Casse hopes trio is key to 1st success in Derby & Oaks

Since the Kentucky Derby 2026 futures favorite came out of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, one could say the race at Oaklawn has a greater influence on the run for the roses. Trainer Mark Casse might hope so after his colt, Silent Tactic, finished second.

“I thought Renegade was extremely impressive,” Casse said. “For me he’s the horse to beat.”

No wonder. After he and jockey Cristian Torres made up three lengths to take the lead at the top of the stretch, Silent Tactic could not keep up with Renegade in the run home. The final margin that March 28 afternoon was four lengths.

Flatter Pod: Hear Casse discuss Kentucky Derby & Oaks.

“His last race was his first race where he kind of didn’t move forward,” Casse said on Horse Racing Nation’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. “He had had a great progression into that race. I think we had a few little minor issues that hopefully we’ve overcome.”

Casse did not get into the finer points of his training strategy for owner John Oxley’s $500,000 Tacitus colt who won the Southwest (G3) in February and finished a close second March 7 in the Rebel (G2). He did say there was one factor that would be kinder to Silent Tactic at Churchill Downs.

“I think the one thing that we’ve always said about him is that he wants some pace,” Casse said. “He hasn’t gotten a whole lot of pace.”

Running nothing but routes at 8 1/2 to nine furlongs in all six of his starts, Silent Tactic has had only one race in which the first three-quarters of a mile went faster than 1:12. That was in his nose loss in the Rebel, where he got a 91 Beyer Speed Figure according to Daily Racing Form and a 93 Brisnet Speed Rating.

Silent Tactic’s Arkansas Derby performance matched those numbers, but as Casse pointed out, they were not an improvement. They also came against early fractions of 23.25, 47.80 and 1:12.52.

“We were sitting there a few lengths off the lead. That’s not what we want to do,” Casse said. “They don’t run too many Kentucky Derbies without pace. I think Cristian needs to time his run with him. I think we believe now that he’s only got about a quarter-of-a-mile run in him. I think Cristian will try to time his move a little differently.”

While Renegade was the 7-2 favorite in Las Vegas, Silent Tactic was best priced during the weekend at 25-1 to win the Derby.

“He’s going to have to be at his very best to be competitive,” Casse said.

Silent Tactic is staying at Oaklawn with Counting Stars and Search Party, Casse’s two Kentucky Oaks (G1) stablemates who finished one-two in the March 27 Fantasy (G2).

Counting Stars, a $150,000 Honor A. P. filly owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, was a two-time stakes winner as a 2-year-old. It was more than a passing fancy that she one day could go against males.

“I think she’s the first filly I nominated to the Triple Crown in the last five years,” Casse said. “That kind of tells you what I thought of her.”

That thought was squelched by a last-place, walk-across-the-line finish in her 3-year-old debut in the Martha Washington. Counting Stars bounced back and finished a strong-closing second to Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Explora in the Honeybee (G3) before she ran away to a 5 1/2-length triumph in the Fantasy.

“She threw in a clunker,” Casse said. “I really have no idea why she did, but her last two races have been powerful. I think she comes into the Oaks with the highest last Beyer (92) of anybody, so she’s going to be tough. She broke her maiden at Churchill Downs, so we know she likes that.”

Search Party, a Tracy Farmer homebred filly by Gun Runner, already has eight races on her résumé. She broke her maiden on fifth asking before winning the Martha Washington, both at Oaklawn. So was her fourth in the Honeybee before she completed the Casse exacta in the Fantasy.

“Search Party is a horse that definitely needs more pace, and again she’ll get that (in the Oaks’) nine furlongs,” Casse said. “She needs things to go her way and to get some pace ... She got very unlucky a couple times, like at the break (in her third start) that cost her. Both fillies we know like Churchill Downs, so I’m excited for both of them.”

Torres will keep the ride on Search Party in the Oaks as will Francisco Arrieta on Counting Stars.

Final breezes at Oaklawn were scheduled to precede the Casse trio’s trip to Kentucky. The trainer himself will not be far behind. He travels from Florida, where he always spends his winters. The change the U.S. and Canada racing hall-of-famer wants to make this spring is to get his first triumphs in the Oaks and, of course, in the Derby, where his best finish was fourth in his first 11 tries.

“Hopefully one of these days we’re going to win the Derby,” Casse said. “You know we’ve tried, and we’re always hopeful.”