Although he was overshadowed by others entering the 1 1/16-mile race – including his Mark Casse-trained and John Oxley-managed stablemate Strategic Risk, who had beaten him in the Smarty Jones – he closed with authority in the southwest, blowing past nine horses in the stretch while giving the impression of a horse very likely to enjoy the classic Kentucky Derby distance of 1 1/4 miles.
Widely fanned by Cristian Torres on Friday, he finished on a run to take command inside the 16th pole en route to a 3 1/4 length victory over runner-up Soldier N Diplomat, who had taken a brief lead between calls after maintaining the pace.
Oxley’s Silent Tactic, whose victory made it the first stakes winner ahead of second-crop sire Tacitus, clocked 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.85. He paid $26 to win.
Torres celebrated by standing in the irons as Silent Tactic completed his final steps to the finish.
“I knew there would be a lot of speed in the race, so I wasn’t worried about the proximity or where I would be,” Torres said in an internal interview. “I just broke and let him be wherever he wanted to be, and he responded at the quarter post. He showed up.”
The Bob Baffert-trained Southern California interloper Buetane, who chased pacesetter D’code, the 2.30-1 favorite, through quarter-mile fractions of :23.52, :47.52 and 1:12.81, was third, followed by Rancho Santa Fe in fourth.
Disappointingly for Oxley and Casse, Strategic Risk came under pressure in the second corner and weakened to 10th.
The Southwest, the richest race yet on the 2026 Road to the Kentucky Derbyoffered qualifying points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis to the top five finishers, provided they are Triple Crown nominees. Officials at Churchill Downs, where the May 2 Kentucky Derby will be contested, are using qualifying points to promote the race and as a preferred system when the first leg of the Triple Crown draws more than the maximum field size of 20 horses.
Silent Tactic now sits atop the Kentucky Derby standings with 25 points, a total including 5 points he earned in the Smarty Jones.
The Southwest, originally scheduled for Jan. 31, was postponed due to subzero temperatures in Arkansas, which left the dirt road frozen for more than a week. The weather was noticeably better on Friday, with high temperatures in the 70s.
Casse speculated that the lost training time may have compromised the strategic risk, saying it could impact some horses and not others.
“I wonder if it affected him a little bit, but it certainly made Silent Tactic very good,” he told FOX Sports.
Silent Tactic, purchased last year by bloodstock agent Justin Casse for $500,000 from the Thorostock consignment to the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring Sale of 2-year-olds in training, was bred in Kentucky from the Gun Runner mare Magical Sign. He scored his second career win in the South West after scoring as a 2-year-old on debut at Woodbine on the all-weather Tapeta surface on October 10. He later finished second in the November 2 Gray Stakes, before finishing second in the Smarty Jones.
He earned $495,000 conquering the Southwest, bringing his career earnings to $594,422.
Tacitus, who won the Wood Memorial Stakes in 2019 before going on to finish third in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Belmont Stakes that year, is listed for $5,000 at Taylor Made Stallions in Central Kentucky.
Three competitors from the Southwest have won the Derby: Lil E. Tee (1992), Smarty Jones (2004) and Mystik Dan (2024). Smarty Jones and Mystik Dan won both races, while Lil E. Tee finished third in the Southwest.
Casse did not immediately commit to running Silent Tactic in the March 1 $1 million Rebel Stakes, the next leg in Oaklawn’s stakes series for 3-year-olds. That 1 1/16-mile race precedes the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on March 28 at 1 1/8 miles.
“We’ll figure it out, but we’re not leaving Oaklawn,” he said.
Search party finds daylight and takes Martha Washington with them
Casse and Torres had earlier high-stakes success Friday at Oaklawn when Tracy Farmer’s Search Party broke away from traffic in the second turn before beating late-running Newtown Pike by a neck in the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
The victorious daughter of Gun Runner, who held the pace in third place for the first half mile before falling to fifth when stuck behind horses in the second turn, tapped out three wide to find a clear path in the stretch en route to completing 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.56.
She was one of four winners on the card for the Hall of Fame trainer, who enjoys a great meet at Oaklawn Park.
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