Welcome to Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we take a look each week at a recent winner on the Road to the Derby schedule that offers qualifying points for the 1 ¼-mile Derby May 2, 2026, at Churchill Downs.

We take a closer look this week at Silent Tactic, a 3 ¼-length winner of the $1 million Southwest Stakes Feb. 6 at Oaklawn Park. He banked 20 points for the win and rose to first on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard after the weekend of Feb. 6-8 with 25 points total. He now sits at fourth on that leaderboard following qualifying prep results from Feb. 14.

Racing Résumé: Silent Tactic’s four races to date have all come at 1 1/16 miles, indicating that Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse thought longer was better from the outset for the bay colt by Tacitus. His first two starts came on the all-weather surface at Woodbine, where he rallied to win his career debut by two lengths before finishing second by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 3 bet365 Grey Stakes.

Silent Tactic’s first foray on dirt was a runner-up finish to stablemate Strategic Risk, beaten by 4 ½ lengths in the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park. His breakout race came at the Hot Springs, Ark. track five weeks later in the Southwest Stakes.

Silent Tactic surged from 10^th to first from seven paths wide under Cristian Torres in the final quarter-mile, covering that distance in :24.56 (according to Equibase GPS data) for a dominant win. His final eighth of a mile was :12.08, which is exceptional for a two-turn dirt race and paints Silent Tactic as a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender.

“I knew he was going to respond because last time in the Smarty Jones, there was no pace, and he still closed. So, I was pretty confident going into this race with him,” Torres said. “I knew when I got him clear he was going to fire for me. … The more distance the better, I think.”

Speed Figures: Silent Tactic a new career-best 103 Equibase Speed Figure and 88 Beyer Speed Figure in the Southwest Stakes. He boosted his Equibase number by 17 points and his top Beyer improved by seven points. He’ll need to continue to improve, but Silent Tactic is within striking range of the best 3-year-olds.

Running Style: Deep closers like Silent Tactic need a bit of racing luck. They are dependent upon others to guarantee an honest pace and factors like traffic and ground loss can be detrimental when launching a closing bid.

Pedigree Notes: Silent Tactic is from the first crop of Tacitus, a multiple graded stakes winner who ran second in the 2019 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes and third in that year’s Kentucky Derby. Tacitus, by leading sire Tapit, was a grinder with an abundance of stamina.

Silent Tactic is the first starter produced by the Gun Runner mare Magical Sign, who was unplaced in her lone start but hails from a family anchored by fourth dam (maternal great-great grandmother), Maximova, a Group 1 winner in France who produced five stakes winners.

Derby Potential: I absolutely love how Silent Tactic finished in the Southwest Stakes — he also covered his final quarter-mile in a blistering :23.78 in the Smarty Jones runner-up finish — and I think he has a very good shot to improve with more experience racing on dirt tracks.

I am worried about the quick turnaround for Silent Tactic’s next start as Casse said he will be pointed to the $1 million Rebel Stakes March 1 at Oaklawn, which will be 23 days between races. Nonetheless, 3-year-olds who can finish fast in two-turn dirt races are the ones I gravitate to on the Kentucky Derby trail, and Silent Tactic fits the profile.