Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Sandman

Sandman

Colt by Tapit – Distorted Music, by Distorted Humor

Bred in Kentucky by Lothenbach Stables ($1.2 million Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. March 2-year-olds in training purchase by West Point Thorougbreds, D. J. Stable, CJ Stables)

Sunday’s Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park matches the winners of the track’s first two Derby prep races – Coal Battle, who took the Smarty Jones, and Speed King, front-running winner of the Grade 3 Southwest. But Sandman also has had a strong winter at Oaklawn.

After a promising allowance/optional-claiming win in December, he turned in a creditable effort in the Southwest. After breaking in a tangle, he just failed to reel in Speed King by a length.

A seven-figure purchase last year, Sandman has stamina on both sides of his pedigree.

Tapit is a three-time North American leading sire who is perennially in the continent’s top 10. He also is the most successful sire in the modern history of the Belmont Stakes, with four winners of the 1 1/2-mile classic in Tonalist (2014), Creator (2016), Tapwrit (2017), and Essential Quality (2021).

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Lexington, America’s leading sire 16 times during the Civil War and Reconstruction era, is the only other stallion with four Belmont winners – General Duke (1868), Kingfisher (1870), Harry Bassett (1871), and Duke of Magenta (1878).

Essential Quality, whose five Grade 1 wins also included the Travers Stakes at 1 1/4 miles, is one of six individual Eclipse Award champions by Tapit, along with 2022 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year Flightline, 2014 Kentucky Oaks and Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Untapable, dual champion Unique Bella, and champion juveniles Hansen and Stardom Bound. All were multiple Grade 1 winners around two turns on dirt, solidifying Tapit’s reputation as a stamina source from the powerful A.P. Indy line.

Distorted Music, a winner at up to 1 1/16 miles, is the dam of three winners from four starters. Her other two winners, She Can’t Sing and Bernin Tune, also are from the A.P. Indy line. She Can’t Sing won the Grade 3 Chilukki at a mile on dirt, but also was a multiple stakes winner at up to 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Distorted Music is a half-sister to turf Grade 3-placed Zinzay, the dam of turf router Moon Over Miami, a stakes winner who was Grade 1-placed.

Distorted Music’s dam, Music Room, is a half-sister to Music Note, a five-time Grade 1 winner both sprinting and routing who is now a multiple stakes producer. Her foals are led by Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide.

Music Note also is a half-sister to French classic winner Musical Chimes, a Grade 1 and Grade 2 winner in the United States.

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