Tiz the Law and Heather Smullen settle in at Churchill Downs Tuesday. Coady Photography.
By Tom Law
Champion New York-bred and Belmont and Travers Stakes winner Tiz the Law will line up between two other major contenders and almost on the extreme outside in the field of 18 entered Tuesday for Saturday’s 146th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law drew post 17 for trainer Barclay Tagg, in between Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A. P. in 16 and Haskell Invitational winner Authentic in 18. Manny Franco has the return call on Tiz the Law, made the 3-5 favorite on the morning line.
Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia set the line for the 47th straight year and made Tiz the Law the shortest price on the board since Empire Maker was pegged at 6-5 in 2003. The last time Battaglia made a Derby entrant 3-5 was the coupled entry of champion Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring in 1989.
Post 17 is winless in 41 Derby starts, the best finish a runner-up by Forty Niner in 1988 along with a fourth by Don’t Get Mad in 2005. Those statistics, however, were for the former 14-stall and six-stall auxiliary starting gates used for the Derby. Churchill Downs will use a new 20-stall gate for this year’s Derby, eliminating a gap between posts 14 and 15 and moving it out from the inside.
Tiz the Law arrived safe at Churchill Tuesday morning after an early van ride from Saratoga Race Course to Albany and a flight to Louisville.
Honor A. P., who will try to give trainer John Shirreffs a second Derby win after Giacomo pulled off a 50-1 upset 15 years ago, was pegged as the 5-1 second choice on the morning line. Authentic drew the extreme outside for five-time Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert and is 8-1 on the early line.
The other 15 runners in the field for the 1 1/4-mile Derby are double-digit odds, including 15-1 fourth choice Thousand Words and co-fifth choices King Guillermo and New York-bred Haskell runner-up Ny Traffic at 20-1.
The Kentucky Derby goes as the 14th race on Churchill’s spectator-free card with a post time of 7:02 p.m. ET. NBC will broadcast the Derby live during its five-hour broadcast that starts at 2:30 p.m. Here’s the field for the 2020 Kentucky Derby, with jockeys and morning-line odds:
1-Finnick The Fierce, Rey Hernandez, 50-1;
2-Max Player, Ricardo Santana Jr., 30-1;
3-Enforceable, Adam Beschizza, 30-1
4-Storm The Court, Julien Leparoux, 50-1;
5-Major Fed, James Graham, 50-1;
6-King Guillermo, Samy Camacho, 20-1;
7-Money Moves, Javier Castellano, 30-1;
8-South Bend, Tyler Gaffalione, 50-1;
9-Mr. Big News, Gabriel Saez, 50-1;
10-Thousand Words, Florent Geroux, 15-1;
11-Necker Island, Miguel Mena, 50-1;
12-Sole Volante, Luca Panici, 30-1;
13-Attachment Rate, Joe Talamo, 50-1;
14-Winning Impression, Joe Rocco Jr., 50-1;
15-Ny Traffic, Paco Lopez, 20-1;
16-Honor A. P., Mike Smith, 5-1;
17-Tiz the Law, Manny Franco, 3-5;
18-Authentic, John Velazquez, 8-1
