BY BROCK SHERIDAN
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—Strategic Risk went on the move around the far turn, caught front-runner Roger That Dana with three-sixteenths of a mile to run then kicked clear in the stretch to convincingly win the $300,000 In Reality, the third and final leg of the colts and geldings division of the $1.2 million Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Florida Sire Stakes. Trained by Mark Casse for John C. Oxley, Strategic Risk was the best of ten 2-year-old males who went a mile-and-a-sixteenth.
“This was impressive. We don’t have a lot of options after this, so we’ll try some open company,” Casse said by phone. “The only think I can tell you for sure, it will be around two turns.”
Ridden from post five by Javier Castellano, Strategic Risk raced in fifth around the clubhouse turn, three-and-a-half lengths behind 10-1 choice Roger That Danna, who sprinted off to a two-length lead through a quarter mile in :23.54. Roger That Danna and jockey Marcos Meneses continued to show the way through a half mile in :47.98 before Castellano put Strategic Risk into high gear around the turn. Strategic Risk turned for home two lengths in front then drew off with ease to win by nine lengths in 1:44.85.
It was the largest margin of victory since Three Rules won the 2016 In Reality by 10 lengths.
After a slow start, The Town finished second, a length-and-a-quarter ahead of Roger That Danna in third. Khozalite, winner of the Florida Sire Stakes Affirmed in his last race, was fourth followed in order by Trelawny, Squire, Prost, Supreme Honor, Hawk and Camigol.
“The way I handicapped the race, I wanted to sit one, two, three, four,” Castellano said. “My plan was just to sit behind horses in the first turn and let him settle. I didn’t want to put him in the bridle too much and send him after a face pace. The pace was making the race it seemed to me. About the three-eighths pole, he moved very nice and easy and I had plenty of horse in the tank. I love the way he finished and he galloped out beautiful. I loved the way he relaxed and quickened when I ask. When I asked him, he just exploded.”
It was the second win in five starts for Strategic Risk, who won his debut by eight-and-a-quarter lengths against Florida-bred special weight maidens going five furlongs at Gulfstream in June. Casse then sent the bay colt to Saratoga Race Course where he was fourth in the six-furlong Sanford (G3) won by Obliteration on July 5 then sixth on the turf in the mile-and-one-sixteenth With Anticipation (G3) won by Final Score on Aug. 28.
He has now earned $253,550.
He returned to his native Florida for the seven-furlong Florida Sire Stakes Affirmed and finished third.
“We thought early on he was a really good horse,” Casse said. “He broke his maiden. I thought he was about 80 percent at that time. We took him to New York and he just didn’t do great there. He didn’t train that great. He worked on the grass and I tried him on the grass. I brought him home and gave him a little break in Ocala. I said, ‘You know what? He’s trained well enough, I think I’ll try him in the [Sire] Stakes,’ the last one. He ran okay. I told Mr. Oxley, ‘I think this horse is better than he ran.’ He trained well into this race. Mr. Oxley asked me how I thought he’d run, and I said, ‘I think he’ll run really well.’ I didn’t know he’d win the way he won, but it was nice.”
By Noble Bird, Strategic Risk is the fifth foal and second black-type winner for the unraced Afleet Alex mare Strategize. He is a full brother to multiple stakes-winning Florida-bred Strategic Bird and stakes-placed Florida-bred Just Relax. Strategize has a unnamed yearling filly by Noble Bird and a unnamed weanling colt by Ocala Stud’s Roadster. She was bred back to Roadster in 2025. Casse purchased Strategize as an agent for $130,000 out of the 2012 Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling Sale.
“I trained his dad. I trained his mom, too, but I don’t think she ever ran,” Casse said. “She was by Afleet Alex. His dad held a track record at Pimlico. He won the Pimlico Special at a mile-and-three-sixteenths.. He was a multiple Grade 1 winner for Mr. Oxley. There’s no reason this horse shouldn’t run all day.”
Return to the November 29 issue of Wire to Wire
