After rushing out of the gate in the pandemic-twisted 2020 season, winning the Belmont Stakes in June and then taking the Travers Stakes in early August, Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law seemed poised for a Triple Crown run. “We’re actually dreaming of a ‘Quadruple Crown,’ thanks to the Travers win,” Jack Knowlton, Sackatoga’s managing partner, told Saratoga Living mere weeks before that September’s Kentucky Derby. It wasn’t to be; in a race to the finish line, Tiz the Law was bested by the Bob Baffert–trained Authentic. And after skipping the Preakness Stakes, the horse was pointed towards the Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he ended up finishing a disappointing sixth (his old nemesis, Authentic, went wire-to-wire in the race).
Those last two losses will likely bar Tiz the Law from capturing an Eclipse Award for his 3-year-old season at this coming January’s ceremony, but his ownership group already has their eyes set on 2021. Sackatoga Stable, which is based in Saratoga Springs, announced on November 12 that Tiz the Law would be kicking off his 4-year-old campaign on January 23 in the Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, FL. And because Authentic has now been retired to stud, Sackatoga has swooped in and swapped his 2020 jockey, Manny Franco, in favor of John Velasquez.
Sackatoga’s Knowlton is bullish about Tiz the Law’s upcoming season. “I’m grateful for all that has been accomplished thus far with Tiz,” said Knowlton in a statement. “How can you not be? But we have another year of racing ahead of us and want to do what’s best for him and our partners. Tiz’s story still has another chapter.”