Jim Webb who grew up in Erie and coached the Mercyhurst University women's basketball team from 1994 - 2001 is celebrating a horse named Tiz The Law.
The horse he invested in and partly owns made good on his 4/5 odds to capture the first Triple Crown race of 2020 in the 152nd running of the Belmont Stakes.
The horse came from the storied Sackatoga Stable, where Webb (who now lives in southwestern Pennsylvania) has been an investor since 2014. According to its website, Sackatoga Stable is dedicated to bringing affordable thoroughbred ownership to its investors.
Because of COVID-19, this Belmont will be one for the history books. First, it was the first race rather than the last in the Triple Crown. A normally loud crowd was removed from the stands to limit the spread of the coronavirus. And the race was run at a shortened distance of 1 1/8 miles, instead 1 1/2 miles.
All the changes did not seem to matter to Tiz the Law, who took the lead in the final furlong to win by four lengths in 1:46.53. He is the first New York-bred Horse to win the Belmont since Forester in 1882.
Congratulations to Jim Webb for his wise investment.