Enter, Sandman.
The two-year-old colt owned by D J Stable, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and CJ Stables has a long way to go before he reaches Mariano Rivera status, but he showed the promise of an elite athlete in winning a maiden special weight at Saratoga Race Course on July 11.
The son of Tapit was consigned by Tom McCrocklin as part of the Lothenbach dispersal of horses of racing age at Fasig-Tipton in February, following the death of Robert Lothenbach the previous November. Though sold at the OBS March Sale of 2-year-olds in training, Sandman did not breeze for potential buyers, galloping instead.
"When Mr. Lothenbach died," said McCrocklin, "there was a last-minute decision to put virtually all the horses in the 2-year-old sales. The mandate that I got from the estate that they would not breeze. They would only gallop. He was already broken and in training, so potential buyers got to see him over the racetrack."
Though the lack of a speed drill didn't exactly deter buyers from bidding the colt up to $1.2 million, McCrocklin suspects that a breeze might have pushed the price even higher.
"Call me crazy," said the consignor, "but I think if we had breezed him, I'm very confident that he would have brought even more, maybe double."
The partnership that bought him was obviously impressed enough by what they saw, even without the breeze, to go to seven figures for Sandman.
"He was just so athletic-looking," said Tom Bellhouse, executive vice president of West Point Thoroughbreds. "Plus his pedigree and conformation, and you've got to just take a swing once in a while."
"The horses were sold without reserves, and the Lothenbachs weren't bidding," said McCrocklin. "So it was a true market value situation, and he sold very, very well. He was on everybody's radar as a really nice colt with a huge pedigree."
Bred by Lothenbach Stables, Sandman is out of the Distorted Humor mare Distorted Music and a half brother to She Can't Sing (Bernardini), the winner of the 2022 Chilukki Stakes (G3) who earned $883,558.
The gray/roan colt went directly from the sale to trainer Mark Casse's Ocala, Fla., farm, where he quickly made up for any lost training time.
"I'd say within 10 days, I breezed him," said Casse. "He's an athlete. When I breezed him three-eights, he worked so good that I went to a half-mile, and he was just boom, boom, boom. That's what good horses do."
"I think he got a little frazzled," said Casse. "Everyone he worked with, he ran away from. I don't put a whole lot of emphasis on the first race. What happens in training is different from what happens on the racetrack. Every horse reacts differently to kickback."
He pointed out that another of his 2-year-olds, And One More Time (Omaha Beach ), finished seventh in her first start, also at Churchill, also as the favorite, then came back to win by 4 3/4 lengths at Saratoga Aug. 8.
In the Saratoga race, Sandman broke from post 2 under Dylan Davis and sat a perfect trip along the rail, coming around the final turn straight into open running room, and cruised to the wire in 1:23.62 for seven furlongs.
"Just a perfect effort," said Bellhouse. "He stayed inside and took some dirt, and he was so professional."
"He's a big, classy, long-striding horse, and I love what he did (at Saratoga)," said McCrocklin. "They let him find an early position and save ground, and he got into his stride and his rhythm, and he was very composed and measured at the end. He's a proper horse with a bright, bright future."
