Updated profiles, with post positions and track odds for the 20 3-year-olds entered for the 151st running of the $5 million Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs is Saturday (May 3).
If pedigree and conformation alone were a guarantee of success, then Sandman – a well-balanced gray son of Tapit out of the Distorted Humor mare Distorted Music- certainly would have those two attributes checked off.
Temperament and intelligence are far less quantifiable, but when Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse signed off on the colt’s $1.2 million ticket at last year’s OBS spring sale on behalf of West Point Thoroughbreds, D.J. Stable, and CJ Stable, he obviously knew what he was doing.
Sandman, whose career began with a less-than thrilling debut, in which he finished fifth, earning but a 58 Equibase speed figure, finished No. 2 on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard. Winner of two of five starts as a juvenile, the gray colt has earned more than $1.09 million his year, courtesy of a first-place finish in the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8-miles, a close-up third in the $1.25 million, 1 1/16-mile Rebel Stakes (G2) and a second in the $1 million, 1-mile Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn.
His 2025 record might’ve been even better but for some bad racing luck in both the Southwest, in which he broke in a tangle to spot the field seven lengths, and the Rebel, where he came out of the gate in eighth, began picking off horses on the turn and then encountered traffic on the turn.
In the Arkansas Derby, in addition to showing tactical speed and the ability to finish, everything went his way, said Casse, who added he thinks the added distance of the Kentucky Derby will suit the handsome gray colt just fine.
“I think the race sets up nicely for him,” he said of Sandman, who arrived at Churchill Downs on April 1. “He’s had a lot of experience with 20-horse fields. [I don’t think he’s going to be a] stone closer. The farther you go, the easier it is to lay close. And Jose [Ortiz] knows him well.”
As does Casse’s assistant, Allen Hardy, who was on hand to supervise Sandman’s work on April 15, his first since the Arkansas Derby, in which he was clocked in 49.60 for the half-mile.
“We wanted to do something easy with him,” he said. “He did the opening furlong in 13 3/5, the quarter in 26 and change, and I got him galloping out in 1:01. The longer he went, the better he seemed to get.
“He’s bred to go two turns,” he added. “Both Brian Hernandez and Jose Ortiz said the same thing about him last year – he is not a one-turn horse.”
Pedigree, conformation, intelligence, and tactical speed add up to a big W.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
