Tiznow hit another milestone as a sire on Memorial Day when Tiz Miz Sue earned her first Grade 1 victory and became a millionaire Monday afternoon at Belmont Park with a half-length victory in the $400,000 Ogden Phipps H. (G1).
A perennial leading sire, Tiznow is once again in the top 20 on this year’s General Sire list. Tiz Miz Sue is one of six millionaires by her sire, as well as his leading earner of 2013.
The winner sat in fourth as favored Joyful Victory led the field of six fillies and mares through a rapid early fraction of a quarter-mile in 22.82 and a half in 45.41. Joyful Victory began to fade after that with Authenticity taking over the lead at the five-sixteenths pole, Tiz Miz Sue moved moved up to third, then shifted outside to poke her head in front of Authenticity in mid-stretch. Tiz Miz Sue proved too much for Authenticity in the final furlong, forging ahead to stop the clock at 1:40.81 for 1 1/16 miles.
“When I saw Rosie have to lean forward (aboard Joyful Victory) on the turn and I was following Mike (Smith, jockey aboard Authenticity), I got pretty confident, but this mare has fooled me a couple of times where I thought I was going to get past them,” winning rider Joe Rocco, Jr. said. “Once she ran by them, then I was confident.”
“It’s wonderful when it works,” added trainer Steve Hobby. “I was loving the fractions and Joe looked like he had an armful of horse all the way sitting back there. He just waited. He knows her very well. She was within range, that was the big thing. Sometimes she gets too far behind and can’t quite make up the distance, but she was within range and they were cooking. She deserved (a Grade 1) so bad and I was really going to be upset if she didn’t get one before she retired.”
The $240,000 winner’s share of the Ogden Phipps purse boosted Tiz Miz Sue’s earnings to $1,129,709 for CresRan Stable homebred, who ran her record to 8-10-4 from 32 starts.
