It’s quite fitting that in the era of social distancing, the winner of the Belmont Stakes made a practice of it in the middle of this weekend’s race. Tiz the Law had about a four lengths margin of victory in what turned out to be the first of the Triple Crown races due to COVID-19.
There were several other connections to the pandemic evident in the race. You may notice a Smithfield logo on the pants of the jockey in the video capture from NBC. Smithfield Foods signed a deal to sponsor Tiz the Law with the horse’s owner, Sackatoga Stable (press release, June 17, 2020). A couple of months ago, the pork producer made international headlines when its South Dakota plant suffered a massive outbreak of coronavirus cases (BBC News, April 17, 2020).
The other connection, meanwhile, is that Tiz the Law is the first New York state-bred horse in nearly 140 years to win the Belmont, held on the outskirts of New York City (The Daily Gazette, June 20, 2020). As Mike Tirico of NBC Sports mentions at the end of the race, it gave the Empire State something to cheer about at a time when the people needed it. New York continues to top the list of coronavirus cases in the U.S., as well as deaths (New York Times, June 21, 2020).
There are too many conspiracy theories out there in general and I don’t want to throw in another one by suggesting that there was any manipulation to make the winning horse a feel-good story. As far as we know right now, the stars simply aligned perfectly on Saturday and that shall remain the story until proven otherwise. ‘Tis the law.