When we helped our friends at Wasabi purchase the Bodemeister mare Floral Hall back in November ‘22, she was in foal to Tapit’s son Frosted, and since then we’ve sent her to the Tapit son Greatest Honour, and twice to A.P. Indy’s grandson Army Mule. We are sticking to the theme again in ‘26, this time with Tapit’s grandson Tiz the Law.
To refresh the reader, we are set on this cross for Floral Hall because her female family has had success over-and-over with the A.P. Indy sire-line: Floral Hall herself is a half-sister to the multiple G2W Skylighter (by A.P. Indy’s grandson Sky Mesa), and to black-type winner Cave Hill (by Frosted), while one of her half-sisters has produced the G3-placed black-type winner Meru (also by Sky Mesa). Additionally, under her second dam are a black-type runner by Pulpit (sire of Sky Mesa and Tapit) and two by Frosted, including the ‘25 2YO G2-placed black-type winner Meringue.
So we see no reason to go any other direction with Floral Hall’s mates at this point.
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As far as the appeal of Tiz the Law specifically, he is a young stallion very much on the rise. A G1 winner at 2YO, and a triple G1-winning 3YO (Florida Derby, Belmont and Travers) who would’ve been the likely winner of the Kentucky Derby in a normal year where that race wasn’t pushed to September by Covid (as it was, he finished 2nd to the later-maturing Authentic as the favorite), Tiz the Law finished less than $20,000 behind Vekoma and McKinzie for 2024 Leading Freshman Sire honors, despite those two having 50% more runners than he did. Tiz the Law had five black-type winners in 2024 to match Vekoma — but his percentage was far superior given his lower number of runners — and his two graded winners from the crop was also best of the group. He is now up to twelve black-type winners from his first two crops (plus twelve additional black-type horses), with seven of those being graded winners, led by late 2025 G1 winner Usha and multiple graded winner Fully Subscribed. His 1.73 AEI is well above his mates’ 1.49 CI (a ratio that we put much stock in), and he already has ten black-type runners from his second 2YO crop.
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Tiz the Law’s G2 winner Scythian is out of a mare by Bodemeister’s sire Empire Maker, while he has another black-type winner out of a mare by a grandson of Empire Maker, and a black-type placed 2YO out of a mare by Bodemeister himself from just 13 runners bred this way. That’s good for an “A++” TrueNicks rating, and gives us even more faith that this pairing should play out perfectly.
Physically speaking, Floral Hall is a tall, elegant, very feminine mare who should be an excellent complement to the substantive, if slightly medium-sized, Tiz the Law.
Having originally received a fee hike to $30,000 for the 2026 season, after putting up a Saturday graded stakes double at Aqueduct during the Keeneland November Sale with Fully Subscribed and Tiz Dashing (one on dirt, the other turf, highlighting his versatility which is also demonstrated by his progeny’s success over a range of distances), Tiz the Law’s fee was increased again to $40,000 by the sharp folks at Ashford. (We’re very excited to have put our season request in before that increased fee was announced!)
All of which is indicative of that ascendant trajectory that we referenced earlier, as are Tiz the Law’s weanling ($115k) and yearling ($118k) sale averages in 2025 (both well above his 2024 numbers), and give us additional confidence that he is an excellent choice for Floral Hall in 2026!