Barn Tour: Todd Fincher on Bye Bye Bobby, other talent

Todd Fincher just wrapped up the 55-day Sunland Park meet on top of the trainer standings, with 30 wins from 126 starters.

But his best result of the meet might have been Bye Bye Bobby's second-place finish in the Sunland Park Derby (G3). The half-length loss to Slow Down Andy earned him 20 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby. He was a candidate for the Lexington (G3) on Saturday, where a win would have given him enough points to be Fincher's first Derby starter.

But Fincher said Tuesday that the Lexington wasn't a sure thing. And on Wednesday, he told Horse Racing Nation that he had decided against entering Bye Bye Bobby in the Keeneland race.

Fincher said he didn't want to get specific about the factors that might prevent the Quality Road colt from starting in the Lexington. "We've just had some complications, some things not go right," he said. "We're looking to go, but we're not 100 percent sure. … It's nothing bad. It's just a tough decision when you run against those type of horses."

Bought by B-4 Farms for $870,000 as a yearling, Bye Bye Bobby broke his maiden on debut in November. He hasn't won since, but he was the runner-up in Sunland's Riley Allison Derby and Mine That Bird Derby ahead of the Sunland Park Derby.

"He's good to work with," Fincher said. "He's just been a very late-maturing colt. He's still not there yet with his maturity levels, but he's got a lot of talent and should just get better and better as he gets older. But we're not there yet."

Still, he said, "they can change pretty fast. I mean, he's not real immature – he's way better than he used to be. But he hasn't reached his ceiling yet."

Fincher noted that this wasn't his first time on the Kentucky Derby trail. "I had Runaway Ghost, who was qualified for the Derby and had to drop out. So we've been close before."

Fincher, who trains about 90 horses, talked with Horse Racing Nation Tuesday about Bye Bye Bobby and other talent for the latest in our Barn tour series.

Señor Buscador. The winner of last year's Remington Springboard Mile hasn't raced since finishing fifth in the Risen Star (G2). But the Mineshaft colt back in training now at Sunland Park.

"It's been over a year. He's doing good, he's on the comeback trail right now. Hopefully we'll get him back to the races because he's a phenomenal horse. … He did something in his stall and his hock blew up and had some tissue in there. Just a freak injury in the stall, and it's just been a long, drawn-out process."

Diabolical Storm. This 3-year-old New Mexico-bred is 3-for-4 this year, winning the New Mexico Breeders' Derby last out. "He had a good run at Sunland Park. He won a $250,000 over there. He's in good shape, probably going to freshen him up for later in the year."

Cheese Tray. Another New Mexico-bred – he and Diabolical Storm both were sired by Attila's Storm – he's 2-for-4 this year with a win last out in the New Mexico State University Handicap. Fincher said he's likely to start next in a stakes at SunRay Park.

As for his juveniles, Fincher said, "hopefully we've got good 2-year-olds. We got some good New Mexico-bred 2-year-olds and we've got a couple of fillies that I really like that are Kentucky-bred that hopefully will debut this summer, hopefully at Del Mar if they look good that time of year. We've just got to do with the horse tells you. You can't just force things. So hopefully, we got a few good babies look forward to."