Tiznow May Be Finished Racing

The career of Tiznow, the reigning horse of the year, is probably finished because of back problems. He underwent a nuclear scan Tuesday. Results will be available today.

Speaking at his Santa Anita stable Tuesday, trainer Jay Robbins wasn’t optimistic about the exam, seeming resigned.

“He’s had a setback,” Robbins said of the 4-year-old son of Cee’s Tizzy. “He’s not galloping like himself. He’s in considerable pain.

“If the problem’s muscular, we’ll take a different approach. But if that [lumbar] vertebrae lights up [during the nuclear scan], he’ll probably be retired.

“He does not want to gallop. When he’s been taken out to the track, he doesn’t even want to leave the pony. Initially, he was pretty good, but he’s gotten progressively worse in the last 10 days. He can’t tolerate training.

“Originally, he was going to race through the end of next year. But when they moved the Breeders’ Cup away from Santa Anita, those plans were scrapped and he was going to be retired at the end of this year.

“He’s not comfortable and we’re not making any progress in his training, so it would be best just to pull the plug. It’s a tough one, but I can’t train him the way he is now.”

Owned by Michael Cooper and the Cecilia Straub-Rubens Revocable Trust, Tiznow, a full brother to multiple-stakes winner Budroyale, didn’t begin his career until well into his 3-year-old season, missing, of course, the Triple Crown series.

But he more than made up for his late start. A winner twice during Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meet, including a victory over Dixie Union in the Affirmed Handicap, he finished 2000 with a flourish.

He had three victories on three different tracks in a span of about six weeks and came from nowhere to earn horse-of-the-year honors.

After winning the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, he returned to California and won the Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap during the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita, then scored an upset in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4, edging Giant’s Causeway after a memorable stretch duel.

Tiznow’s victory was the first by a California-bred in the 17-year history of the Breeders’ Cup. He was bred by the late Straub-Rubens, who died only days after the Breeders’ Cup success.

Returned to action at Santa Anita a couple of months later, Tiznow won two of three starts this winter.

He began with a victory in the San Fernando Breeders’ Cup Stakes on Jan. 13, finished second behind Wooden Phone as the prohibitive favorite in the Strub Stakes on Feb. 3, then rolled to a victory in the Santa Anita Handicap a month later.

Scheduled to run in the Pimlico Special on May 12, Tiznow, who has seven victories in 12 starts and earnings of $3,445,950, instead was withdrawn after being injured during a workout April 19.

If Tiznow’s career is finished, it would be the second major horse that jockey Chris McCarron has lost in recent weeks. He was also the regular rider for Golden Ballet, California’s top 3-year-old filly who was retired after suffering a tendon injury June 5 while preparing for last Saturday’s Princess Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Neil Papiano, the attorney for Bob Baffert, will go to court in the next few days to seek a stay of the trainer’s 60-day suspension for a positive drug test on one of his horses in 2000 after his initial request was denied by the California Horse Racing Board on Tuesday.

In a prepared statement, Robert Tourtelot, the chairman of the CHRB, said that although he has granted stays for jockeys in cases involving riding infractions, he never has granted one for a medication violation. He added that his policy was consistent with rulings by the last two CHRB chairmen.

“We treat everyone the same, even a leading trainer,” Tourtelot said.

Reached at his office, Papiano, who filed an appeal with the CHRB on Tuesday, said he will go to court by Monday, which is when Baffert’s suspension is scheduled to begin.

“In my memory, I don’t ever remember anybody denying a stay,” he said. “They are always granted. It’s beyond belief. What kind of vendetta is going on here?

“To suspend somebody for 60 days and then deny them a stay is baffling to me.”