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Finnick The Fierce Retires From Racing, Could Point To 2022 Makeover With New Owner

Finnick The Fierce, the one-eyed chestnut gelding who captured many fans' imaginations ahead of last year's Kentucky Derby, has retired from racing and found a new home.

Jackie Barr, a long time fan of Finnick The Fierce, is the fan favorite's new owner and will be guiding his transition from the racing life to his next life.

“I followed his racing up until he was supposed to be in the Derby,” she said. “You just root for him, being an underdog. He's such a handsome horse.”

Finnick The Fierce had taken an extended break after being a late scratch out of the 2020 Kentucky Derby, returning to the races with an allowance win at Turfway Park in March of this year. Since then, however, Barr said his connections noticed he wasn't really competitive at the same levels he had been before, finishing third in his last outing at an allowance at Mountaineer Park. Although he was sound, co-owners Dr. Arnaldo Monge and trainer Rey Hernandez agreed it was best to let the horse find a new job. Monge's wife, Thena, knew Barr and learned she had been casually looking for her own horse.

Barr has previously ridden hunter/jumpers and fell in love with dressage while working at Hilltop Farm in Maryland. She also worked for Millennium Farms, and has recently been trying to figure out whether her time there overlapped with time Finnick may have been on the property as a weanling. Barr keeps track of several of her favorite Thoroughbreds from her time at Millennium and was excited to hear from Thena Monge at just the right time.

Finnick arrived at his new home at BTE Stables in Paris, Ky., earlier this week and will get some letdown time before Barr decides what his next move is. Her tentative goal for now is the 2022 Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover, contingent on his progress and their admittance to the competition. Barr said that for now, all doors are open to them. She is inclined to point for dressage and/or competitive trail with Finnick, but is happy to take him in whatever direction he expresses interest in, even if that includes hunters or eventing.

“I don't want to push him too hard on anything; I'll just take it real easy and see how he likes being a sport horse,” she said. “We'll go from there. If he's enjoying it we'll keep going, and if he doesn't seem to, maybe he'll be a trail horse, who knows.”

Barr watches Finnick in the field. Photo courtesy Erin O'Keefe

Finnick's right eye was removed when he was young due to a rare congenital cataract in the eye. Barr said that he doesn't seem to have any residual anxiety due to his limited vision, romping and playing around his new paddock comfortably.

“It really is amazing,” she said. “I've met a couple horses that only had one eye and were spooky on that one side [where the eye was missing]. When I first met him, we were all standing on that side and he didn't mind us being there. He would turn his head so he could see people but he had no problem with it at all. He gallops with his head tilted a little bit, I think so he has a greater range of vision, but other than that you'd have no idea.”

Whatever comes, Barr said she's just happy to be a part of the story she had followed so closely as a fan.

“It's been really great — I've just posted on social media in the past hour or so and there are so many people who remember him,” she said. “It's so cool that he has this built-in fan base. It just shows that you owe it to the horse to make sure he has a good landing and to continue letting him have a good story.”

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Lesson Horses Presented By John Deere Equine Discount Program: Erin O’Keefe Of BTE Stables On Exposure

You never forget the name of your first lesson horse – that horse who taught you what you need to know to work with every one that follows.

In this series, participants throughout the Thoroughbred industry share the names and stories of the horses that have taught them the most about life, revealing the limitless ways that horses can impact the people around them. Some came early on in their careers and helped them set a course for the rest of their lives, while others brought valuable lessons to veterans of the business.

Question: Which horse has taught you the most about life?

Erin O'Keefe, BTE Stables: I worked with Exposure at Millennium Farms, where I was customer relations manager at the time. She came to the farm as a maiden off the track to be bred, for a seasonal client.

As the breeding sheds opened, she had what appeared to be an abscess. That abscess apparently burst into her coffin joint, and ended up being a highly resistant MRSA bacteria. What started as a simple abscess quickly developed into months in the clinic, tens of thousands in vet bills, and an extremely uncertain prognosis.

Working with her, and the team of people around her, taught me so many invaluable lessons.

From a business perspective, she showed me the value in seeking additional consults, building a team of qualified and open minded professionals, exploring non-traditional options, and continuously advocating for the horse.

From an industry perspective, she showed me the depths some owners will go to for their horses. Her owners were truly wonderful, and their number-one criteria for continuing on was not prognosis or cost, but if she was still fighting. So long as she didn't appear to have given up, they were going to continue to fight for her.

On a personal level, she taught me the value of never giving up. Even when things were bleakest, she kept trying. Some of her worst days aligned with some tough days of my own, but we both came out the other side. Her owners had the attitude that they had faced long odds before, and if they kept trying, eventually one would fall their way. When facing longs odds, I try to adopt the same mentality.

For them (and in some ways, me), she was the one that did – although 2021 gave me another. with my personal OTTB.

This year, she delivered her third consecutive healthy foal. Her first foal, “my” miracle child's miracle child, is a 2-year-old in training now. The probability of that filly ever existing, let alone racing, was incalculably small. Exposure at times faced a less than five percent chance of survival, down to almost zero at one point. But she fought back from that, with a quiet persistence that can be a lesson to all of us.

