Trainer Mark Casse is on a winning roll in Kentucky Derby prep races at Oaklawn Park.
And for good measure, the Hall of Famer also saddled the winner of a Kentucky Oaks prep at Oaklawn – his 3-year-old filly Search Party captured the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes early on Friday’s card before 12-1 longshot Silent Tactic won the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3).
Silent Tactic, moved to the outside by jockey Cristian Torres, came roaring down the stretch and passed nine rivals in a 3 ¼-length victory over Soldier N Diplomat, with Bob Baffert-trained Buetane running third.
Casse has now won three straight Kentucky Derby points qualifiers at Oaklawn – the others being the Arkansas Derby (G1) a year ago with Sandman and the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. X with Strategic Risk (who faded to 10th on Friday).
Silent Tactic ($26) made it loud and clear that he’s a Derby contender, widening his lead in the stretch as Torres stood up in the irons and raised an arm skyward several strides before the finish line. Winning time for 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.85.
“There was plenty of speed, obviously, in the race, and it really helped me,’’ said Torres, who was also aboard Search Party in the Martha Washington. (At the three-eighths pole) is when I knew I had it won. He wanted to go, and I just waited a little bit longer. I knew when I got him clear, he was going to fire for me.
“Good horse, Hopefully, he’s going to keep improving. The more distance the better, I think.”
The Southwest awarded Derby qualifying points of 20-10-6-4-2m to the top five finishers, with Silent Tactic improving to 25 points (he had 5 for running second in the Smarty Jones) and sits atop the leaderboard heading into Saturday’s Derby preps – the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) and the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3).
Soldier N Diplomat, trained by Steve Asmussen, earned 10 points, Buetane 6, Rancho Santa Fe 4, and Circle Tap 2. Liberty National was sixth, followed by Sleepingonfreedom, 2-1 favorite D’code, Spirit of Royal, Strategic Risk, Baytown Dreamer, and Reclamation, who was eased.
Litmus Test and Bricklin were scratched, reducing the field to 12.
What’s next for Casse’s duo? “We’re staying at Oaklawn,’’ he said, meaning Silent Tactic and/or Strategic Risk could be seen next in the Rebel Stakes (G2) and/or the Arkansas Derby.
At Aqueduct, a few hours before the Southwest, 12-1 longshot Talk to Me Jimmy ($26.54) moved to the lead early on and turned on the jets in the stretch for an 11-length romp in the $200,000 Withers Stakes.
Talk to Me Jimmy, trained by Rudy Rodriguez, earned 20 Derby qualifying points to move near the top of the leaderboard. Ridden by Ruben Silvera, the New York-bred, purchased for $31,000, has a new owner, SEI Thoroughbreds, thinking about a Run for the Roses.
“We’re new to this, so we’ll let it come to us and do our best,” said Dustin Pusatere of SEI Thoroughbreds. “There’s a lot of heavy-hitters, and we’re one of many trying (to get to the Derby).”
“I told Ruben, 'we got the inside horse (Schoolyardsuperman) that has a lot of speed, but we’ve got speed, too,’” said Rodriguez. “I told Ruben to take it from there, but don’t let him slow it down. Let’s see what we’ve got. Today was a test to find out what we’ve got, and I think he passed the test.”
Winning time was 1:51.68.
Rodriguez said Talk to Me Jimmy grabbed a right-front quarter during the race, possibly at the start when he brushed with Mailata, who was bumped out of the gate by Star Sweeper.
“He did grab himself a little. I don’t know how bad it is yet, but we’ll take a look and clean him up good and take it from there,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he’ll likely point Talk to Me Jimmy to the $750,000 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct on April 4.
Grittiness picked up 10 points for second, followed by Ottinho (6 points), Schoolyardsuperman (4 points), and Star Sweeper (2 points).
Richard Rosenblatt is an award-winning journalist and former Associated Press Horse Racing Editor. Currently, he serves as the news editor at US Racing, overseeing exclusive content from contributors worldwide.
