“We want the career to last more than five weeks,” said Bill Mott as justification for why Sovereignty was given the chance to sit out the Preakness Stakes. With that statement, the veteran trainer made it clear that the horse’s health was of greater concern for the owners and the other stakeholders, instead of pushing for Triple Crown immortality. While the decision stirred up quite a lot of controversy, it looks like Sandman could be the latest name to add to the debate.

The Mark Casse-trained horse was among the biggest names that entered the 150th Preakness Stakes. With an Arkansas Derby (G1) under its belt, the colt had a lot of horse racing fans putting their money on Sandman. And yet, the 3-year-old thoroughbred only managed a disappointing 3rd-place finish at Pimlico Race Course. But it was the horse’s body language during the race that got Casse thinking.

“When we got to the quarter pole I thought I was home free but he got to looking around and stopped concentrating,” said the jockey John Velazquez, who was riding on Sadman in last Saturday’s race. But that seems to have prompted its trainer to take a radical decision. In a post on X from May 18, freelance horse racing writer Tim Wilkin shared new updates about Sandman’s Triple Crown campaign.

“Sandman, Saturday night after finishing 3rd in ⁦@PreaknessStakes⁩, “unlikely” for Belmont at Saratoga June 7 says ⁦@markecasse,” the social media update notes that the horse won’t be running in the third and final leg of the Triple Crown. “I don’t like doing it, but we may put blinkers on,” Mark Casse was further quoted as saying about Sandman.

However, from what’s coming to the fore, it might not be only Sandman who is likely to sit out the upcoming Belmont Stakes on June 7. Journalism, the emphatic winner of the 2025 Preakness Stakes, could also be among the names that are scratched from the third leg of the Triple Crown. As of Sunday morning, Journalism’s status was marked as TBD for the race two weeks later.

However, that would make many fans speculate as to what exactly happened to Curlin’s son. After all, trainer Michael McCarthy had previously noted that Journalism’s exceptional track record in races after short breaks was what got the owners to decide that the horse would run the Preakness Stakes in the first place. “He could go back to Churchill Downs and hang out for a week or two and then make his way to Saratoga,” the trainer still refused to douse all hopes.

However, while we wait to see what the future holds for Sandman and Journalism, the current situation will undoubtedly make the community once again pounce on the debate on whether the Triple Crown schedule is to blame for so many horses being forced to pull out of races right after the Kentucky Derby.

Sandman’s call could tilt the scales for the horse racing community

“In the 1960s and the 1970s, okay, seven of those years in each decade, the one-two-three finishers in the Kentucky Derby all came back and ran in the Preakness. That’s what the Triple Crown is supposed to be,” NBC Sports’ Randy Moss said with a frustrating tone just yesterday. Subsequently, he went on to highlight how the entire scenario has changed in recent years.

Fuming, the sportscaster said, “The one-two-three finishers of the Derby have only come back in the Preakness now twice in the last 17 years,” as he arrived at his conclusion: “The system is broken.” “It is troubling, and it has been troubling for several years. It’s completely flip-flopped from my generation when it was the rule that they would run back and the exception that they wouldn’t,” Moss’ colleague, Jerry Bailey, also voiced similar sentiments.  The opinion stands in stark contrast to what trainers like Bob Baffert have claimed.

According to the 8x Preakness winner, the gap between the three races has nothing to do with the horses’ performance, even though, traditionally, thoroughbreds were supposed to run races without much rest in between. Naturally, in case Sandman and Journalism indeed are scratched from running in Saratoga, the voices against Baffert’s will only grow stronger!

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