About Exposure
(2012, Colonel John x Cinderellaslipper, by Touch Gold)

Exposure started her racing career at Santa Anita Park for owner Kaleem Shah and trainer Bob Baffert, after selling for $310,000 at the 2014 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds In Training. She broke her maiden in her third career start in a maiden claiming race at Santa Anita Park, and followed up with a starter allowance score at Los Alamitos. At the end of her 3-year-old campaign, she was sold privately to the partnership of Go-To-Toga Racing and Bill and Susan Tomasic, and put in the New Mexico-based barn of trainer Justin Evans.

She spent the remainder of her on-track career in New Mexico, highlighted by a victory in the Albuquerque Distaff Handicap, where she equaled the track record for one mile in 1:35.57. She retired with five wins in 17 starts for earnings of $124,717.

Exposure has had three foals as a broodmare. The first, a First Samurai mare named Call Me Penny, is a 2-year-old of 2021. She had a McCraken filly in 2020, and a first-crop Maximus Mischief colt earlier this year.

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PR Back Ring OBS Spring Sale: Gun Runner Joined The Seven-Figure Juvenile Club – What’s Next?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE OBS SPRING EDITION OF THE PR BACK RING

The latest edition of the PR Back Ring is now online, ahead of the OBS Spring 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale.

The PR Back Ring is the Paulick Report's new bloodstock newsletter, released ahead of every major North American Thoroughbred auction. Seeking to expand beyond the usual pdf presentation, the Back Ring offers a dynamic experience for bloodstock content, heavy on visual elements and statistics to appeal to readers on all platforms, especially mobile devices.

Here is what's inside the OBS Spring issue…

CLICK HERE TO READ THE OBS SPRING EDITION OF THE PR BACK RING

Gun Runner became the 21st stallion since 2000 with a seven-figure juvenile in his first crop earlier this auction season. Joe Nevills examines the first 20 stallions to join the club, and how they performed in the short-term and long-term to see whether high-level auction success in a first crop leads to success on the racetrack.
Stallion Spotlight Presented by Kentucky Equine Research: Airdrie Stud's Cormac Breathnach on American Freedom
Lesson Horses Presented By John Deere Equine Discount Program: Erin O'Keefe Of BTE Stables On Exposure
Ask Your Veterinarian Presented By Kentucky Performance Products: Equine Chiropractic Therapy
Pennsylvania Leaderboard Presented By Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association: Fire's Finale Led Juvenile Incentive Earners In 2020
The Stat Presented By Pleasant Acres Stallions: Leading Florida Sires By :10-Flat And Faster Breeze Show Times, 2015-2021
American Graded Stakes Standings Presented By Muirfield Insurance: Godolphin Leads A Tight Race Among Breeders
First-Crop Sire Watch Presented By Neolithic: OBS Spring Sale 2021

CLICK HERE TO READ THE OBS SPRING EDITION OF THE PR BACK RING

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What To Look For In A Weanling-To-Yearling Pinhook, With BTE Stables’ Erin O’Keefe

On the surface, the goal of pinhooking is quite simple, to make money. Beyond that, I think everyone would agree that it's to make as much money as possible.

Each year prior to purchasing, I look at the pinhooking statistics from the previous year to see what the market trends are for the most profitable purchase point – by percentage, as well as dollars of profit.

It's great to double your money, but if you bought a horse for $5,000 and sold it for $10,000, it's unlikely you even covered your carry costs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you'd love to make $60,000, but if you spent $400,000 and sold for $460,000 most of your “profit” is spent on commissions.

I seek to purchase in the sweet spot that's most likely to maximize actual profit. While a home run is a home run from any price point, it's key to mitigate risk as much as possible. Nobody anticipated the events of 2020, but a pragmatic approach allowed for profitable pinhooking.

To achieve these goals, certain compromises are sometimes required. If I'm looking to acquire a more physically precocious weanling, that likely means compromising on sire power. This formula can be successful, particularly when staying strict within a budget. Likewise, if I'm rounding out the group with a more commercial pedigree, that may mean compromising on something like size or vetting.

When narrowing from over 1,000 weanlings, the veterinarian you work with is key. A clear understanding of what can be helped, and what won't improve, allows for quick decisions and confident purchases.

Beyond the compromises that sometimes must be made, the main thing I look for is what I can improve.

In order to sell profitably, you must have done something to improve the “product” you're presenting. It's always a goal to have a pedigree update that improves the value, but those aspects are outside of your control as soon as the hammer falls and the horse is yours.

The physical improvement of the weanling to its yearling sale is a multifaceted process that can be influenced in many ways. At BTE Stables, we're fortunate to have resources to cater to the individual horse throughout the year it's with us prior to the yearling sale.

From a TheraPlate to a full spectrum of turnout sizes to individually-crafted feed protocols, we're able to craft care to allow for maximum improvement. From the time the weanlings set foot on the farm to the time they head to the sale, they are treated as individuals and assessed continually. The same horse will have a different outcome based on where it was raised and prepped, and that's something crucial to keep in mind during the selection process.

Erin O'Keefe is a partner in BTE Stables, in charge of farm management and bloodstock services. Originally from the suburbs of Detroit, Mich., she moved to Lexington, Ky. to attend the University of Kentucky's Equine Science and Management program. A lifelong fan of Thoroughbred racing, she immersed herself in the industry, working for many prestigious farms in the Bluegrass prior to launching BTE Stables in 2019 with partner Daniel Schmidt. Learn more about BTE Stables here.

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