 starts at Churchill Downs and Keeneland. After a disappointing 6th place finish in his first KY Derby prep, the KY Jockey Club Stakes, he raced heavily at Gulfstream before returning to KY and Ohio. He got his first KY Derby points with a 2nd place finish in the Ohio Derby.
Best wishes to all of this year’s Travers Stakes contenders. Will anyone beat the 1 to 1 odds, Tiz the Law? If they do we will be seeing them face off again in the KY Derby. Tiz the season for the Mid-Summer Derby. Enjoy these last KY Derby prep races and check back with Thoroughbred U for more racing information.
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