Tizway, Flat Out eye rematch in Jockey Club Gold Cup;
Morning Line to undergo tests
Trainer Jim Bond was beaming Sunday, one day after William L. Clifton, Jr.’s
TIZWAY (Tiznow) picked up his second straight Grade 1 victory with a
three-length triumph in the Whitney Invitational H. He was quick to confirm his
plans to take the six-year-old to the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) at Belmont Park
on October 1.
Not only did the Whitney mark Tizway’s first stakes win at 1 1/8 miles, it
was also the first time he had won consecutive black-type races, having taken
the Metropolitan H. (G1) at Belmont on Memorial Day in the second-fastest
running in the race’s 118-year history.
Prior to Tizway in 2011, no horse had completed the Met Mile-Whitney double
since In Excess (Ire) in 1991, one year after Criminal Type had pulled off the
same feat. In total, 14 horses have won both the Met Mile and Whitney, including
legends Carry Back, Kelso, Stymie, Devil Diver, Equipoise, and the fillies
Gallorette and Black Maria.
“I believed in my heart he could get 1 1/8 miles, and you keep reading a lot
of the expert handicappers and lot of other people doubting him,” said Bond, who
had previously won the Whitney in 1997 with Will’s Way.
“It was just so fantastic to watch him pour it on. At the eighth-pole, it
looked like there was a possibility (runner-up FLAT OUT [Flatter]) was going to
outrun him, and he just kind of kicked in again. I just can’t tell you how great
it feels. I’m in a zone right now. I don’t even know I’m standing here, to be
honest with you.”
Bond offered a simple explanation for Tizway’s newly found consistency: the
horse, previously plagued by foot injuries, is now completely sound.
“He’s fit. Believe it or not, I’ve already booked his works through the Gold
Cup,” Bond said, holding up his schedule. “This morning, I was here at 3:30.
There are his Gold Cup works already. When you can do that with a horse, you’ve
got a big edge. When you gotta say, ‘Well, today, we’ve got to jog. We can’t do
this. Things aren’t good enough.’ It’s a big difference, especially when you are
running against Grade 1-type fields.”
Bond believes Tizway’s Whitney win places him in the mix for Horse of the
Year should he continue to excel in the remaining months of 2011.
“If he wins the Gold Cup, I feel like he’s 2-1 to be the leader,” Bond said.
“If we win the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), I feel like he stamps. When you win
the Met in the time that he did it and the way that he did it, and he comes back
with a pretty crushing race yesterday, if he can win the Gold Cup it’s going to
take a really good horse to outshine him at the end of the year, as long as he
stays together.”
The Jockey Club Gold Cup will be Tizway’s first start at 1 1/4 miles since
his third-place finish behind Summer Bird and Quality Road in the 2009 edition
of the race, but Bond believes the horse will handle the added furlong.
“He’ll run all day,” Bond said. “He’ll go two miles. He’s got a high cruising
speed. He gets that head down. He’s sound. I can train him now. I could train
him today.”
On the morning after Flat Out’s second-place finish in Saturday’s Whitney,
trainer Scooter Dickey was already looking ahead to a rematch with Tizway in the
Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Dickey, currently based at Monmouth Park, said Flat Out exited the Whitney in
good shape and will likely have one start prior to the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
“There’s nothing set in stone, either the Iselin ([G3] at Monmouth on August
20) or Woodward ([G1 at Saratoga September 3),” said Dickey, who was scheduled
to take Flat Out back to Monmouth later on Sunday. “The Jockey Club Gold Cup,
definitely. That will probably be our last one before the Breeders’ Cup.”
Like Bond with Tizway, Dickey said he always thought Flat Out, who entered
the Whitney off a rousing score in the Suburban H. (G2) at Belmont in July, was
a talented horse who had been hindered by nagging injuries.
“I’ve always believed in him,” said Dickey, who trains the five-year-old for
Preston Stables. “He proved me right. We always thought he was a good horse. He
just always had so many troubles. He’s finally healthy on his feet. He had a lot
of things. He had a problem in each foot at one time or another. Hopefully,
those are in the past.”
Trainer John Kimmel said that FRIEND OR FOE (Friends Lake) was in good shape
Sunday morning after a fourth-place finish in the Whitney. The four-year-old
colt gamely held on and missed third by a nose to late-running Giant Oak
(Giant’s Causeway) after making the Whitney pace for six furlongs.
“I’m glad our horse came back OK, and I’ll keep the Woodward on the radar,”
Kimmel said.
Kimmel said he believed the horses in the race didn’t handle the track well,
contributing to the relatively slow final time of 1:52 2/5 for the 1 1/8 miles.
“It might be the slowest Whitney on record, and these are not slow horses,”
Kimmel said.
Actually, it was the third slowest Whitney since the race was switched from 1
1/4 miles in 1955. Nevertheless, the victorious Tizway earned a BRIS Speed
rating of 108.
Trying to make sense of MORNING LINE’s (Tiznow) disappointing last-place
finish in the Whitney, a glum Nick Zito said the four-year-old colt will undergo
some testing and then would probably be sent to owner Will Farish’s Lane’s End
Farm in Kentucky for further evaluation.
“Obviously, he’s not the same horse,” said the Hall of Fame trainer of the
Carter H. (G1) winner, who pressed Friend or Foe through six furlongs before
giving way and finishing 11th, nearly 28 lengths behind Tizway. “We’re all
disappointed, the stable’s all disappointed. I hate to use the word embarrassed,
I’ve never used that word in a horse race. But he’s not the same horse.
“What’s upsetting to me is, I know how good the horse is,” he continued. “He
had five great races in a row, from the Pennsylvania Derby (G2) on. And the
Carter was spectacular. And then, he lost the last race, the Monmouth race, and
now this situation. I thought when he was laying with Friend or Foe and Tizway
was breathing down his back, he was going to go, and when he didn’t, I was,
like, ‘What?’ If he were the same, he would have at least been second.”
Morning Line’s Carter was fifth in a string of impressive performances that
began with his victory over First Dude in the Pennsylvania Derby, a second to
Dakota Phone in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), a third in the Hal’s Hope
(G3) behind Soaring Empire (Empire Maker) and a second to Giant Oak in the Donn
H. (G1) this year, earning triple-digit BRIS Speed figures for each.
“After the Carter, he joined us at Churchill, and he had a nice work under
Julien (Leparoux),” Zito said. “Then he came up with a foot issue, we X-rayed
him, and we thought we were getting by that. We went to Monmouth (where he
finished fifth as the favorite in the Salvator Mile [G3] on July 2) and
obviously he’s not the same since that issue.”
Zito said Morning Line would likely be X-rayed this week, and if there are no
changes, he would be sent to Lane’s End.
“I mean, that’s the best farm in the world, and maybe they can further
evaluate him, take him to Dr. (Larry) Bramlage and see what he says,” said Zito.
“He’s obviously not right. We have to figure out what is it. I know they’ll make
a good decision.”