It’s an unfortunate metric of the long rough odyssey that every successful Kentucky Derby contender must run to get to the big May show at Churchill that there are, inevitably, race-week scratches. Said more positively, it’s a metric of the ultra-microscopic veterinary care under which the athletes prepare for the race that, in Silent Tactic’s case, a long-running left front foot bruise stubbornly flared enough early this week to the point that trainer Mark Casse and his team decided to pull the plug on this year’s campaign. Pictured above in morning training at Churchill on Sunday, April 26, three days before Casse announced the scratch on April 29, Silent Tactic will pull out of the field.

Casse said, “It’s a bruise that he’s dealt with for a long time. Just not 100 percent happy with it. It’s very slight, but you can’t run in the Derby and not be 100 percent. So, we’re going to work on it and hope to try to make the Preakness.”

As after every scratch, and particularly in the Derby with its large field, there is a follow-on moment of musical chairs. Since Silent Tactic was breaking from stall 13, the seven horses to his right — from Potente out to Fulleffort — all move in. The highest-ranked alternate entry, Great White, trained by John Ennis, draws into the race in stall No. 20. No contender’s saddle cloth number will change. Great White will enter the race bearing the saddle cloth number 21 but will break from stall No. 20 in the gate.

Below, ordered according to their saddle cloth numbers, the new 2026 Kentucky Derby field. Note: revised post positions are listed here in parentheses ONLY for those eight outside horses whose stalls and saddle cloths do not correspond. For those horses whose saddle cloths and post positions still correspond, no change is made.

(Saddle Cloth, (Revised Post Position), Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Morning Line)

1) Renegade, Irad Ortiz Jr., Todd Pletcher, 4-1

2) Albus, Manny Franco, Riley Mott, 30-1

3) Intrepido, Hector Berrios, Jeff Mullins, 50-1

4) Litmus Test, Martin Garcia, Bob Baffert, 30-1

5) Right To Party, Christopher Elliott, Kenny McPeek, 30-1

6) Commandment, Luis Saez, Brad Cox, 6-1

7) Danon Bourbon, Atsuya Nishimura, Manabu Ikezoe, 20-1

8) So Happy, Mike Smith, Mark Glatt, 15-1

9) The Puma, Javier Castellano, Gustavo Delgado, 10-1

10) Wonder Dean, Ryusei Sakai, Daisuke Takayanagi, 30-1

11) Incredibolt, Jaime Torres, Riley Mott, 20-1

12) Chief Wallabee, Junior Alvarado, William Mott, 8-1

13) SCRATCH Silent Tactic, Cristian Torres, Mark Casse, 20-1 SCRATCH

14) (13) Potente, Juan Hernandez, Bob Baffert, 20-1

15) (14) Emerging Market, Flavien Prat, Chad Brown, 15-1

16) (15) Pavlovian, Edwin Maldonado, Doug O'Neill, 30-1

17) (16) Six Speed, Brian Hernandez Jr., Bhupat Seemar, 50-1

18) (17) Further Ado, John Velasquez, Brad Cox, 6-1

19) (18) Golden Tempo, Jose Ortiz, Cherie DeVaux, 30-1

20) (19) Fulleffort, Tyler Gaffalione, Brad Cox, 20-1

21) (20) Great White, Alex Achard, John Ennis, 50-1

The well-favored talent inside — Renegade, Commandment, So Happy, The Puma, Chief Wallabee — will not notice much from the changes out past stall 13, or more bluntly, they will still have the same number of horses attempting to crush down upon them. The favored talent outside — Emerging Market, Further Ado, and possibly Potente and Fulleffort will face different details in their surroundings that could affect what they see and do.

Generally, Great White’s presence, if he gets a speedy break, will sharpen the need for the horses breaking closest to him to gain position on their immediate competition. For instance, Further Ado, the nearer to Great White of the two most talented outside horses, is very likely to feel the big grey gelding coming down on him, and pretty fast, too: Great White led the April Blue Grass before fading to fifth at the wire back in the peloton trailing Further Ado.