After operating a quiet second place in his first filth begin within the Smarty Jones Stakes on January 3, Silent Tactic closed out the lead within the $1 million Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on February 6, asserting his Kentucky Derby Offered by Woodford Reserve standing.
Though overshadowed by the opposite horses competing within the 1 1/16-mile race (together with Strategic Threat, a Mark Cass-trained John Oxley-owned stablemate who beat him in Smarty Jones), the horse completed with authority within the Southwest, outscoring 9 different horses in a straight line and displaying the picture of a horse that might very properly benefit from the basic Kentucky Derby distance of 1 1/4 miles.
On Friday, Cristian Torres went large within the straight line after which went all out to take command inside pole 16 and win by 3 1/4 lengths over runner-up Soldier N Diplomat. Soldier N Diplomat picked up the tempo within the center and took a brief lead through the name.
The Oxley-bred Silent Tactic, whose victory marked the primary stakes winner for second-crop stallion Tacitus, clocked 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.85. He paid $26 to win.
As Silent Tactic took its remaining steps towards the end line, Torres stood within the iron and celebrated.
“I knew it was going to be a fairly good tempo within the race, so I wasn’t frightened in regards to the closeness or the place I might end,” Torres mentioned in an inner interview. “I put my coronary heart on the market and let him go the place he needed to go, and he responded on the quarter pole. He confirmed up.”
Buetan, the Southern California invader skilled by Bob Baffert, trailed pacesetter Dee Twine, the two.30-1 favourite, in quarter-mile fractions of 23.52, 47.52, and 1:12.81, with Rancho Santa Fe following in fourth.
Sadly for Oxley and Cass, Strategic Threat obtained a drive in flip two and dropped to tenth place.
Southwest, the richest race up to now for the 2026 Highway to the Kentucky Derby, awarded qualifying factors on a 20-10-6-4-2 foundation to the highest 5 runners, supplied they’re Triple Crown contenders. Officers at Churchill Downs, the place the Might 2nd Kentucky Derby might be contested, are utilizing qualifying factors to advertise the race and as a precedence system within the occasion that the primary leg of the Triple Crown race attracts a most of 20 or extra horses.
Silent Tactic at the moment sits atop the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 25 complete factors, together with 5 factors earned on Smarty Jones.
Southwest was initially scheduled for Jan. 31, however was postponed after subzero temperatures in Arkansas froze filth tracks for greater than every week. The climate improved considerably on Friday, with highs within the 70s.
Casse speculated that strategic dangers could have been compromised by misplaced coaching time, which he mentioned could have an effect on some horses however not others.
“I’m wondering if it affected him a little bit bit, but it surely undoubtedly made Silent Techniques actually higher,” he advised FOX Sports activities.
Silent Tactic was bought by livestock agent Justin Casse for $500,000 final 12 months from the Trostock consignment to the Ocala Breeders Sale Spring 2-12 months-Outdated Horse Sale and was bred in Kentucky out of Gun Runner’s mare Magical Signal. The horse made his debut at Woodbine’s all-weather Tapeta observe on Oct. 10 as a 2-year-old, incomes his second profession victory within the Southwest. He then positioned second within the Grey Stakes on November 2nd, after which second within the Smarty Jones.
He earned $495,000 for profitable the Southwest, bringing his lifetime earnings to $594,422.
Tacitus, who received the Wooden Memorial Stakes in 2019 and adopted that up with a 3rd place within the Kentucky Derby and a second place within the Belmont Stakes, stands at $5,000 for TaylorMade Stallions in central Kentucky.
Three Southwest horses have received the Derby: Lil E. Tee (1992), Smarty Jones (2004), and Mystic Dan (2024). Smarty Jones and Mystic Dan received each races, and Lil E. Tee completed third within the Southwest.
Jockey Casse didn’t instantly decide to operating Silent Tactic within the subsequent race in Oak Garden’s 3-year-old stakes sequence, the $1 million degree stakes on March 1st. The 1 1/16-mile race precedes the 1 1/8-mile $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on March twenty eighth.
“We’ll work it out, however we’re not leaving Oak Garden,” he mentioned.
A search celebration finds daylight and captures Martha Washington.
Kass and Torres received the graded race Friday at Oak Garden, as Tracy Farmer’s Search Celebration shook off site visitors on the second nook to overhaul late finisher Newtown Pike by a large margin within the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
The victorious daughter of Gun Runner set the tempo in third place from the within for the primary half-mile, acquired caught behind a horse within the second nook and fell again to fifth, however went out three-wide halfway by means of and located her manner, finishing 1 1/16 miles in 1 minute, 45.56 seconds.
She is one in all 4 winners on the Corridor of Fame coach’s card and is having fun with a banner match at Oaklawn Park.
