Photo:

Tommy Land / Eclipse Sportswire – edited

I don’t know if Sandman will put it all together to be a real factor at this year’s Kentucky Derby, but there’s enough talent there to consider him an intriguing sleeper as we gallop closer to the first Saturday in May.

Let go at 59-1 in the most recent Kentucky Derby Future Wager and sent off at 6-1 in Saturday’s Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn, the son of Tapit remains under the radar among America’s most highly rated 3-year-olds.

Kentucky Derby prep: Speed King wins Southwest.

Speed proved king in the $1 million prep for the Kentucky Derby. Speed King led the field on a merry chase to win the Southwest by one length on the wire. Take nothing away from this winner who is a fast and talented horse, but moving forward, the runner-up is the one I am more interested in for the spring’s classics.

To say Sandman got off to a poor start in the 1 1/16-mile affair would be an understatement. The Mark Casse-trained gray came out of the gate like a drunk sailor away on his first night of leave.

After the horrendous beginning, Sandman came from last in the nine-horse field with a sustained rally under rider Cristian Torres. Still running like a horse not quite sure of himself down the Oaklawn lane, he was cutting into the winner’s advantage late on the outside.

It was an interesting performance to say the least.

“We lost the race at the start,” Torres said. “I let him settle the first part of the race. He’s a nice horse and responded really well when I asked him at the three-eighths (pole), and he finished up. But definitely the start cost us.”

Owned by D. J. Stable, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and CJ Stables, Sandman has been a horse I kept an eye on since the beginning.

A son of Tapit out of Distorted Humor mare Distorted Music, he is a half-brother to the graded-stakes winner She Can’t Sing.

Purchased for $1.2 million at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale March auction of 2-year-olds in training, Sandman has not yet lived up to his hefty price tag. On the other hand, he gives every impression of a horse who some day could.

To date the handsome and well-bred colt has been an equal mix of talent and inconsistencies. Teasing of better things to come, Sandman has run against good horses throughout his six-race career with mixed results.

A green fifth-place finish sprinting at Churchill Downs in his debut in June was followed up by a nice, seven-furlong, maiden win at Saratoga over Innovator and Aviator Gui in his second career start.

Sandman then proved not quite ready for prime time with a fifth-place finish behind Jonathan’s Way in the Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in his third career start. Still, though, a slow start and a mild rally in the big field left room for hope.

In his two-turn debut in October, he showed some signs of improvement. He was bumped and displayed more greenness when just missing second in the Street Sense (G3) behind the impressive winner Sovereignty.

In his prep for the Southwest, Sandman was given a little class relief, and he responded. He polished off his juvenile season with a victory at Oaklawn Park. That afternoon he finished strongly, closing his final furlong in a shade under 12 seconds to win the one-mile allowance race in attractive style.

Following his performance Saturday, Sandman has a career record of 6: 2-1-1, with earnings of $344,595. That’s not bad at all, but there just still seems to be so much room for improvement. Beautiful and quirky as offspring of Tapit often are, I believe his upside is big.

Last year the Southwest Stakes produced a Kentucky Derby winner in Mystik Dan. Could this year’s edition find similar success? The odds are against it, but there’s something about this year’s runner-up that keeps me intrigued.

Just imagine if Sandman can learn from his mistakes and become a true racehorse in the next few months. At the very least he’s proving to be an entertaining colt to watch.