2026.03.04 Oaklawn Racing Updates

Racing Updates
Compiled by Robert Yates

Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2026

A nose separated dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse from a record-extending fourth consecutive victory in a Kentucky Derby qualifying race at Oaklawn.

He’ll have an opportunity to begin a new streak later this month.

Casse said Monday morning that Silent Tactic will be pointed to the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) March 28 following his nose loss to Class President in Sunday’s $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2).

Class President and Silent Tactic received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 91, a career high for each, in what became a match race in the final furlong of the 1 1/16-mile Rebel.

C

lass President, on the inside under Hall of Famer John Velazquez, held a narrow lead in midstretch. Silent Tactic, under two-time Oaklawn riding champion Cristian Torres, poked a head in front with about 100 yards remaining, but Class President battled back to narrowly prevail. The final time over a fast track was 1:43.21.

“I thought Cristian gave him a good trip,” Casse said. “He (Silent Tactic) was a little keener, which wasn’t surprising to me because he’s trained keener. He ended up settling for Cristian, but it took a little bit of doing. He was wanting to go. I think if you look at his (performance) numbers, especially if you look Rags and Thoro-Graphs and everything, he is definitely improving. Even if you watch after the race, the gallop out was good and strong. The more ground, the better.”

The Arkansas Derby – Oaklawn’s fourth and final Kentucky Derby qualifying race – is 1 1/8 miles, a sixteenth of a mile longer than the Rebel. Casse also noted that Silent Tactic carried 124 pounds in the Rebel, 5 more than Class President, under allowance conditions for money earned at a mile or over in a designated time period.

“I’m not a big weight guy,” Casse said. “Now there are some handicappers that are all about weight. I think going a mile and a sixteenth, though, 5 pounds and you get beat nose, it means something.”

Casse won last year’s Arkansas Derby with Sandman and Oaklawn’s first two Kentucky Derby qualifying races this season. Strategic Risk won the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 3 and Silent Tactic, passing nine horses in the final three-sixteenths of a mile, was an eye-catching 3 ¼-length winner of the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 6. The Smarty Jones and Southwest were 1 1/16 miles.

Kentucky Derby-winning owner John Oxley campaigns Strategic Risk and Silent Tactic. Strategic Risk returned to run 10th in the Southwest and sixth in the Rebel, beaten 17 ½ lengths. Regarding next-race plans for Strategic Risk,

Casse said: “We’ll aim a little lower with him.”

Silent Tactic now figures to be the only horse to compete in all four legs of Oaklawn’s series of 2026 Kentucky Derby qualifying races.

“Leave it to me,” Casse said.

Silent Tactic collected 25 points for his runner-up finish in the Rebel and has 50 overall to rank second on the official Kentucky Derby leaderboard compiled by Churchill Downs. The Arkansas Derby will offer 200 points (100-50-25-15-10, respectively) to its top five finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby. Casse also won the 2017 Arkansas Derby with champion Classic Empire.

Silent Tactic, from the first crop of millionaire multiple Grade 2 winner Tacitus, has a 2-3-0 record in five starts and earnings of $774,422. Bred in Kentucky by Don Alberto Corporation, Silent Tactic made his first two career starts over a synthetic surface last year at Woodbine in Canada.

Silent Tactic was purchased for $500,000 at the 2025 OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in training.

Sandman to Receive Break

Sandman, winner of the 2025 Arkansas Derby (G1), is to return to Mark Casse’s training center in Ocala, Fla., to “regroup” following his sixth-place finish in Saturday’s $500,000 Razorback (G3) for older horses, the dual Hall of Fame trainer said Monday morning.

The Razorback marked the sixth consecutive loss for Sandman, who returned to Oaklawn in December. He opened his 4-year-old campaign with a fifth-place finish in a Feb. 7 allowance race.

“You’ve heard me say it a million times,” Casse said. “When they’re running good, I run them. And when they’re not, I regroup and try to figure it out. He came out of the (Razorback) with a couple of minor issues.”

Sandman was beaten 18 lengths in the Razorback after racing sixth and last throughout the 1 1/16-mile race.

“He was running along OK, but he’s just not himself,” Casse said. “I’ve got to figure him out.”

Sandman has a 3-1-3 record from 14 lifetime starts and earnings of $1,544,531.

Finish Lines

Racing resumes Thursday at Oaklawn. First post is 12:30 p.m. CST. … Favored Batten Down ($4.80) received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 99 for his front-running 8 ¼-length victory in Sunday’s inaugural $135,000 Pig Trail Overnight Stakes for older horses at 1 ½ miles. The Pig Trail was the first of an Oaklawn career-best three winners on the card for Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who rode Batten Down, a Grade 3 winner, for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and famed breeder/owner Juddmonte. Batten Down is out of Close Hatches, who won the Azeri Stakes (G2) and Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) in 2014 at Oaklawn for Mott and Juddmonte en route to an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion older female. Mott was Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 1986. … Millionaire Grade 1 and Oaklawn stakes winner Saudi Crown is the even-money program favorite for Thursday’s seventh race, a 1 1/16-mile “Ratings Handicap” for older horses with a rating number of 88 to 78. Runaway Again, winner of the 2025 Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, is also entered. … Stiglets is the 4-5 program favorite for Thursday’s featured eighth race, a $126,000 allowance for older horses at six furlongs. Stiglets earned a gaudy 107 Beyer Speed Figure in his last start, a Jan. 3 first-level allowance when he covered six furlongs in 1:08.85. … Jockey Ramon Vazquezhas 506 career Oaklawn victories, including 34 this season to rank second in the standings. Vazquez needs four more victories to surpass Don Howard as the 10th-winningest rider in Oaklawn history. Howard rode his last of 509 career Oaklawn winners in 2000. … Trainer Genaro Garcia, who has a string this season at Oaklawn, has 996 career North American victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.