One-eyed gelding Finnick the Fierce is latest Derby defection. Race now has 16 horses.
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Finnick the Fierce was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Friday morning, leaving Saturday’s race with just 16 contenders.
The one-eyed gelding had drawn the No. 1 post for the Derby and was one of eight 50-1 shots in the race. He was likely to go off as one of the longest shots in the field Saturday evening.
Finnick the Fierce is trained by Rey Hernandez, who was saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter, and would have been ridden by Martin Garcia. He finished seventh behind Art Collector in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in his most recent start and was third behind Art Collector in a Churchill Downs allowance race four weeks before that.
The son of 2011 Florida Derby winner Dialed In was born with a congenital cataract in his right eye, and the eye was removed early in his life.
His scratch leaves the Derby with just 16 horses, which would make for the smallest field since the same number of contenders ran in the 2003 race. One more defection would make this the smallest Derby since 15 horses ran in 1998.
Finnick the Fierce was scratched less than 24 hours after Tampa Bay Derby winner King Guillermo became this year’s first scratch. King Guillermo — 20-1 on the morning line — developed a fever Wednesday and was officially scratched from the race Thursday afternoon.
On Tuesday morning — just a few hours before the post position draw — Art Collector was removed from Derby consideration after suffering a minor foot injury. He would have been the second- or third-choice on the morning line behind 3-5 favorite Tiz the Law.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 10:58 AM.
