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.
Strategic Risk and Silent Tactic, both stakes winners at the meeting, are among at least eight horses scheduled to be entered for the 1 1/16-mile Rebel, which is Oaklawn's third Kentucky Derby qualifying race.
Casse is bidding for his fourth consecutive victory in a Kentucky Derby qualifying race in Hot Springs.
Strategic Risk and Silent Tactic ran 1-2, respectively, in the Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 3. The latter passed nine horses in the final three-sixteenths of a mile en route to a 3 1/4-length victory in the GIII Southwest Stakes Feb. 6.
Silent Tactic was working for the first time since the Southwest. Clockers caught the colt covering his opening quarter-mile in :23.80 and galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.20 and six furlongs in 1:14.40.
“This is probably the best work I've seen from him,” said assistant trainer Caden Arthur, who oversees Casse's Oaklawn division. “Normally, he's not really the best work horse. He had a good work going into the Southwest, but I thought this work was a lot better for him. Did it all easy. Torres was standing straight up on him, not asking him at all. [Silent Tactic] came back to the barn barely breathing, like it didn't take much out of him.”
Strategic Risk is looking to bounce back from a 10th-place finish in the Southwest. He was beaten 18 1/2 lengths after spinning his wheels late. Casse said following the race that Strategic Risk's performance may have been impacted by a winter storm late last month that led Oaklawn to close the track for training for nine consecutive days (Jan. 24-Feb. 1) and delayed the Southwest six days.
Arthur said Friday's work was designed to be more taxing than Strategic Risk's final breeze for the Southwest. Strategic Risk went :36.20 for his opening three furlongs and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80.
“Going into the Southwest, we put a little easier work into him,” Arthur said. “Maybe that wasn't best for him and then missing all the training. Hopefully, he's back to that Smarty form, that Florida form.”
Casse also worked multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Counting Stars (Honor A.P.) Friday morning in advance of a scheduled start in the GIII Honeybee Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Mar. 1.
Under Francisco Arrieta, Counting Stars covered five furlongs in :59.40. The 1 1/16-mile Honeybee is Oaklawn's second Kentucky Oaks qualifying race.
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