To the roar of nobody, Tiz the Law galloped to victory in the 152nd Belmont Stakes.
In a race unlike any other, the New York-bred Tiz the Law captured the first jewel of the Triple Crown in a year when horse racing tradition was flipped on its head because of the coronavirus pandemic.
With Manny Franco up in his Belmont Stakes debut, the heavily favored (4-5) Tiz the Law surged past Tap It to Win around the only turn and left everyone else behind to become the first New York bred to win the race in 138 years. It gave trainer Barclay Tagg and the 3-year-old colt’s owners from Sackatoga Stables the Belmont Stakes win that fell through their grasp with a Triple Crown-chasing Funny Cide in 2003.
“Well, for a lot longer than that, I was hoping to win the Belmont,” the 82-year-old Tagg said. “Funny Cide got us close, anyway, and I was glad to top it off with this one today. It was pretty sweet.”
As they came down the final stretch, they did so in near-silence. The only sounds were the ones that are usually drowned out by 90,000-plus fans screaming their heads off: track announcer John Imbriale calling the race, the humming of a helicopter overhead, the frantic hoofs beating down on the dirt and jockeys cracking the whip. Once he crossed the finish line, beating Dr Post by 3 ¾ lengths with Max Player in third, Franco could be heard clearly yelling out a big “Yes!”
Post-race hugs were replaced by fist bumps, the purse was cut from $1.5 million to $1 million and the distance was 1 ¹/₈ miles — three furlongs shorter than the regular 1 ½ miles around two turns — but the win counted all the same.
“Well, today wasn’t like any other Saturday at the track that I’ve ever known,” Tagg said as Tiz the Law joined Forester (1882), Fenian (1869) and Ruthless (1867) as the only New York breds to win the Belmont Stakes.
Despite racing in New York being suspended for 2 ¹/₂ months, it was Belmont that kicked off the Triple Crown for the first time ever, letting trainers, jockeys and owners dream here instead of getting those dreams crushed.
Tiz the Law had four wins in five starts leading up to Saturday, but he had not raced since March 28. As the pandemic shook up the racing schedule, Tagg stuck to his plan and continued to train him even when uncertainty ruled. His thoroughbred showed no signs of rust, though, proving his dominance again on the biggest stage yet.
“You had to have in the back of your mind a little bit about the layoff in between,” Tagg said. “But he didn’t show me anything pertinent that would make me think we’d have a problem. Still, it’s not as traditional as it usually is. You’re never sure if you got it exactly right. This guy makes it easy for you. He makes it easy. He says, ‘I’m ready, let’s go.’ ”
After Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered a televised “Riders up,” a hint of normalcy seeped in when the bugler played the call to post at 5:31. Reality quickly returned, though, when it echoed across the empty grandstand instead of sending the crowd into a frenzy.
The only seats filled were taken by the horses’ trainers, spread out in different boxes with face masks added to their regular dressy race-day attire.
The road ahead includes the Kentucky Derby, rescheduled for Sept. 5, and the Preakness on Oct. 3 — setting up the trio of races to be run over a stretch of 16 weeks instead of the regular demanding five-week period. But Tiz the Law passed the first test just fine.
“It looked to me like everything just worked like clockwork,” Tagg said. “It all just worked out to perfection.”