DEL MAR, Calif. -- Tiznow, the 2000 Horse of the Year, will make his next start in the $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park on Sept. 8, according to his co-owner, Michael Cooper.

Unraced since winning the Santa Anita Handicap in March, Tiznow was out of serious training in the spring and early summer because of a back problem. He has been working regularly the past month, including seven furlongs in 1:24.60 on Tuesday. A 4-year-old, Tiznow returned from the workout in good shape, trainer Jay Robbins said.

In the Woodward, Tiznow will likely face a top field that might include Albert the Great, Lido Palace, and Red Bullet. "I think it's inevitable that you have to meet them sometime," Cooper said. "I'm sure he'll be dead fit."

Robbins had hoped to start Tiznow in the $250,000 Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap over a mile on Sept. 2.

"My preference would be the mile, but you don't always get what's on your wish list," Robbins said.

The Woodward would be the first of two preps for Tiznow for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont Park on Oct. 27, a race he won in 2000 at Churchill Downs. The Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 7, a race Tiznow won last year, is also a consideration.

"I think we'd take it one step at a time," Cooper said. "There are no simple answers. It would have been different if he had won the Pacific Classic or the Hollywood Gold Cup. We've got to get back in the hunt for the year-end awards and this is a way to do it."