John Oxley

Thursday's opening fillies' maiden at Leopardstown has a notable recent winner's list and Blonde Over Blue (Lope De Vega) added her name to it in convincing style in the John Oxley silks. Sent off at 6-1 for the seven-furlong contest won in 2024 by Bedtime Story, in 2019 by Cayenne Pepper and in 2017 by September, the Joseph O'Brien-trained daughter of the Italian Group 3 winner American Bridge (Kodiac) received the perfect tow under cover throughout the early stages. Surging to the front inside the final furlong under Dylan Browne...

John Oxley's Silent Tactic (Tacitus) will not be entered for Saturday's second leg of the Triple Crown, the GI Preakness S., Daily Racing Form reported Monday morning. The bay colt, never worse than second in his six career starts to date, upset the GIII Southwest Stakes at 12-1 in early February and filled the runner-up spot in the GII Rebel Stakes and GI Arkansas Derby to cement a berth in the field for the GI Kentucky Derby. A 20-1 chance on the morning line for the 'Run for the Roses',...

The 2025-2026 Oaklawn Park racing season concluded Saturday with across-the-board gains, the track announced Tuesday. Across 62 race days, Oaklawn conducted 627 races, an increase from 621 races last season, while distributing $54,477,160 in purses with a daily average purse of $878,663. With an average of just over 10 races per day, Oaklawn put an average of 8.81 starters in the gate per race. The average daily handle rose to $6,938,183, an increase over last year's $6,737,332, generating a total meet handle of $430,167,353--surpassing last season's total of $417,714,571. On-track...

Silent Tactic (Tacitus), winner of the GIII Southwest S. Feb. 6 and narrow runner-up in Sunday's GII Rebel S., will be pointed to the $1.5-million GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Mar. 28, per trainer Mark Casse. "I thought Cristian (Torres) gave him a good trip," Casse said. "He 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 numbers, especially if...

Mark Casse is among the hottest trainers in America, was recently named Chairman of the Board of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company, and continues to help lead the fight to save racing in South Florida. So, there was plenty to talk about when the Hall of Fame trainer joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. Casse was the Gainesway Guest of the Week. Casse will head into the weekend with 17 wins from 38 starters at Oaklawn, good for a win rate of 45%. He bolstered his...

John Oxley's Silent Tactic (Tacitus) will likely make his next start in the Mar. 1 GII Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park following his upset victory in the GIII Southwest Stakes Friday in Arkansas, trainer Mark Casse confirmed. The Southwest was Casse's third consecutive victory in a Kentucky Derby qualifying race at Oaklawn, following last season's GI Arkansas Derby with Sandman (Tapit) and the Jan. 3 Smarty Jones Stakes with Strategic Risk (Noble Bird). Silent Tactic closed to finish second in the 1 1/16-mile Smarty Jones. "The thing, too, it wasn't...

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...

Strategic Risk (Noble Bird) rolled into town from Florida, and not only topped the exacta in the Smarty Jones Stakes for his connections, but also took home Kentucky Derby points in the process. Dominating a maiden field at first asking June 7 at Gulfstream Park against fellow Florida-breds, he missed the board in back to back graded starts at Saratoga, but bounced back to run third Oct. 18 in the Florida Sired Affirmed Stakes. Building on that effort, and at his first trip at 1 1/16-miles over the main track...

'TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard' Further Ado (Gun Runner), a jaw-dropping, 20-length maiden winner in his two-turn debut at Keeneland Oct. 10, took care of business with a 1 3/4-length victory as the 3-5 favorite in Saturday's GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at Churchill Downs. Universe (Global Campaign) was second; Soldier N Diplomat (Army Mule) was third. Placed in a tracking fourth by jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. through solid fractions of :23.35 and :46.76, Further Ado made a three-wide bid approaching the quarter pole. The Spendthrift Farm colorbearer fought...

After sweeping the juvenile Grade I features on FallStars Weekend with 'TDN Rising Stars' Presented by Hagyard Tommy Jo (Into Mischief) in the Darley Alcibiades Stakes and Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, Spendthrift Farm cut loose another potential player in the juvenile division when Further Ado (c, 2, Gun Runner--Sky Dreamer, by Sky Mesa) shot away from his overmatched rivals to break his maiden by a jaw-dropping 20 lengths when making his first two-turn appearance Friday afternoon at Keeneland. For the effort, the striking chestnut colt...

1st-Woodbine, C$76,593, Msw, 10-10, 2yo, 1 1/16m (AWT), 1:47.62, ft, 2 lengths. SILENT TACTIC (c, 2, Tacitus--Magical Sign, by Gun Runner) survived an inquiry to become the fifth winner for his freshman sire (by Tapit) Friday. Breaking from the rail, the 9-2 shot spotted the field a step and stayed inside as a group stacked up on the lead into the clubhouse turn. Sitting a length back in third through fractions of :23.67 and :50.15, the OBS April grad had to be tipped out for a clear path to come...

LEXINGTON, KY -- The Keeneland September Yearling Sale marched into Book 3 Saturday with no signs of slackening of its torrid pace as the auction's fifth session continued to produce double-digit gains over last year's figures. During the opening Book 3 session, 278 yearlings sold for $61,799,000. The session average was $222,299--up 26.69% from last year's corresponding figure--and the median of $300,000 was up 20%. The buy-back rate ticked down to 26.43% from 28.62% a year ago. "Today marks the fifth consecutive session in which we've set a record, an...