Auctions

Mar 12 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March Sale of 2YOs in Training 2024 HIPS
Mar 14 Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival March Sale 2024 HIPS
Mar 27 Tattersalls March Sale 2024 HIPS
Apr 3 Texas Thoroughbred Association 2YOs in Training Sale 2024 HIPS
Apr 16 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Spring Sale of 2YOs in Training 2024 HIPS
View All Auctions

Smullen's Work a Key Factor in Tiz the Law's Success

Tagg's longtime assistant spans careers of Funny Cide and Travers (G1) favorite.

Juan Barajas Saldana and Robin Smullen (right) lead Tiz the Law to the winner's circle after the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park

Juan Barajas Saldana and Robin Smullen (right) lead Tiz the Law to the winner's circle after the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park

Skip Dickstein

They may have raced in the Triple Crown some 17 years apart, but in so many ways, Tiz the Law  and Funny Cide are a coupled entry.

They are both owned by Jack Knowlton's Sackatoga Stable. Both were bred in New York. Barclay Tagg trained Funny Cide, the winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1). He now trains 2020 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner Tiz the Law, the even-money favorite to win the Aug. 8 Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.

There's also one other person who has played a less visible but highly crucial role in the development of both horses.

Robin Smullen was there with Funny Cide, galloping and working him and caring for the feisty gelding on a daily basis. She's still there now, galloping Tiz the Law. When the Triple Crown hopeful breezes, she'll be on a walky-talky giving instructions to her niece, Heather Smullen, who handles the son of Constitution  in timed works. As she was in 2003, Robin Smullen remains Tagg's experienced and trusted assistant trainer, and more importantly in the grand scheme of life, she has bonded with him emotionally as a life partner.

Tiz the Law returns to the barn after a breeze on the main track with exercise rider Heather Smullen Saturday July 25, 2020 at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.  
Photo: Skip Dickstein
Tiz the Law walks the barn after a breeze with exercise rider Heather Smullen aboard at Saratoga Race Course

"I could ride before I could walk," said Robin Smullen, whose family was involved in show horses. "I grew up in the saddle, so it's natural to be doing what I love with horses."

The jack-of-all-trades also handles the stable's bookkeeping.

"I love working with the horses and Barclay," Smullen said. "The paperwork? Not so much. But you have to do what you have to do and learn with the curve. I had to learn to use Zoom this year, and you just do it. To bring someone in to handle the paperwork is not cost-effective for a small outfit like ours." 

Being versatile has its value. Yet what makes Smullen such an important member of the team behind both Funny Cide and Tiz the Law is the excellence she brings to each and every one of her jobs. Even the paperwork.

"Robin is probably the best horsewoman I've ever known in my life. She's brilliant," Tagg said. "She has a memory that's untouchable. What she does is amazing. Everything works well around the barn because Robin is there."

Knowlton also appreciates the priceless value of having Smullen so heavily involved in the development and care of horses such as Tiz the Law.

"She's very knowledgeable. I feel so good to have Barclay and her as our leaders," said the founder and operational manager of Sackatoga who has teamed with Tagg and Smullen for about 20 years. "She knows if there's a pimple that shouldn't be there. Any tiny little thing that's wrong, she'll find it, and that's a big advantage. It really is."

Beyond that, if not for Smullen, Tiz the Law could have been racing in someone else's colors instead of the silver and maroon of Sackatoga Stable.

As the story goes, at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale, Tagg was intrigued by a half brother to the stakes-placed Awestruck who was bred by Twin Creeks Farm out of the Tiznow mare Tizfiz offered by Sequel New York. He loved everything about the colt from the first crop of Constitution  except the white in his eyes, which indicates to some horsemen that the horse could be edgy or have future eye issues.

"We stress soundness in the horses we buy, and Tiz the Law was very sound," the 57-year-old Smullen said. "Barclay just didn't like the white eyes. I asked him if he would buy him without the white eyes. He told me, 'In a heartbeat.' So I said buy him."

A $110,000 bid later, Tiz the Law belonged to Sackatoga Stable and was destined for Tagg's barn.

"She was basically telling me, 'Don't worry about the eyes and bid on the horse,'" Tagg said. "She was right, and that stuff about white eyes is probably an old wives' tale."

Smullen certainly was right, which became evident early in the colt's training at 2.

"It wasn't so much what we saw in the early gallops with Tiz the Law because he covers the ground well and does what he's supposed to," Smullen said. "But once we breezed him and he did everything so easily and passed horses so easily, we knew we had something special. His turn of foot was incredible. Even when he was young and worked against older horses, he was impressive."

