HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – John C. Oxley is dealing with a slight cold this week. He wouldn’t mind if it developed into a fever by late afternoon Sunday. That would be Derby Fever. Oxley has Silent Tactic and Strategic Risk on deck for the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on Sunday at Oaklawn Park. The Mark Casse trainees have won the first two Kentucky Derby points races at the meet, with homebred Strategic Risk taking the $250,000 Smarty Jones in January and Silent Tactic winning the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest in February. For the Rebel, the horses will be chasing a level of points that could secure them a spot in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby. It was 25 years ago this spring that Oxley and his wife, Debby, won the classic with the John Ward-trained Monarchos. John Oxley knows, however, that the first Sunday in March is a long way from the first Saturday in May. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2026: Top contenders, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more “I want to remain guarded and take one race at a time,” the 89-year-old said Monday. “Derby Fever is pretty exciting and you feel really good. It’s a little early. I hope I get there later.” Silent Tactic will start as one of the top choices in the Rebel. He was a closing force in the Southwest, which he won by 3 1/4 lengths on Feb. 6. “I just thought it was a tremendous effort,” Oxley said. “That was only his fourth race, but he’s just gotten better each time, and the way he finished from virtually last, or near last, to the top of the stretch. He had a clean run down the stretch. It was quite exciting, I must say. He ran very fast the last half-mile. He has the breeding for the mile and a quarter. I’m very encouraged about it, very optimistic, but I’ve tried to remain guarded. “Since Monarchos’s win, I think I’ve had six or seven Derby horses in the race, and Classic Empire in 2017 was the [early] favorite going in and he got bumped severely just coming out of the gate. The jockey nearly fell off. He recovered to go on and run and got bumped again in the stretch and still finished fourth. It was a tremendous effort on that horse’s part. He could have easily won the Derby if he’d had a clean trip. It’s all about the trip, particularly the Derby, with so many horses.” Monarchos was a 4 3/4-length winner of the Kentucky Derby. He is one of just two Derby winners to have completed the 1 1/4 miles in less than two minutes, with the other being Secretariat. Monarchos won in 1:59.97. “That was just awesome,” Oxley recalled of the 2001 Kentucky Derby. “You know, he was way back in the field and he just began to pick ’em up on the backside. He was on the outside and circled the horses on the turn. At the top of the stretch, he began to draw off. It was quite a good time.” Casse would like nothing more than for Oxley to win another Kentucky Derby. Silent Tactic currently ranks fourth in points with 25, and Strategic Risk is 20th with 10. “He’s just amazing,” said Casse, who trained Classic Empire, of Oxley. “When you look at horse racing over the last 50 years, he’s been so prominent in it, and he’s had an Oaks winner, a Derby winner. He’s had champions. He’s just a classy man that loves horse racing.” Oxley was a longtime polo player whose impact on the sport, as well as his sportsmanship, landed him in the Polo Hall of Fame. He has brought that same level of excellence into Thoroughbred racing as an owner and breeder. The Oxleys won the 1995 Kentucky Oaks with Gal In a Ruckus, the 1999 Breeders’ Cup Distaff with eventual champion Beautiful Pleasure, the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with eventual champion and 2017 Arkansas Derby winner Classic Empire, and has had a slew of other Grade 1 winners, including Sky Mesa, Booklet, and Noble Bird, who is the sire of Strategic Risk. Strategic Risk is out of the Afleet Alex mare Strategize. He won the In Reality division of the Florida Sire Stakes by nine lengths in November before taking the Smarty Jones on the front end by 4 1/2 lengths over Silent Tactic. Strategic Risk then finished an uncharacteristic 10th in the Southwest. :: Live racing action at Oaklawn Park! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “He got tired,” Oxley said of Strategic Risk’s performance in the race, which had been delayed because of an ice storm. “The track was closed, I think nine days [because of the weather]. He missed that training. He’s a horse that needs to train. He’s trained well since, and I expect him to run a lot better.” The Oxleys have about 25 broodmares and either sell or race their offspring. Oxley is the breeder of Spendthrift Farm-owned Further Ado, who is a top prospect for this year’s Kentucky Derby. Debby Oxley is the breeder of champion Sierra Leone, who won the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic and was beaten just a nose in that year’s Kentucky Derby. She bred and raced his dam, Grade 1 winner Heavenly Love. Heavenly Love is a half-sister to the Debby Oxley-bred and -sold Forever Darling, who is the dam of champion Forever Young. Forever Young won the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic over Sierra Leone and just captured the $20 million Saudi Cup. Darling My Darling, who is the dam of both mares, was a multiple stakes winner for the Oxleys. For John Oxley, it’s an operation that in some ways was launched by Derby Fever. He bought his first Thoroughbred racehorse in 1971. “I was 35 years old at the Calder 2-year-olds in training sale,” he recalled. “It was the first sale I’d been to and I was with a polo friend of mine. We went to the horse sale because we both liked racing a lot and anyway, I’m watching the sale. It was exciting. There were three horses left in the catalog and I said, ‘Hey, Joe, let’s go out there and have a look.’ ” Oxley landed a colt named Port Everglades, who was by a son of Bold Ruler. “I didn’t know that much about pedigrees then, but everybody knows about Bold Ruler. Even I did, the little I knew about racing at that time, so I bought him for $7,500. I immediately thought, ‘This could be my Derby horse!’ He won about three or four races, was settled at about a $25,000 claiming price. That’s how far I’ve come along the learning curve since then. “Listen, patience, persistence, determination - those are critical. You have to learn. Over 55 years, I guess I’ve learned a little bit.” Enough to be in the hunt for a second Kentucky Derby. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.