OZONE PARK, N.Y – Sandman has entered the Preakness picture.

Sandman, the Arkansas Derby winner who finished seventh as the second betting choice in the Kentucky Derby, has come out of the race well enough in trainer Mark Casse’s estimation to run back in next Saturday’s $2 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

“He’s trained really well, he’s got good energy, he’ll go to Pimlico on Monday,” Casse said.

Jockey Junior Alvarado was fined $62,000 and suspended two days by the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority for using his whip eight times on Sovereignty in winning the Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs. HISA rules allow a rider to use the whip only six times in a race.

Alvarado disagreed with the penalties and has not ruled out appealing them, he told Daily Racing Form on Saturday. He has 10 days to inform HISA if he plans to file an appeal.

Nine members have been appointed to serve as the inaugural board of directors of the Maryland Jockey Club, the non-profit entity created to oversee Thoroughbred racing in the state, the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority announced Friday.

Rodriguez, the Grade 2 Wood Memorial winner who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby due to a foot issue, will also miss the Preakness Stakes, trainer Bob Baffert said Friday.

Rodriguez will now be pointed to the Belmont Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga.

“He’ll be perfect for the Belmont,” Baffert said. “I couldn’t prep him like I wanted to [for the Preakness]. Once he had the foot issue, you got to let those things simmer down. I didn’t have enough time.”

Keeneland and Stable Recovery, a program that offers recovering addicts training to find employment in the Thoroughbred industry, are teaming to launch a “maintenance cohort” to provide specialized job training at the racetrack. It is the first program of its kind at a racetrack to work alongside Stable Recovery and the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority issued a provisional suspension to trainer Angel Sanchez Pinero on Thursday morning, citing violations of the authority’s “prohibited practices,” according to a notice of violation posted to HISA’s website later in the day.

Two horses trained by Sanchez Pinero on the Thursday card at Aqueduct were scratched in the morning, while another horse entered for Saturday has also been scratched.

Goal Oriented, a first-level allowance winner on the Kentucky Derby Day undercard at Churchill Downs, is now being pointed to the Preakness Stakes, Tom Ryan of SF Racing, which is part owner of the colt, said Thursday.

Goal Oriented will join Grade 2 Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez as trainer Bob Baffert’s Preakness horses. Baffert has won the Preakness a record eight times, most recently with National Treasure in 2023.

Dr. Allen Bonnell, the 81-year-old veterinarian based at Penn National who was accused of hiding hundreds of corticosteroid injections to horses at the track, has accepted a lifetime ban from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, according to an agreed order posted Thursday afternoon on the HISA website.

Maryland-bred multiple graded stakes winner Jaxon Traveler, who won at least one stakes race each year from ages 2 to 7, has been retired from racing.

Owner West Point Thoroughbreds reported in a release that the Munnings horse, whose last race was a fifth in an allowance race last month at Lone Star, retires sound, with a career mark of 37-13-8-5 and earnings of more than $1.1 million. Stud plans have not yet been finalized.