LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Mark Casse has been around the game enough to know how it goes, but that didn't make it any less disappointing Wednesday morning when he had to scratch his Silent Tactic from the Kentucky Derby with a foot issue.
Casse said it had been a recurring problem for the Tacitus colt, who came in with back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby after winning the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn.
He said Silent Tactic looked off in training Wednesday morning, and he didn't want to deny others an opportunity with a colt who was less than his best.
John Ennis' Great White draws into the field, a fifth-place finisher in the Blue Grass Stakes off a win in the Matt Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway.
"It's always a little disappointing," Casse said. "He has what he has. You have to know the foot, but he has a little bit of separation between the wall. It's kind of like, you ever get something under your nail? And it's a little bit painful when he lands on it. ... The faster he goes the less it bothers him. He galloped yesterday and looked wonderful. But it's just not going to work."
Casse, who is based in Louisville, had been looking forward to his 12th Derby starter.
Great White schools in the paddock at Churchill Downs on April 28, 2026, ahead of the 152nd Kentucky Derby.
"I'm mainly disappointed for Mr. (John C.) Oxley, he's 89 years old and won the Derby 25 years ago, and for Christian Torres, who was going to get to ride in his first Derby," Casse said. "Me? I've been doing this for 47 years. It's just a bump in the road. We'll try and make this setback something good down the road. Maybe he'll go on and win the Preakness. ... But in this business, you learn not to take anything for granted."
Silent Tactic drew the No. 13 post position. The rest of the field will slide down one, with Great White moving into Post 20.
The massive gray gelding, 17.2 hands, by Volatile out of the Uncle Mo mare Kelly Bag has two wins in four career starts, and is 1-for-3 as a three-year old. He is co-owned by Three Chimneys Farm and trainer John Ennis, and was assigned 50-1 odds in the morning line.
He schooled in the Churchill Downs paddock on Tuesday. Ennis, a native of Ireland whose previous Derby starter, Epic Ride, also got into the field as an also-eligible in 2024 before finishing 14th, has been preparing as if he would go, but also was entered in another stakes on Derby Day.
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