On August 1, Mystik Dan worked five furlongs in 1:02 over the turf at Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track. By this move, he surprised horse racing fans by working out to participate in his first grass turf race in Arlington. The former Kentucky Derby winner’s trainer decided to take a new road in Mystik Dan’s horse racing journey. But while he has tried a grass route after a successful career in the dirt, Sandman is also set to follow his path.

The Thoroughbred Daily News reported the update on X by attaching a video of Sandman taking charge of his grass turf dream. In that update, Sandman, the Grade 1-winning colt by Tapit, took an important step in his training on Sunday, August 10. In a video, he was heading to Saratoga’s Oklahoma Training Track for his first-ever workout on grass turf. 

Up until now, he’s been campaigning exclusively on dirt, most notably winning the Arkansas Derby earlier this year on March 29. Under the guidance of top jockey José Ortiz, the breeze allowed his connections to gauge how he handles the grass surface, both in terms of stride and comfort. The Oklahoma Training Track, located just across the street from the main Saratoga oval, is often used for these kinds of surface experiments and race preparations.

This move is significant because it hints at a possible shift in Sandman’s racing plans. This marked his first workout since placing fifth behind Sovereignty and Baeza in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes on July 26. Trainer Mark Casse, encouraged by Sandman’s performance, now eyes the $3.5 million Nashville Derby Invitational (Grade 3 turf) at Kentucky Downs on August 30 as the next target.

Trying him on turf could unlock lucrative grass races later in the season, especially at prestigious meets that feature top-level turf events. The workout is not just about speed. But it’s also about adaptability and testing whether his talent translates from dirt to grass. With Ortiz in the irons and his team closely monitoring the results, this breeze could be the first step toward diversifying his career and expanding his opportunities on the track.

But there is another reason behind trainer Mark Casse making decisions to try out Sandman on grass- fierce competitors like Journalism and Sovereignty.

Sandman is finding ways to beat Sovereignty, Journalism 

Surprised? Actually, talking about the competition with Sovereignty and Journalism, Sandman’s trainer, Casse, revealed, “I think Jim Dandy just showed, right now, that those horses are better than us.” He also added, “I think it’s a good time to do it. … (Jockey) Jose (Ortiz) and I talked about it many times. We felt like he would like the turf just by the way he runs, and I think he did.” In the July 26 Jim Dandy race, Sovereignty- trained by Bill Mont and ridden by Junior Alvarado- won the race by running 9 furlongs in 1:49:52. 

Other than this, in 2025, Sandman raced 5 times, and out of those 5 races, he only won 1. In the January 25 race at Southwest stakes, he was beaten by Speed Kings and ranked 2nd. Then, in the February 23 race, Sandman ranked 3rd, losing to Coal Battle and Madaket Road. However, on March 29, at the Arkansas Derby, he clinched his 1st stakes win before losing the Kentucky Derby (7th rank), Preakness Stakes, and Jim Dandy on May 3, May 17, and July 26, respectively. 

So, this suggests to us that the former Arkansas Derby winner is currently struggling a bit after his race back in March. And since the trainer himself believes that the competition is quite tough, they will need to try out different strategies to keep the star horse winning more races, even though these are on grass.