By Elaine Belval
Tiznow was a gutsy performer, and it’s a hard individual who doesn’t admire this racehorse. Two Breeders’ Cup Classics, and the Santa Anita Handicap dominate his resume. In fact, in a 15-race career, he was off the board only once. And Tiznow has three full siblings that were almost as tough as he was, including Budroyale who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Tizbud who won the California Cup Classic.
Tiznow is a son of the great California sire Cee’s Tizzy. While Tiznow is clearly the best runner this sire had, Cee’s Tizzy also sired the G1 winners Gourmet Girl and Cost of Freedom in his long, successful career best known and appreciated in the West. He was pensioned in 2010, and he is a huge loss to California’s breeding industry. Cee’s Tizzy is a son of the great In Reality son Relaunch. While a leading sire himself, Relaunch had several solid sons at stud (including G1 winners Skywalker, Honour and Glory, and Waquoit), but he never sired anything who was in his league as a sire and with his passing it seemed yet another blow to the survival of the great Man O’ War sire line from which he descended.
Despite a pedigree that wasn’t particularly commercial or glittering by Kentucky standards, Tiznow was retired to WinStar Farm as a joint venture with Taylor Made Farm based on his race record and physique, as he is a large horse like his own sire. While Tiznow had a very West Coast pedigree, Kentucky breeders supported him as he had 89 named foals in his first crop. And Tiznow announced loud and clear in that first crop that he was going to be a serious sire: Champion two-year-old filly Folklore won the G1 Matron before a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile fillies, earning Tiznow leading first-crop sire honors in 2005. It took his second G1 winner a bit more time to show himself, but Well Armed added the G1 Dubai World Cup in 2009 when he was six. In between and since, however, there have been plenty of top-quality runners on all surfaces and ages and distances.
And that epitomizes Tiznow’s success. He has 35 SWs (6% SWs to foals, not including 2011 two-year-olds). Just over 20% are two-year-old SWs. Approximately 16% of his earners won on turf (average for the US) and 35% won on artificial surfaces. Just over 60% of his SWs are Graded stakes winners. His progeny have won stakes races from six to 12 furlongs. And his progeny have average earnings over $85,000. And despite this, his Comparable Index is still a fairly low 1.96 (of the 15 stallions in Kentucky in 2011Â with stud fees $50,000 and over, only three had CIs lower than Tiznow).
On Monday, Tizway won the G1 Metropolitan H., winning the prestigious mile race by almost three lengths in the impressive time of 1:32.90. His jockey, Rajiv Maragh was quoted in racing publications as saying, “He’ll kill you with a high cruising speed, that’s what his weapon is.” The six-year-old is Tiznow’s second G1 winner of 2011 (following Morning Line’s victory in the G1 Carter) and his sixth SW overall. Tizway was bred by Whisper Hill Farm, is owned by William L. Clifton, Jr. and is trained by James Bond.
Tiznow has had more than $5 million in progeny earnings for the last several years, and is well on his way to passing that total again in 2011. Tiznow continues to stand at Winstar as part of a Winstar/Taylor Made Venture. His 2011 fee was $75,000.