2025 Arkansas Derby champion Sandman getting used to Pimlico for his run in the 150th Preakness Stakes (TMJC Photo).
By Robert Yates
HOT SPRING, Ark.—Eight Oaklawn stakes winners, including 2025 Arkansas Derby champion Sandman, are entered in black-type events Friday and Saturday at Pimlico.
Sandman headlines three Oaklawn-raced horses scheduled to contest Saturday’s Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown. Probable post time for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, the 13th of 14 races, is 6:01 p.m. (Central).
Sandman has raced four times at Oaklawn for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. He won a one-mile allowance Dec. 13, was a troubled second in the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3) Jan. 25 and ran third in the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes (G2) Feb. 23 before capturing the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) March 29.
Sandman exits a seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, May 3 at Churchill Downs. Racing over a sloppy, sealed track, Sandman was beaten 12 ½ lengths in the 1 ¼-mile race.
Sandman is the 4-1 second choice in the program for the Preakness, which drew a field of nine. The gray son of Tapit is scheduled to break from post 7 under Hall of Famer John Velazquez. All starters carry 126 pounds.
Sandman is trying to become the eighth Arkansas Derby winner to capture the Preakness.
The Preakness also drew lightly raced Clever Again (5-1) for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and American Promise (15-1) for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
Clever Again (2 of 3 overall) wasn’t tested in two front-running victories earlier this year at Oaklawn.
A son of 2015 Preakness and Arkansas Derby winner American Pharoah, Clever Again, in his two-turn debut, broke his maiden by 3 ¼ lengths Feb. 23 and claimed the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes by four lengths March 30. The maiden race was 1 1/16 miles; the Hot Springs was one mile.
American Promise broke his maiden at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 29 at Oaklawn. He finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby, after winning the $500,000 Virginia Derby.
Other Oaklawn stakes winners entered in black-type events this weekend at Pimlico are Lemon Muffin in Friday’s $125,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff for fillies and mares, 3 and up, at 1 1/8 miles; G W’s Girl in Friday’s $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs; Red Route One in Friday’s $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 3/16 miles; Princess Aliyah in Friday’s $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles; Booth in Saturday’s $150,000 Maryland Sprint (G3) for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs; and Zeitlos in Saturday’s $125,000 Skipat for fillies and mares, 3 and up, at 6 furlongs.
Finish Lines
Oaklawn-raced Tapit Shoes is entered in the $250,000 Louisville Stakes (G3) for older horses at 1 ½ miles on the turf Saturday at Churchill Downs. …
Oaklawn-raced Jody’s Pride ($17.60) won the one-mile $200,000 Ruffian Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares last Saturday at Aqueduct. Jody’s Pride was making her first start since a fifth-place finish behind 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna in the $400,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 8 at Oaklawn. …
Oaklawn-raced Claret Beret, who was scratched from the Ruffian, was a 19 ¾-length winner of the $70,000 Mo Green Handicap last Sunday at Gulfstream Park. Favored Claret Beret ($3.20) was making her first start since being privately purchased following a fifth-place finish in a March 7 allowance race at Oaklawn and transferred to south Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Claret Beret was a Feb. 1 allowance winner at Oaklawn for co-owner/trainer Greg Compton. The Mo Green represented the first career Gulfstream Park victory for Francisco Arrieta, Oaklawn’s leading rider this season. Arrieta said May 3, closing day of Oaklawn’s 2024-2025 meeting, that he would ride “for a couple of weeks” at Gulfstream Park before a taking a family vacation in his native Venezuela, adding he plans to resume riding regularly at Ellis Park, which opens July 3. …
Oaklawn-raced Surveillance finished third in the six-furlong $175,000 John A. Nerud Stakes (G3) last Saturday at Aqueduct. …
Tyler Bacon, Oaklawn’s leading apprentice jockey this season, has a meet-high five victories through the first two days of racing at Prairie Meadows.