All that promise led to a debut win at Saratoga, followed by a victory in the Champagne Stakes (G1). At 3, he emerged as the division leader after winning the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and Curlin Florida Derby (G1). Then, in the race that thwarted Funny Cide's bid to become a Triple Crown winner, he became the first New York-bred to win the Belmont Stakes since 1882.

A winner of five of six starts—each victory coming by a margin of at least three lengths—he is now poised to give the Sackatoga/Tagg team the long-coveted opportunity to run in the Travers, and possibly win the race that eluded Funny Cide in 2003 due to an illness.

"Winning the Travers is definitely a bucket-list item," said Smullen, who has been Tagg's assistant trainer since 1998, "especially when you can do it with a horse you picked out."

Yet as much as Tiz the Law and the Travers will be the main focus of Smullen's Saturday afternoon, her value to the stable will also be on display in the first race of the day when Allen Stable's Doswell makes his first start for Tagg. A 5-year-old Giant's Causeway gelding, Doswell came to Tagg's barn with a highly nervous personality, no wins, and four seconds in five starts.

For the past few months, Smullen has taken Doswell under her wing. She said she's taken him to the starting gate eight times, after he sat in the gate in his first three trips. She's schooled him in the paddock at Saratoga three times, and, of late, she's seeing optimistic signs of the gelding finally settling down in advance of his first start since Sept. 2 at the Spa.

"I've been getting on him every day for months, and at first he was a nervous wreck, but he seems happy now," Smullen said about the maiden. "He enjoys going out and grazing. I think he has some ability."

That Smullen could calm a horse like Doswell came as no surprise to Tagg.

"She's an excellent rider who is fearless," he said. "When we have a rough colt who is throwing everyone off, she'll get on him and show them what to do."

For all she does for Tagg and his operation, Smullen could easily go out and start her own stable. After spending her childhood around horses, she began working at racetracks as an adult and trained for about four years at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races and Delaware Park during a marriage and a subsequent divorce. But for her, those days are over.

"It's so difficult to be a female trainer, though you wouldn't think that would be the case today, and it's just too difficult to make ends meet, especially in New York," she said. "I'm very happy here."

That happiness extends beyond the backstretch as she has found her soulmate in the ageless Tagg, who may be older than her by a couple of decades but is a perfect match. They first met in 1996 when she was an assistant trainer for Dr. John R.S. Fisher, and by 1997 she was dating Tagg and began working for him.

Tiz the Law’s trainer Barclay Tagg keeps  close eye on his charge while he is bathed Saturday July 25, 2020 at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Photo: Skip Dickstein
Barclay Tagg keeps a close eye on Tiz the Law while he is bathed at Saratoga

"Barclay and I enjoy all the same things," Smullen said. "Most times we don't do anything beyond the horses, but we do like to go fishing together, though I think he likes it because I like it. We like to go to plays in the city, go to the movies. We like the same things. If you don't, it's hard to be a life partner."

Tagg can be ornery at times around the barn, yet at home Smullen said he's pretty much of a teddy bear.

"He has a lot of compromise in him. He has to because I'm very hard-headed. But we get along well," Smullen said. "He's completely different at home. He's so easy to get along with. At work, we have our own idea of what's best for a horse, and sometimes that can be difficult, but it's easy at home."

Heather Smullen, who worked as an assistant trainer for Tagg during the Funny Cide days when he had a Maryland division, understands why her aunt and Tagg have bonded so well.

"They are both amazing horse people. They make such a great team because they've seen different aspects of the sport. She worked with show horses and then got into racehorses. Barclay had steeplechasers and then went into flat racing. It definitely makes a great combination. They've both seen a lot, and it builds a great foundation for them," said Heather Smullen, who is working as an assistant trainer for Arindel and will send out Cookie Dough in Saturday's Ballerina Stakes (G1) at the Spa.

"They are both dedicated to their work," she continued. "It's more than a job to them. It's their lifestyle. When you do that, you will always strive for excellence. I've learned so much of everything from Robin. She taught me how to handle tough horses and how if you treat each horse as an individual, you will get a lot further with them."

Funny Cide was one of those tough horses who was a project for Robin Smullen, and the results—two classic wins and $3.5 million in earnings—speak for themselves. Tiz the Law is much kinder and easier to handle, though his résumé is taking on a similar look. 

Seventeen years may have passed, but a feel-good story is being republished for its second edition, with a highly familiar cast of characters in Knowlton, Tagg, and the glue that holds everything together, Robin Smullen.