Kentucky Derby: Finnick the Fierce scratch reduces field to 16
The one-eyed gelding Finnick the Fierce has been scratched from Saturday's Kentucky Derby, leaving an expected field of 16 starters.
Veterinarian Arnaldo Monge, who owns Finnick the Fierce with trainer Rey Hernandez, said that the gelding typically "carries himself a little funny," and that this week official veterinarians had been keeping a close eye on the horse. Finnick the Fierce lost his right eye as a foal.
"Ever since he arrived, the vets have been keeping an eye on the horse, and I’m telling Rey, ‘Well, they’re concerned about this,’ and there might be a legitimate reason, but [our] regular vet doesn’t seem to think so," Monge said. "So we’re always trying to do the best for the horse, so we made the decision because we don’t want to go tomorrow and we’re all excited and then he gets scratched at the post. ... Maybe we are missing something, I don’t know, but I think the plan is to do more diagnostics on him and if everything is okay, we’ll run another day.
“I didn’t notice anything, but it was always the right front. That’s the same side as his eye, and it’s always been that way. Rey rides the horse and said, ‘This horse is fine,’ and that he didn’t feel anything."
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Monge is a member of the practice at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky., specializing in equine reproduction, acupuncture, and chiropractic techniques. He said that "just to be on the up and up," Finnick the Fierce would be sent to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, the other renowned medical facility in Lexington, for his complete diagnostics, in order to receive an independent opinion.
"If all is good, [the Preakness] could be a consideration," Monge said. "Maybe the Breeders’ Cup. Rey wanted to turn him out after the Derby, anyway, but it will depend on how this comes out."
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Finnick the Fierce, who would have given Hernandez his first Derby runner, had drawn the inside post for the Derby. The gelding's withdrawal, combined with the scratch of King Guillermo, leaves a field of 16 expected starters for the Derby, which had 18 original entrants. This is the first time since 2003 - which had 16 starters following one scratch - that fewer than the maximum 20 horses entered the Derby. Churchill Downs acquired a custom 20-stall starting gate for the Derby to accommodate the typical full field. With the group now having shrunk, the field will now be loaded into posts 2 through 17, with posts 1, 18, 19, and 20 left empty.
Finnick the Fierce finished a close second - ahead of Derby morning-line favorite Tiz the Law, in third - in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club last November at Churchill Downs. His only victory in six starts this year came via disqualification in an allowance-optional claiming race at Oaklawn. He was third in a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, but most recently was seventh in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes.