LEXINGTON, Ky. — When Jack Knowlton saw the Louisville weather forecast this past week for the first Saturday in May, he had one thought.
“Wow,” he said to himself, “what a day it would have been.”
As head of Sackatoga Stable, it easily could have been Knowlton’s day. After wins in the Feb. 1 Holy Bull and the March 28 Florida Derby, his colt Tiz the Law would have been the probable favorite for the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 2.
But now the coronavirus pandemic has pushed the Derby to Sept. 5. “And,” said Knowlton, “the race in September is going to be a lot tougher than it might have been the first Saturday in May.”
Knowlton has been here before. In one of racing’s more delightful stories, Knowlton and his merry band of high school buddies from Sackets Harbor, N.Y., rode to Louisville on a school bus to see Sackatoga’s Funny Cide, a $75,000 gelding, win the 2003 Kentucky Derby at 12-1 on a beautiful Saturday.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Knowlton of possibly winning a second Derby on a second try. “Given what Sackatoga Stables is, buying one, possibly two horses a year, always New York-bred. Our hope is that they can be good enough to run and maybe win stakes races for New York-breds. To have this horse come out of nowhere really, and be the horse that he is, I have a hard time believing that this so-called lightning striking twice is really happening.”
Knowlton and Lou Titterton are the only Sackatoga members remaining from 2003. Thirty-two partners are involved in Tiz the Law. Some have been with the syndicate for a decade or more. For others, this is their first horse. It’s not the first rodeo for 82-year-old trainer Barclay Tagg, however. Yes, that’s the same Barclay Tagg who conditioned Funny Cide.
“Barclay and (assistant) Robin Smullen are just great people,” Knowlton said. “We collaborate on purchasing the horses. It’s a team effort.”
Knowlton paid $110,000 at the 2018 Saratoga New York Bred Yearling Sales for Tiz the Law, a son of Constitution by a Tiznow mare (Tizfiz). As a 2-year-old, Tiz won his debut Aug. 8 at Saratoga before capturing Belmont Park’s Grade 1 Champagne Stakes on Oct. 5. After finishing third in the Kentucky Jockey Club in the slop at Churchill Downs on Nov. 30, he is 2-for-2 as a 3-year-old.
“Beginning literally the day after the Champagne, Barclay and I plotted out what we hoped would be a path to the first Saturday in May,” Knowlton said. “Except for a little bump in the road we hit at Churchill in the Kentucky Jockey Club, the plan has gone perfectly.”
Until now. With racing in limbo, Tiz the Law has breezed three times since the Florida Derby. He’s healthy, reported Knowlton. And happy. And waiting.
“They’re really is still just a blank slate out there in terms of where do we go next,” the owner said. “We’re waiting for NYRA to hopefully get approval from the state to move forward and start racing without fans, just like Churchill got their approval this week.”
If so, Tiz the Law would ship from Florida to New York. The Travers Stakes, scheduled for Aug. 29 at Saratoga, would hopefully be moved to possibly five weeks before the Kentucky Derby. “That would make a lot of sense to me,” Knowlton said.
Talk is the Belmont Stakes would be run sometime before the Kentucky Derby, said the owner. As for the Preakness, Knowlton said he hopes NYRA and the Stronach Group, which owns Pimlico, will agree on a schedule that accommodates both.
Much can happen between May 2 and Sept. 5, of course. Injured horses unable to make the May Derby could be ready by fall. Other horses will have matured through experience. The field will be more accomplished. And tougher to beat.
“That being said,” Knowlton added, “I wouldn’t trade places with anybody in the country.”
He does have one request, however.
“I just hope we get the same kind of weather for the first Saturday in September.”
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