Mark Casse hoping Sandman ready for checkmate in ArkDerby
Oaklawn Park barn notes by Robert Yates (Yates photo of Sandman galloping at Oaklawn Park under Kylee Jordan)
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — Mark Casse has taken a calculated approach with Sandman’s training leading up to the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) Saturday at Oaklawn, which, the dual Hall of Fame trainer said Wednesday morning, was by design.
“I’m a chess player as well, so, exactly that,” Casse said. “He’s kind of a unique horse. I think maybe a lot of trainers may have stopped and gave him a break. I wanted him to learn because he’s a bit of a slow learner, but I didn’t want to go over the top with him and that’s what we we’ve done and that’s why we are where we are. Now, we just need some luck. We’ll see.”
Sandman has been based at Oaklawn since November, but he has just seven local workouts in advance of the 1 1/8-mile Arkansas Derby, Oaklawn’s fourth and final Kentucky Derby qualifying race. Conversely, millionaire multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Coal Battle, another Arkansas Derby entrant, has 14 published workouts over the same period (late November-late March), including three breezes in January at Delta Downs when harsh winter weather disrupted training at Oaklawn.
Instead, Casse chose a steady racing schedule to try and have Sandman, a $1.2 million son of Tapit, peak at the right time. Save July and November, Sandman has had one start each month since his debut in June at Churchill Downs.
Sandman has raced three times at Oaklawn, winning an allowance race at 1 mile Dec. 13 before finishing a troubled second in the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3) Jan. 25 and third as the favorite in the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes (G2) Feb. 23. The Southwest and Rebel were both 1 1/16 miles.
Casse said he’s used this strategy “many times” in his training career. Casse saddled his first winner in 1979 and was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2016 and elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2020.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Casse said. “I like getting starts in our horses, probably more so, than most trainers. I believe in running them. I like running them. I don’t worry a whole lot about my win percentage. My dear friend (owner) Aron Yagoda, who is the guy who introduced me for the (American) Hall of Fame, he did the introduction, and he said: ‘Mark trains for a career, not a race.’ I think that sums up what we do.”
Sandman is the 3-1 second choice in the program for the Arkansas Derby, a race Casse won in 2017 with champion Classic Empire. Sandman, who has a 2-1-2 record from seven lifetime starts, races for D. J. Stable, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and CJ Stables.
Sandman ranks 20th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 29 points. The Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters.
Finish Lines: Grade 1 winner and multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Wet Paint, based much of the year with trainer Brad Cox’s main Kentucky stable, is to be bred this year to Not This Time, according to Michael Banahan, bloodstock director for Godolphin, USA. Godolphin bred and raced Wet Paint, a millionaire Grade 1 winner who finished fourth in the 2023 Kentucky Oaks favorite after sweeping Oaklawn’s three qualifying races (Martha Washington Stakes, G3 Honeybee Stakes and G3 Fantasy Stakes). She was third in last July’s Delaware Handicap (G2) in her last start.
