Derby pedigrees: Will Tiz the Bomb handle the dirt?

Tiz the Bomb earned a spot in the 2022 Kentucky Derby starting gate following a 2 1/4-length victory in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) over Turfway's Tapeta track on Saturday. He completed 1 1/8 miles in a strong 1:48.60, getting his final furlong in 12.71 seconds.

Before Tiz the Bomb's victory in the Jeff Ruby, trainer Ken McPeek had provisional plans to bypass the Derby in favor of a campaign in Europe. However, a few days after the race, McPeek announced the colt was Kentucky Derby bound.

Previously, Tiz the Bomb captured the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway by a neck. The bay colt is also accomplished over the lawn; he won the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile and Bourbon Stakes (G2) before finishing second in last year's  Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1), a race his sire won in 2015.

Play today with NYRA Bets!  Signup and get a $200 deposit bonus!

Tiz the Bomb has five wins and a second in eight starts, with $426,560 in earnings. His only off-the-board finishes were seventh-place finishes in the Holy Bull (G3) and his 2-year-old debut.

Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb - Tiz the Key, by Tiznow) was bred by Spendthrift Farm, LLC, and sold to McPeek's Magdalena Racing, Lessee, for $330,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearlings Showcase. The Jeff Ruby Steaks awarded Tiz the Bomb 100 qualifying points, and he earned ten points for his Battaglia Memorial victory.

Tiz the Bomb has strong turf attributes throughout his pedigree.

Hit It a Bomb (War Front - Liscanna (IRE), by Sadler's Wells) won all three starts as a 2-year-old, including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, beating the favorite, Airoforce, by a neck. Unfortunately, he didn't carry his form to his 3-year-old season, finishing third in the Desmond Stakes (G3) and Solonway Stakes (G2) at Leopardstown. He was ninth in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1) at Ascot and in the Breeders' Cup Mile in his final start.

War Front's son retired in 2017 to Spendthrift Farm for $7,000, and he shuttles to Argentina. Tiz the Bomb and 2020 Best Pal Stakes winner Weston are his only main track stakes winners in the U.S, although some of his Argentinian stakes horses are adept on dirt.   

Naturally, his offspring are adept on turf and synthetics, yet only eleven percent have won on dirt in the U.S and none beyond 1 1/16 miles.   

Tiz the Bomb is the third foal and first blacktype earner in his immediate family. One half-sibling, Marble Moon (Shakin It Up), is a claiming class winner on dirt. Their 2-year-old half-sister Bel Rosso (Free Drop Billy) was a $180,000 Fasig-Tipton Fall yearling and is owned by Brook Smith's Rocket Ship Racing.

Tiz the Bomb's dam Tiz the Key (Tiznow - Cabbage Key, by A.P. Indy) won twice in eight starts, once on dirt and the other over the Santa Anita lawn, and earned $103,650 for trainer Richard Mandella and Spendthrift Farm. The

Last year, Tiz the Key's half-brother King of Dreams (Air Force Blue) won the 1 mile seventy yard Showing Up Stakes over Gulfstream's Tapeta course and placed in 1 1/16 mile English Channel Stakes over their turf course. In addition, their dam Cabbage Key (A.P. Indy - Mayville's Magic, by Gone West) hit the board in two turf events at a mile and 1 1/16 miles.

Tiz the Bomb's third-generation produced stakes-winning turf miler Mystic (Unbridled's Song), the stakes-placed turf milers Magical Affair (Giant's Causeway), and her full sister Magical Steps. Tiz, the Bomb's fourth dam Gallanta, is a half-sister to A.P. Indy's second dam, Lassie Dear. Her progeny includes Europe's 1994 Champion Filly Gay Gallanta.

Kentucky Derby Contender or Pretender?

Just about every year, the connections of turf or synthetic stakes winners come down with a case of Derby fever. Only two turf-oriented horses have hit the board in the last dozen years. In 2010, Jeff Ruby runner-up Paddy O'Prado was third in the Derby over a sloppy track. Animal Kingdom won the Derby the following year at 20-1 odds.

Since Animal Kingdom's victory, five Jeff Ruby winners have taken shot at the Kentucky Derby. Went the Day Well completed the 2012 superfecta, but the rest, including last year's Like the King, were also-rans.

Tiz the Bomb handled 1 1/8 miles over Tapeta but has twice proven his dislike for the main track. Adding another furlong against proven Grade 1 main track winners is likely more than Tiz the Bomb can handle. Hopefully, we'll see what this talented colt can do over the lawn this summer.