HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Silent Tactic picked up 20 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby on Friday, flying past a wall of horses en route to a 3 1/4-length win over Soldier N Diplomat in the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park. It was another head back in third to Buetane. Silent Tactic’s win gave trainer Mark Casse and jockey Cristian Torres a sweep of the stakes on Friday’s card, as the pair teamed up to win the Martha Washington with Search Party, who earned 20 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks. On the day, Casse won four races. The card was postponed a week because of Winter Storm Fern. Casse and owner John Oxley have now won the first two legs of Oaklawn’s series for 3-year-olds. Strategic Risk captured last month’s Smarty Jones and won the race on the front end. Silent Tactic had one horse beat early in the Southwest. The series continues with the Grade 2 Rebel and the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, which Casse won last year with Sandman. Silent Tactic ($26) settled well off the pace Friday as D’code moved to the lead at the start and took the field through fractions of 23.52 seconds for the opening quarter, 47.52 for the half-mile, and 1:12.81 for six furlongs while pushed along by Buetane. :: Live racing action at Oaklawn Park! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Silent Tactic began picking off horses on the final turn, made a six-wide move into the stretch, and went after a line of runners moving to the wire in unison. He swept past the competition and went on to cover the 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:44.85. “I worked him before we had the break and he worked beautiful that day,” Torres said in an interview conducted by Oaklawn. “So I was pretty confident coming into this race in his fitness. I knew there was going to be a lot of pace in the race, so I was not worried about wherever I was going to be. I just broke and let him be wherever he wanted to be, and he responded at the quarter pole and he showed up.” Silent Tactic came into the Southwest off a closing runner-up finish in the Smarty Jones, which marked his debut on dirt. Prior to that race, he ran second in the Grade 3 Grey on Tapeta at Woodbine. Silent Tactic is a son of Tacitus. The Southwest was his first stakes victory, and he has now won 2 of 4 starts for earnings of $594,422. The first five Southwest finishers earned Kentucky Derby points, with Solider N Diplomat securing 10, Beutane picking up 6, fourth-pace finisher Rancho Santa Fe earning 4, and fifth-place finisher Circle Tap garnering 2. The remaining order of finish was Liberty National in sixth, followed by Sleepingonfreedom, D’Code, Spirit of Royal, Strategic Risk, Baytown Dreamer, and Reclamation, who was distanced down the backside. It was a sunny afternoon with some wind as temperatures climbed into the 70s. The stakes double by Casse and Torres matched a feat that trainer Kenny McPeek and Brian Hernandez Jr. accomplished in 2024, when eventual Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan won the Southwest and Band of Gold won the Martha Washington. There were two overnight stakes on the card. Mackman ($42.60) was a nose winner over Super Cruise in the $135,000 General MacArthur, while Foie Gras ($5.40) darted to a 2 3/4-length win over Blue Fire in the $135,000 Bugler. Racing resumes Saturday with champion Nitrogen in the Bayakoa and Sandman in an allowance for his first race at age 4. Both horses are trained by Casse. * The estimated ontrack attendance on Friday was 24,000, according to information provided by Oaklawn.  * The track reported that handle on the 12-race card from all sources was $12,082,647.  Of that amount, $11.2 million was bet on Oaklawn by offtrack customers.  * There is a $49,887 carryover in the pick six pool for Saturday.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.