It has been a whirlwind spring for Arkansas Derby winner Sandman and his connections, and there is optimism that a memorable Triple Crown season can serve as a springboard to sustained success in the second half of the year.

The 3-year-old colt by leading sire Tapit will be pointed to the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun July 26 at Saratoga Race Course for his next start, a possible rematch with Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winner Sovereignty.

Sovereignty, of course, followed his 1 ½-length win the Kentucky Derby with a three-length win over Journalism in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets June 7, with Derby third-place finisher Baeza again running third.

Sandman was a fast-finishing third behind Journalism in the Preakness Stakes for U.S. and Canadian Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse after rallying for seventh in the Kentucky Derby.

“Our hope is given some time off and maybe growing up a little bit, he can run with those top two, but he still has to prove that,” Casse said referencing Sovereignty and Journalism. “He’s a very good horse. Those horses are exceptionally good, and we need to move into that category if we are going to be competitive with those guys.

“He’s going to have to run the race of his life to compete with Sovereignty and Journalism, but the rest I feel like he can handle.”

Sandman got back to business on June 8 in preparation for the second half of the year. He breezed a half-mile in :50.90 at Saratoga in his first timed workout since the Preakness.

“We worked him with some blinkers the other day. They do make him a little more aggressive, maybe focused a little more,” Casse said. “I haven’t decided 100% yet if I am going to run him in them, but we’ll see.

“I’d like him to fill in a little bit to his frame but he’s never going to be some big, robust horse That’s not how he’s made. That’s not Tapit,” Casse added in reference to Sandman’s sire.

Casse has liked what he’s seen on the development path with Sandman from his 2-year-old season to early spring and right through the Triple Crown.

A pre-Derby bath at Churchill Downs. (Eclipse Sportswire)

“He grew a lot from when he was a 2-year-old to 3. He’s very tall, he’s almost 17 hands tall. We went right through the wintertime because I felt like he needed more racing,” Casse said.

Sandman won two of five starts as a 2-year-old and ran third in the Street Sense Stakes as he started to put things together, capping the season Dec. 13 with a 1 ¾-length win at Oaklawn Park.

He spent the winter at Oaklawn and continued to mature into an elite Kentucky Derby prospect, overcoming a brutal start to finish second in the $1 million Southwest Stakes before running third in the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes.

Sandman’s breakout race was a 2 ½-length victory in the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby March 29 that sent him to the Kentucky Derby as the second favorite in the 19-horse field.

“I’m very proud of him,” said Casse, who trains Sandman for the partnership of D. J. Stable, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and CJ Stables. “Look, with a little luck he probably wins the Southwest. In the Rebel, speed was playing pretty good that day and unfortunately, we got shuffled back a little bit early on and we were a lot farther back than we wanted to be. Then, he got stopped at the five-sixteenths pole, so I thought he ran really well. Obviously, he won Arkansas Derby impressively. The only time he really hasn’t shown up was the Kentucky Derby.”

Sandman passed 11 horses in the Kentucky Derby to finish seventh on a sealed, sloppy track May 3 at Churchill Downs. Casse said the kickback of the mud in the 19-horse field presented a problematic variable for a deep closer like Sandman.

Griffin Johnson with a fan drawing. (Sean Collins/BloodHorse)

“Sometimes it’s not even just about the surface. It’s one thing when you run in a six- or seven-horse field and you get kickback from six or seven horses. It’s another thing when you get kickback from 18 of them,” Casse explained. “He was given an experience he never had before, and I believe he just didn’t run his race.

“Some like it, some don’t. He didn’t, but I thought he came back and gave us a great performance in the Preakness. So, I’m very proud of him.”

Casse, 64, has trained U.S. and Canadian champions and classic winners among a long list of stable stars that have passed through his barn since his first starter in 1979. International star filly Tepin, a two-time champion inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2022, is the only racehorse to come close to matching Sandman’s popularity.

Casse credited multiple factors for Sandman’s ascension to one of the sport’s most beloved Thoroughbreds. Influencer Griffin Johnson, a minority owner in Sandman through West Point Thoroughbreds and the “A Stake in Stardom” program, introduced a whole new, younger audience to the sport and the horse. Sandman also happens to be named after one of the most iconic rock/heavy metal songs in history, “Enter Sandman,” by Metallica, and it surely helped that the band took a keen interest in the horse leading up to the Kentucky Derby. Sandman also happens to be pretty special himself.

“He is a beautiful, beautiful horse. He stands out – he’s a great-moving horse. He has a wonderful personality, which brings a lot of new people that have come to love him,” Casse said. “I get letters, I get emails, I recently answered a young lady who just graduated from high school who said she had a picture of Sandman on her cap because she just loves him so much. That adds a little pressure, I feel like. Sandman is so loved that I want to make sure when he does compete that he does the best he can for all the fans … and he has lots of fans.”