With regular rider Jose Ortiz booked to ride Clever Again in the 150th Preakness Stakes (G1) on Saturday, Mark Casse found himself a Hall of Famer to climb aboard Sandman – John Velazquez.
“Johnny is a strong rider, and Sandman needs a strong rider,” Casse said of Velazquez, who won the 2023 Preakness aboard National Treasure. “I think he will fit hm perfectly. One thing you will find about the good riders – the Irads (Ortiz), the Josés, the Júniors (Alvarado), the (Joel) Rosarios, the Johnnys … they all know what every horse is going to be doing. That is what they do. The only thing I can do by giving instructions is mess it up.”
Oritz piloted Sandman to victory in the Arkansas Derby (G1) on April 5 before finishing seventh in the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 3 after bumpy start in the slop left him with too much ground to make up with his deep closing running style.
Casse decided to enter Sandman just a few days ago after watching him train in the days after the Derby. Sandman drew the No. 7 post in a field of nine.
Sandman (4-1), a gray son of Tapit, comes into the Preakness with a record of 9-3-1-2 and earnings of $1,254,595 – a bit more than his purchase price of $1.2 million.
Casse won the 2019 Preakness with War of Will, who left from the No. 1 post. Velazquez also left from the No. 1 post when he won with National Treasure. With a closer like Sandman, though, an outside post is a good spot. Journalism, the Derby runner-up to Sovereignty – a no-go for the Derby – is the 8-5 favorite leaving from the No. 2 post.
“Obviously you don’t want to be the one (post). It worked for War of Will, it worked for American Pharoah,’’ Casse said. “Look, Journalism is definitely the horse to beat, he has already proven that. We don’t know how he is going to react to the two weeks, we don’t know how it will be for us.”
Bob Baffert has won the Preakness so many times (a record eight) it’s easy to how he can mix up a bit of post-position history.
After the Preakness post-position draw, Bob Baffert, who sends out Goal Oriented from the No. 1 post, said: “Once you draw, you can’t think about it. Last time I drew the one here was with American Pharoah. I drew the one with Lookin At Lucky.”
Yes, American Pharoah won from post 1 in 2015, but Lookin At Lucky won from post 7 in 2010 (he finished sixth from post 1 in the Derby). Baffert won the 2023 Preakness with National Treasure, who left from post 1.
Goal Oriented (6-1) is unbeaten in his only two starts and will be ridden by Flavien Prat.
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.
