GIII Southwest Stakes

The winner of the GIII Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Silent Tactic (Tacitus) has scratched from the GI Kentucky Derby after battling a bruised foot according to his trainer Mark Casse on Wednesday morning. The defection allowed Great White (Volatile) into the big race where he will carry the number 21. DRF was the first to report the story. Silent Tactic, a colt owned by John Oxley, was dealing with a sore foot before the GI Arkansas Derby. He came to Churchill Downs after serving as the runner-up to Renegade...

Looking every bit the 3-2 morning-line favorite for the GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on Saturday, Renegade (Into Mischief) strode out of paddock schooling with top marks shortly before noon on Thursday. The colt had that, 'Take the test, don't let the test take you' sort of look. Renegade's trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Hot Springs track's signature race five times, but it hasn't been since 2018 when Magnum Moon (Malibu Moon) took the prize. Of course, that hero was campaigned by Robert and Lawana Low, who happen...

Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse's two projected starters for the GII Rebel Stakes for 3-year-olds had their final workouts for the Mar. 1 race on a chilly Friday morning at Oaklawn, the track said in a press release on Friday. With Kylee Jordan up, Strategic Risk (Noble Bird) breezed five furlongs in 1:00 just after the track opened for training. Following a surface renovation break roughly two hours later, Silent Tactic (Tacitus) covered a half-mile in :47.40 under two-time Oaklawn riding champion Cristian Torres. The track was fast....

Looks like the boys must have got on the phone last week. Having watched him throw his weight around all January, it was time to remind Not This Time that he doesn't yet control every neighborhood. The Godfather himself took charge, Into Mischief sending out sons to earn 20 GI Kentucky Derby points on either coast: Plutarch taking the GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Renegade the Sam F. Davis Stakes. But he also got together with Not This Time's big rival as young pretender to put a couple of fillies...

For the majority of the previous century Aggies tried to gig'em some Horns, Bears attempted to boil the Owls, Red Raiders fired at Horned Frogs, and the Coogs, the Stangs and 'dem Hogs rounded out what were some raucous match-ups in the bygone era of the Southwest Conference. As the saying went for those Texas college sports teams who were joined by the University of Arkansas, "If you're going to compete, you might as well win." Well, the old conference may have broken up back in the 90s, but you...

For the better part of five decades, Tom Durant has been searching for the type of horse that could carry him to the top of the game--namely, the Kentucky Derby. With his homebred 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' D'code (Speightstown), who makes his two-turn debut in his second career start in Friday's GIII Southwest Stakes, Durant is hoping that he has found such a star. An auto dealer from Texas, Durant got his start in the horse business when a customer talked him into buying a Quarter Horse broodmare....

Due to inclement weather with projected temperatures ranging between 14 and 30 degrees, and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of both equine and human athletes, Oaklawn Park has canceled live racing scheduled for this weekend, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, which includes the GIII Southwest Stakes on Saturday, the Arkansas track said via a Tuesday release. All affected race days and associated events will be rescheduled for the following weekend, Feb. 5-8. The rescheduled weekend will offer the richest purse structure in North American racing, highlighted by championship-caliber...