Tiz the Law was a Grade 1 winner at age 2 who won a classic at 3. Those closest to him in his current career as a stallion say his progeny show similar progression, and that means exciting things could be in store for Tiztastic, who represents his sire’s first crop in the Kentucky Derby.
“It has already changed the trajectory of his career,” said Adrian Mansergh Wallace, part of the nominations and sales division at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, where Tiz the Law stands in Kentucky. “He had a massive first year with his first group of 2-year-olds on both surfaces, which is something we were quite surprised to see and welcomed a lot. But it would be something akin to what happened with Uncle Mo’s trajectory. He was always a popular horse, but his stud fee tripled after [first-crop representative] Nyquist went on to win the Kentucky Derby.”
A $335,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Coolmore, Tiztastic turned heads when he won a pair of races within nine days at the all-turf Kentucky Downs meet, including the Juvenile Mile. Subsequently moved to dirt, he knocked at the door with several graded stakes placings before winning the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby.
“The thing about the Tiz the Laws is they seem to improve from stage to stage to stage,” Wallace said. “The difference between them as 2-year-olds under tack from when they were weanlings is really astronomical. Once they grow, once they mature and get to training, they become real athletes.”
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The development of Tiz the Law’s progeny and the current demand for them was evident at the recent Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training. The stallion sired the sale-topping $1.5 million colt sold to West Point Thoroughbreds, Spendthrift Farm, and St. Elias Stable; a $1.15 million colt sold to Zedan Racing; and a $1.05 million filly sold to Mahmud Mouni. No other stallion sired multiple seven-figure horses.
The sale-topping colt was a successful pinhook for Steven Venosa’s SGV Thoroughbreds. The $125,000 Keeneland September yearling made an “amazing” transformation, Venosa said.
“It seems like he gets better and better,” he added. “As he was showing, several people would come and look at him every day, and every day he just really blossomed. The [Tiz the Laws], they’re running on dirt, they’re running on turf. They’re showing up at 2-year-old sales and, most importantly, they are sound.
Tiz the Law, by Constitution, won the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at 2. He continued to develop the following year with four graded stakes wins. Tiz the Law won the 2020 Belmont Stakes, although it was at 1 1/8 miles and around one turn in the pandemic-shuffled Triple Crown. He later showed his classic-distance mettle by winning the Travers Stakes and finishing second in the Kentucky Derby, both at 1 1/4 miles.
Tiztastic is one of three graded stakes winners from his first crop, and the other two, Non Compliant and Scythian, both won beyond a mile as well.
Authentic (Spendthrift Farm), who won the 2020 Kentucky Derby and went on to be Horse of the Year, also has a Derby entrant from his first crop in Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez. Santa Anita Derby runner-up Baeza, who needs a scratch to make the field, is from the first crop of McKinzie (Gainesway).
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