Hernandez Not Worried About Inside Post With One-Eyed Finnick The Fierce

For most trainers, getting the inside-most gate in the Kentucky Derby is like a punch in the gut. It would be easy to think the trainer of a horse missing his right eye — blind to a wall of horses on his outside — would be verklempt. Not Rey Hernandez. Hernandez, who conditions and co-owns Finnick the Fierce, points out the chestnut has finished well from the first post position before, including his third-place performance in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and his second-place effort (which was later converted to a win via disqualification) in an allowance/optional claimer at Oaklawn. “You know, he's been running really good with the one position,” said Hernandez. “His best races have been from the one position. He might like to be there.” Hernandez said for as long as he's had Finnick the Fierce in the barn, he has been missing his right eye, which was removed when the son of Dialed In was a weanling. Finnick the Fierce was born with a congenital cataract in that eye, and was sold to veterinarian Dr. Arnaldo Monge for $3,000. After the eye was removed, Monge said the oversized colt was a different animal, leading Monge to suspect the eye had been painful for some time. Monge sold a half interest in the horse to Hernandez, charging the same $3,000 he originally paid. Now, Finnick has raked in $191,290 in earnings and is headed to the Derby. Hernandez said it's a dream come true. “It's amazing,” he said. 'It's a dream we've all got. I'm very excited to have gotten this far.” Hernandez was the one to break Finnick the Fierce as a yearling, so he has only ever known him as a one-eyed horse. He admits it took a little bit of patience as the horse began to train. It also required gelding him early on to reduce misplaced hormonal exuberance that could get him hurt. “It is challenging,” said Hernandez. “In the early stages he was a little more careful with the blind eye because he was trying to see everything with the one good eye. But he's learning how to progress with the one eye. “In the early stage, he'd look around with the good eye everywhere. When he ran in the Kentucky Jockey Club, he was running with the head cocked, trying to see the crowd. He still ran a big race but you could see he was not focused completely.” Hernandez said his partnership with Monge is a good one. For the most part, he's left to manage the horse as he sees fit. Monge told the Louisville Courier-Journal he knew early on the horse was something special–even before he hit the racetrack, thanks to his size and excellent conformation. For Hernandez, it was his performance in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill that sealed it. “He always showed a lot of talent, and he was very smart, but we didn't know he was that good until he ran first time out,” he said. “I really liked how he ran. That was a five furlong race and he was flying the last 1/16th of a mile. At that point I had a good feeling he was a good horse. “Once he ran second in the Jockey Club, it was pretty much the top 3-year-olds in that race. I was really impressed and running second in the same track they run the Derby, that's pretty good.” Finnick the Fierce beat Kentucky Derby favorite Tiz the Law, who ran third in that race. Tiz the Law has been undefeated since then, meaning Finnick the Fierce and Silver Prospector are the only two 3-year-olds ever to get the better of him, and they've done it on this track. In a Derby year unlike any other, Hernandez is a little relieved Finnick the Fierce will not have to content with the swarms of people normally present on the backstretch or leaning over the rail during the walkover. “The way I look at it, it's a plus,” he said. “It's a plus because I think the less noise for him, noise is a little annoying for him. He's a little concerned by noises, but now that it's going to be quiet I think he'll probably have a better performance.”

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