Finnick the Fierce questing for Derby points in Jeff Ruby Steaks

Most of the entrants in the Grade 3, $250,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on Saturday at Turfway Park are stepping into the arena of the Kentucky Derby trail for the first time. Not so for Finnick the Fierce. The one-eyed gelding will be making his fourth straight start in a graded stakes race offering Derby qualifying points as he takes to the Polytrack.

The 1 1/8-mile Ruby, which awards Derby points on a 20-8-4-2 scale, highlights six stakes on Saturday’s card. The card also includes the $150,000 Bourbonette Oaks, which is a Kentucky Oaks points race, and a salty edition of the $150,000 Kentucky Cup Classic. The 12-race card kicks off at 1:10 Eastern.

Since the race was moved to a synthetic track, the only horse to win both Turfway’s signature prep and the Kentucky Derby is Animal Kingdom in 2011. Victorious Hard Spun finished second in the 2007 Derby.

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Finnick the Fierce, who lost one eye to infection when he was young, was second by three-quarters of a length in last fall’s Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs. The winner, Silver Prospector, took the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes last month at Oaklawn and runs in that track’s Grade 2 Rebel Stakes on Saturday.

This year, Finnick the Fierce finished fourth in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds and seventh in a division of the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes, beaten 4 1/4 lengths by victorious Modernist. Since returning to Kentucky, he has prepared for his first start on a synthetic surface with a bullet half-mile work on Feb. 27 at Turfway.

“He went well,” said trainer and co-owner Rey Hernandez. “The breeze may have been a little quicker than I like, but he came back fine. He seems to have taken to the Polytrack nicely. He’s a really good horse to be around. I’ve always liked him from his early days of running. He has a lot of balance. I thought he ran well in New Orleans.”

Finnick the Fierce will have regular rider Sonny Leon aboard.

His foes include Invader, who won the local prep for the Ruby, the John Battaglia Memorial on Feb. 14 under Turfway leading rider Albin Jimenez, who retains the mount. Invader, who is the 7-2 second choice on the morning line, has won back-to-back races at Turfway by a combined 19 lengths.

“All his workouts since his last race have been fantastic,” said trainer Wesley Ward, who has been working the colt in company with older graded stakes winner Bound for Nowhere. “I’ve always had a good feeling about him. It’s taken him a while to figure it out, but he couldn’t be doing better right now.”

The 3-1 morning-line favorite is Field Pass, coming off a narrow win in the Dania Beach on the Gulfstream Park turf. Fourth-place Muamanoi, beaten less than a length, faces him again in the Ruby. Field Pass, who was multiple graded stakes-placed on turf as a juvenile, is one of three entrants for Mike Maker, along with Fancy Liquor and Victory Boulevard.

Halo Again and The Stiff are the only other members of this field besides Finnick the Fierce to have started in a Derby points race, neither with distinction. Halo Again, who won the Coronation Futurity at 1 1/8 miles on Woodbine’s synthetic track last year, was eighth in the Lecomte. The Stiff was fifth in the El Camino Real Derby on Golden Gate’s synthetic track.

Halo Again is one of two entrants for Steve Asmussen,along with Toma Todo, second in the Texas Turf Mile and third in the Battaglia.