With 10 days to go ahead of the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course July 26, it does not appear there will be many 3-year-olds brave enough to take on Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Sovereignty.
However, the connections of Sandman have never been ones to shy from a challenge—the colt being one of just three Kentucky Derby runners to return in two weeks for the Preakness Stakes (G1) this year—and they are prepared to take another crack at the dual-classic winner.
The 71 days between the Preakness and Jim Dandy mark the longest break in the son of Tapit ’s career. According to his connections, it seems to have done him well ahead of the second half of the season.
“He didn’t miss a beat from last (year’s) Saratoga (meet) up until the Preakness. This was his first kind of break,” said Terry Finley, the founder and president of West Point Thoroughbreds who own the colt in partnership with D. J. Stable, St. Elias Stable, and CJ Stables.
“I think we all see a difference in him physically,” Finley continued. “We’ve got a ways to make on the Derby winner (Sovereignty), there’s no doubt, but I think we’re going to see a very solid performance and we’ll see where that puts him as we start the second half.”
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Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse echoed that sentiment, stating that the horse has grown over the last two months. In addition to a bit more size, Sandman will also have a major change in equipment as he will don blinkers for the first time.
“Talking to (jockeys) Johnny (Velazquez) and Jose (Ortiz), he maybe doesn’t engage as much as you like early on,” Casse said of the colt who has picked up the reputation of being a deep closer. “We’re going to try and keep him a little closer. The blinkers will do that, I believe.”
Casse was clear to state that the blinkers addition was an experiment. With the bigger goal of the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) still ahead Aug. 23, the Jim Dandy is the perfect time to test it out and see how Sandman reacts.
“My concern is it might get him too aggressive early and then maybe he won’t finish as well,” Casse said. “I’ve been down this road many times. Sometimes you get them close and that’s not the way they want to run.
“It is an experiment. I’ve thought long and hard about not doing it, but we’re going to do it. We’re going to give it a try.”
Sandman has been testing the blinkers in his training, including during his final maintenance breeze July 16 over the Saratoga main track. With exercise rider Reynaldo Dumont aboard, he clicked a half-mile in :49.01.
A grade 1 winner in the first half of the season, Sandman should not be discounted ahead of the major races in the second half. After all, expectations have been high since the owners went to $1.2 million for the colt at the 2024 Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
“This is exactly what you do when you buy yearlings, breed horses, or buy 2-year-olds,” Finley said. “This is the runway and time period that we’re dreaming of. We don’t get tied down to the fact we have to make up seven or eight lengths (on Sovereignty). We’re hoping that we show up and we’re okay. If we get beat, we’re going to be beat by a better horse on the day.”
A graduate of West Point Military Academy, Finley started West Point Thoroughbreds in 1991. But before he was set on that path, he attended Truman High School in Levittown, Pa., where he was a defensive back on the football team.
As Sandman logged his final breeze for the Jim Dandy, Finley was joined by his high school defensive back coach, Tony Schino, and his wife, Susan.
“It’s fantastic. It makes you feel good to see,” the coach said about how Finley’s career has progressed. “He grew up in a lower, middle-class area. To see him go to West Point and then get into this—I remember when he first got into the business and he had one horse. … My oldest son went to West Point because of him.”
