LAUREL, Md. – Two years ago, trainer Todd Fincher won the world’s richest horse race when Senor Buscador got up in the final strides to take the $20 million Saudi Cup. It didn’t bring a lot of new business Fincher’s way.
“Not really, because I train out of New Mexico. I’m not going to get that clientele unless I moved back East,” Fincher said by phone recently from New Mexico. “They’re not real excited to pay a lot of money for Kentucky-breds to run in New Mexico.”
But Fincher likes running in New Mexico. He believes it’s a great place to develop a horse, and if they do well enough there, it could lead to bigger and better things on a national stage.
Over a 28-year training career, one he went into after riding nearly 900 winners as a jockey, Fincher has won 1,626 races. Senor Buscador is his most accomplished horse with $12.9 million in earnings, led by that Saudi Cup success. Fincher also trained the stakes-winning mare Flying Connection, who won nearly $1 million, as well as the graded winners Slammed and Runaway Ghost.
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In 2018, Runaway Ghost won the Sunland Derby and was on his way to the Kentucky Derby before he got injured.
Senor Buscador (by Minehsaft) and Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper) are both out of the mare Rose’s Desert, a New Mexico-bred Fincher trained who had 10 wins and five seconds from 15 starts. The Hell We Did is also out of Rose’s Desert, and on Saturday will become Fincher’s first Triple Crown starter in the $2 million Preakness Stakes. The Hell We Did is by 2020 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic, who went on to run second by a neck in the Preakness before winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Fincher believes The Hell We Did will ultimately become the seventh stakes winner produced by Rose’s Desert. Whether it’s in Saturday’s Preakness remains to be seen. The Hell We Did, with only four starts under his belt, is a work in progress, according to Fincher.
“We have not seen his best, and hopefully this race we’re not going to see the best of him,” Fincher said. “I think he’s only going to get better and better. This is the best he’s ever been, the fittest he’s ever been, and hopefully, like the siblings, he’ll get better as he goes.”
The Hell We Did was a name owner Joe Peacock Jr. had been waiting to use after his father, since deceased, apparently uttered those words after Senor Buscador was given his name, according to Fincher. The Hell We Did, like Senor Buscador, won his debut at Remington Park in the fall of his 2-year-old season. The Hell We Did made his second start in the Zia Park Juvenile, where he finished second, lugging in badly through the stretch. Fincher said The Hell We Did underwent throat surgery after that race.
Fincher brought The Hell We Did back to the races in a March allowance at Sunland, a six-furlong race he won by 13 lengths.
“I tried to get them to write a longer race, they wouldn’t do it,” Fincher said. “I wanted the rider to gallop him out after the race but the outrider stopped him. He didn’t get much out of that race.”
Fincher ran The Hell We Did back in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, his first try beyond six furlongs and around two turns. The Hell We Did attended the pace set by Corona de Oro. That set the race up for Trendsetter from off the pace as The Hell We Did outfinished Corona de Oro for second.
“He ran pretty good, all being said,” Fincher said. “He wasn’t ready for that and he ran pretty dang good.”
Off that effort, Fincher said the Preakness made the most sense. He brought the horse to Laurel Park early, hoping to get him a couple of workouts over the track. The first work went fine – the second, not so much. Twice during the breeze, a siren indicating a loose horse on the track went off. It prevented The Hell We Did from working the way Fincher wanted.
“Everything’s great now, but it was a debacle that morning,” Fincher said.
Fincher, 54, trains between 75 and 80 horses. In addition to his New Mexico string, he has horses based at Lone Star Park near Dallas. The allure of being in big races more frequently has him contemplating whether to move out of New Mexico.
“I grew up in the business. This is what I want to do,” Fincher said. “It’s everybody’s aspiration to be in the big races. Coming from New Mexico, to get a horse of this caliber, it’s almost impossible. I don’t take it for granted. Senor Buscador took us all over the country, all over the world.”
Fincher is eager to see where The Hell We Did can take him.
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