Enter Sandman: $1.2m Tapit colt wins Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and is Kentucky Derby bound

For at least a little while, there is a new three-year-old atop the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 129 qualifying points ahead of the May 3 classic: Sandman who is the 33rd individual top-level winner by outstanding sire Tapit.

Rallying from behind a blistering pace set by Speed King and Cornucopian, the talented gray and/or roan colt outkicked fellow closer Publisher by two-and-a-half lengths to capture the $1.5m Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, a key trial for the Kentucky Derby.

Stewards briefly reviewed an erratic stretch run from Sandman, who drifted out under urging, before making no change to the order of finish. The winner completed one-and-one-eighth miles on a fast track in 1:50.08, paying $9.40 to win.

Coal Battle finished third, four-and-a-half lengths behind the runner-up. He was followed by favored Cornucopian in fourth and longshot Brereton's Baytown in fifth.

Jose Ortiz rode the winner and in a postrace interview on horseback expressed his excitement to reunite with Sandman in the Derby.

"When he entered the stretch, he exploded," Ortiz said.

"The farther they went [in battle]  the more confident I was," said Sandman's trainer, Hall of Famer Mark Casse. 

Casse believes Sandman is a horse who will relish the Derby's one-and-a-quarter mile trip.

"As Jose said, he wants you to get into a rhythm, and if you can get him into that rhythm, he'll just go. Jose said he didn't take a deep breath when he pulled up," the trainer noted.

Sandman is a gray and/or roan colt by Tapit out of the Distorted Humor mare Distorted Music owned by D. J. Stable, St Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and CJ Stables. 

Sandman's owners purchased him for $1.2 million from the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training. Tom McCrocklin consigned him there as part of a complete dispersal for his breeder, Lothenbach Stables. This dispersal followed Bob Lothenbach of Lothenbach Stables' death in November 2023 at age 64.

Four of his dam's five foals of racing age have started, with three victorious. Sandman became his dam's second graded stakes winner following She Can't Sing, who captured the Grade 3 Chilukki Stakes at Churchill Downs in 2022. Distorted Music has a two-year-old Into Mischief colt.

North America's all-time leading sire by earnings, the 24-year-old Tapit stands for $185,000 at Gainesway in Kentucky.

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