BELMONT, N.Y. – Most asterisks in sports don't make a lot of sense, whether next to Roger Maris’ 61 home runs because he played a few more games than Babe Ruth, or whichever team wins this year’s NBA championship because the season was so disjointed.
They denote the achievement was tainted in some way, even though the player or team did exactly what was required given the situation they were presented with.
And there should be no asterisk next to Tiz the Law should Saturday's Belmont Stakes winner go on to complete the Triple Crown later this year.
No, Tiz the Law will not have won a 1½-mile Belmont like all but one of the 13 previous Triple Crown champs, with this year’s Belmont Stakes shortened to 1⅛ miles as the first race in the series, instead of the last (Sir Barton also won a Belmont Stakes at 1⅛ miles in 1919).
Nor will he have endured the traditional gauntlet of three races in five weeks many of the others have endured, with the COVID-19 pandemic having forced the restructuring of the series and stretching it out over 15 weeks.
But if Tiz the Law, flanked by trainer Barclay Tagg and a socially distanced Sackatoga Stable crew, is draped with a bed of black-eyed Susans in the Pimlico winner’s circle after the Preakness Stakes on Oct. 3, after winning the Kentucky Derby a month earlier, he will have pulled off one of the most monumental feats in racing history.
Forget the asterisk.
If the Belmont Stakes flipped from the Triple Crown-ending “Test of the Champion” to the opening salvo in the series is any indication, it could be a seminal year for racing. Tiz the Law became the first New York-bred in 138 years to win the hometown classic in the state that’s been most devastated by the coronavirus, summoning a commanding performance in front of an empty Belmont Park grandstand.
How tough will the next few months be?
There are always fresh horses filtering into the Triple Crown fray to test the potential champions. Just look at the collection of contenders on the sideline waiting to jump in when everyone convenes at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
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The top challenger appears to be Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A.P., who will prep on the West Coast before being shipped in for the Run for the Roses for what could be an epic showdown.
And then there’s the collection of 3-year-olds in trainer Bob Baffert’s barn.
Authentic suffered the first loss of his career in the Santa Anita Derby, finishing second, and is being pointed towards the $1 million Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 18 as a stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby.
Baffert might just have the next Arrogate in horses like Cezane, a son of Curlin that cost $3.65 million and broke his maiden on June 6 with a Beyer Speed Figure of 90 at Santa Anita. Or Uncle Chuck, and Uncle Mo colt who earned a 95 Beyer in his debut on June 12, a seven-length win at a mile over the Santa Anita surface.
And Baffert’s filly Gamine looked more like a candidate for the Kentucky Derby rather than the Kentucky Oaks in her brilliant 18¾-length victory in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes on the Belmont Stakes undercard, just missing the track record and earning a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 110, by far the best number of the season among 3-year-olds.
Trainer Steve Asmussen’s Basin is a Grade 1 winner who finished second behind unbeaten Charlatan in a division of the Arkansas Derby, and is now headed to the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on July 11 as a Derby prep.
There’s Tampa Bay Derby winner King Guilermo, who also finished second to unbeaten, and now retired, Nadal in a division of the Arkansas Derby, and could train up to the second leg of the Triple Crown.
Residing in barns such as trainer Todd’s Pletcher’s are a host of other 3-year-olds capable of maturing into formidable challengers over the next few months.
Then there’s the elongated nature of this year’s Triple Crown.
Keeping a horse both sound and sharp from June through early October would be no small feat, with numerous workouts and a prep race involved. If Tiz the Law is not on top of his game come the fall, there figure to be a few horses that could get to the wire ahead of him.
Clearly, there’s still an incredible amount of work to do if Tiz the Law is to become the 14th Triple Crown winner and third since 2015. But with all that said, if he pulls it off it will be a monumental accomplishment worthy of racing immortality.
No asterisk needed.
Stephen Edelson is a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey sports columnist and horse racing writer. Contact him at: @SteveEdelsonAPP; sedelson@gannettnj.com.
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Belmont Stakes 2020: If Tiz the Law wins Triple Crown, no asterisk needed - Asbury Park Press
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