Trainer Jim Bond was
beaming Sunday, one day after William L. Clifton, Jr.’s Tizway picked up his second straight Grade
1 victory with a three-length triumph in the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational
Handicap. He was quick to confirm his plans to take the 6-year-old to the Grade
1 Jockey Club Gold Cup 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 the son of Tiznow had won consecutive
black-type races, having taken the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap 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 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 [Flat Out] 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,” said Bond, 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,” said Bond. “If we win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, 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 ¼
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,” said Bond. “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.”