2026.02.04 Stakes Advance – Southwest Stakes 2026

Stakes Advance – $1 Million Southwest Stakes (G3)
Compiled by Robert Yates

Contact: Chris Ho Vice President of Marketing

cho@oaklawn.com, 501-623-4411 ext. 4201

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026

Oaklawn’s “Road to the Kentucky Derby” resumes, belatedly, Friday with the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.

The Southwest headlines a 12-race card that begins at 11:30 a.m. CST. Probable post time for the Southwest, the 11th race, is 4:40 p.m. The Southwest is Oaklawn’s second of four Kentucky Derby qualifying races and will offer 42 total points to its top five finishers (20-10-6-4-2, respectively) toward starting eligibility for the first leg of the Triple Crown.

The Southwest was originally scheduled to be run Jan. 31, but Oaklawn moved its Jan. 30, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 programs to this week following a winter storm that closed the track for training for nine days. The Southwest, which debuted in 1968, is being run on a Friday for the first time.

The Southwest attracted a hefty 14 entrants when the race was drawn Jan. 25. But at least one horse, Litmus Test, the 5-2 program favorite for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, will be scratched, the Oaklawn racing department said Wednesday morning.

Holdovers include the speedy D’code for trainer H. Ray Ashford Jr., Buetane (Baffert), Liberty National (Kenny McPeek), Soldier N Diplomat (Steve Asmussen) and Strategic Risk and Silent Tactic for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who is seeking his third consecutive victory in a Kentucky Derby points race at Oaklawn.

The Florida-based Casse capped a sensational Holiday racing season (he was 11 for 23 over 13 days) when Strategic Risk and Silent Tactic finished 1-2, respectively, in the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 3. The 1 1/16-mile Smarty Jones was Oaklawn’s first Kentucky Derby qualifying race.

Strategic Risk won the paceless Smarty Jones by 4 ½ lengths under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, with Silent Tactic, in his dirt debut, a closing second. Both horses are owned by John C. Oxley.

“We’re excited about him,” Casse said, referring to Strategic Risk. “Obviously, the Southwest is the same as the Smarty Jones. We’re not going to get any more ground. We’ll be excited down the road when we can get some more ground. The difference between him and Silent Tactic a little bit is I think Javier can position him, where if they are going fast, he’ll sit back. And if they’re not going fast, he’ll be very close to the pace.”

Immediately following the Smarty Jones, Casse said Silent Tactic would be pointed to an entry-level allowance spot. But Casse said that race in the new condition book was a mile, so he was re-routed to the Southwest because of the longer distance. Silent Tactic entered the Smarty Jones off a runner-up finish in the Grey Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 2 at Woodbine in Canada.

“He got one easy breeze and then he ended up running really well in the Smarty Jones,” Casse said. “The track was playing pretty speed favoring at that point and time and he was one of the few horses that actually rallied. The good news is we feel like he’s come back and trained even better, so we’re looking for him to possibly move up a little in his next start. It looks like there’s a fair amount of speed.”

D’code (3-1) will be making his stakes and two-turn debut after a front-running 8 ¼-length victory Dec. 14. A son of deceased sprint champion Speightstown, D’code recorded the fastest six-furlong time in Oaklawn history for a 2-year-old (1:09.57).

“It’s a tall order, but the horse really seems to be doing good,” Ashford said. “He acts like he can run that far. Getting the right fractions, obviously, will help a lot, too. I would think he will be forwardly placed. That looks like his running style. There are unknowns, but we think he’s good enough to try.”

Buetane will be making his two-turn debut for Baffert, who has won the Southwest a record six times. Buetane exits a runner-up finish in the seven-furlong San Vicente Stakes (G2) Jan. 10 at Santa Anita in his 3-year-old debut. Buetane closed his 2-year-old campaign with a second to champion Ted Noffey in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at seven furlongs Sept. 1 at Saratoga.

“Going two turns, we’ll see what he does,” Baffert said. “He’s doing really well. He’s worked well. We’ll see how he fits in with those.”

Liberty National will be making his 3-year-old debut after finishing a closing second, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds.

McPeek said Liberty National was bothered at the start, which cost him several lengths.

“If you watch the gallop out on the Gun Runner, he’s three (lengths) in front another sixteenth past the wire,” McPeek said. “He was probably five lengths the best horse.”

Soldier N Diplomat will be making his 3-year-old debut after finishing fourth in the Hopeful and third in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs in his last start.

Other Southwest entrants include Baytown Dreamer, Sleepingonfreedom and Rancho Santa Fe, third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Smarty Jones.

Oaklawn’s Kentucky Derby points series continues with the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) March 1 and the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) March 28. Casse won the 2025 Arkansas Derby with Sandman.

$300,000 Martha Washington Stakes

West Point Thoroughbreds’ Counting Stars bids for her third stakes victory this season at Oaklawn in Friday’s $300,000 Martha Washington for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.

Probable post time for the Martha Washington, the sixth of 12 races, is 1:59 p.m. CST. Racing begins at 11:30 a.m.

The Martha Washington is Oaklawn’s first of three qualifying races for the Kentucky Oaks and will offer 42 total points to its top five finishers (20-10-6-4-2, respectively) toward starting eligibility for the country’s biggest prize for 3-year-old fillies.

The Martha Washington was originally scheduled to be run Jan. 31, but Oaklawn moved its Jan. 30, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 programs to this week following a winter storm that closed the track for training for nine days.

Counting Stars and Search Party, both trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, are among eight Martha Washington entrants.

Counting Stars, the 5-2 second choice in the program, has won three of four lifetime starts. She’s two-for-two in 2025-2026 at Oaklawn, claiming the inaugural $135,000 Astral Spa Stakes at six furlongs Dec. 14 and the $150,000 Year’s End Stakes at one mile Dec. 27 in her two-turn debut. Counting Stars has won her two Oaklawn starts by a combined 10 lengths.

“Counting Stars has been very impressive,” Casse said. “It was her first time around two turns. I thought she would two-turn, but she got a little excited in the middle of the race, was wide, and just kind of ran by everybody and opened up.”

Earlier on the Dec. 27 card – Oaklawn’s fourth annual exclusively for 2-year-olds – Search Party broke her maiden by six front-running lengths over stablemate Rockin Robin at 1 1/16 miles. Search Party, who races for her breeder, Tracy Farmer, is 3-1 on the morning line for her stakes debut.

“I thought Search Party, she’d been very unlucky in a couple of previous starts,” Casse said. “Things kind of went her way. I thought she won impressively. We like Rockin Robin as well and she was second. She was a long ways in front of the third horse, which is always good to see. So, I expect her to run well.”

Hit Parade is 5-2 program favorite for trainer Brad Cox, who swept Oaklawn’s Kentucky Oaks prep series in 2023 with Wet Paint. Hit Parade, a homebred for Gary and Mary West, has won her last three starts, including the Untapable Stakes at 1 mile and 70 yards Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds to close her 2-year-old campaign.

Another Martha Washington entrant, Grace Is Free, will be making her two-turn debut for trainer Robert N. Cline. Grace Is Free gave Cline and longtime significant other, jockey Kelsi Harr, their first Oaklawn stakes victory in the $150,000 Mockingbird at six furlongs Jan. 4.

Grace Is Free races for her breeder, retired trainer Larry Jones, a three-time Kentucky Oaks winner. Jones, as a trainer, won the second division of the 2008 Martha Washington with Eight Belles, whose margin of victory (13 ½ lengths) remains the most lopsided in race history. The Martha Washington was run at one mile in 2004-2021.