Tiz the Law’s dominant Travers win secures top Derby contenders spot

on Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview —-

If Tiz the Law stays healthy there is not a 3-year-old in the country that will beat him in this year’s Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. He proved that on Aug. 8 when he destroyed the competition in the Travers at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York.

The final time for the mile-and-a-quarter race was 2:00.95 and the colt was geared down the final 100 yards to win by more than six lengths.

A week earlier at Del Mar in Southern California, Thousand words won the Shared Belief, upsetting the favorite Honor A.P. There were some who thought Honor A.P. didn’t need to win the race, but I was not one of those.

This is the final list before my Derby week picks.

Tiz the Law (Constitution) 372 points – won the Travers and may be odds-on for Derby.

Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) 83 points – won the Shared Belief.

Honor A.P. (Honor Code) 120 points – second in the Shared Belief.

Authentic (Into Mischief) 200 points – won the Haskell – barely.

Art Collector (Bernardini) 100 points – impressive in the Blue Grass.

Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic) 110 points – threw a scare into Authentic late in Haskell.

Dr Post (Quality Road) 80 points – third in the Haskell.

King Guillermo (Uncle Mo) 90 points – second behind Nadal in Arkansas Derby.

Ete Indien (Summer Front) 74 points – third in Florida Derby.

If I could find a tenth colt I would, but there is no competition.

Cover Photo: Tiz the Law; Gulfstream Park Photo