Omaha Beach On The Mend

[Wandering Eyes]

LEXINGTON, KY-Less than 24 hours after arriving at Spendthrift Farm, three-time Grade I winner Omaha Beach (War Front) was paraded on Tuesday afternoon for a crowd of breeders, media and fans, with farm owner B. Wayne Hughes making an appearance to welcome the latest addition to his stallion roster, who starts out this year at $45,000.

The imposing bay posed for upwards of 20 minutes, his behavior more reminiscent of a seasoned stallion than a colt fresh off the racetrack.

“He’s a remarkably intelligent and easy-going horse and that’s certainly everything we’d heard about him from [trainer] Richard [Mandella], but even having heard that it’s really impressive to see,” remarked Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey.

Omaha Beach was never worse than third in 10 starts and won the GII Rebel S. and Grade I Arkansas Derby, Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. and Malibu S. in addition to finishing second in the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, but his career was also marked by a series of misfortunes. He was forced to scratch as the favorite days out from the GI Kentucky Derby after developing an entrapped epiglottis, and his return to the races over the summer was further delayed by a virus. He was set to start as the favorite in the GI Pegasus World Cup last weekend, but was pulled from the race last Thursday after developing light swelling in his right hind fetlock post-training.

“Richard said he’d gone to the track and had gone to the gate on Thursday morning,” Toffey recalled. “He came back to the barn and I know the track vet was scheduled to come by and Richard had told them he’d leave the bandages off so they could get a good look at him. When they came to do that evaluation, that’s when they first saw just a little bit of filling there, and I know it was a little bit tender to flexion. At that point they took the x-rays and saw something of a little bit of concern. They sent those off to Dr. Bramlage and he confirmed that there was essentially just a faint shadow there. And there was a very slight lameness associated with it as well.”

Toffey said that lameness has all but subsided in the days since the injury was detected.

“We haven’t seen really any of that since he’s been here, and I know for the several days I was in Florida, Richard said it was better than each day before. The lameness was certainly there, but it was very slight at its worst. I saw no evidence of it out here showing so that’s certainly positive.”

Toffey revealed a new set of x-rays was taken on Tuesday morning, and while the initial results showed no changes from Thursday’s initial x-rays, three vets will evaluate them and provide recommendations. In the meantime, Omaha Beach will be turned out in a small round pen and hand walked inside.

“We think this should be a very manageable situation, but we always want to be overly cautious in these situations and we’ll wait for the vet reports,” he said. “We’ll have three different vets’ opinions and recommendations on what the schedule will be moving forward.”

Toffey said the Spendthrift breeding shed is set to open on Feb. 10. He said the vets’ recommendations will dictate whether or not Omaha Beach will be ready for opening day, and that the horse’s long term well being will come first.

“I definitely want to wait and hear the vets’ reports,” he said. “What’s far more important than the start of breeding season is him having the kind of career we hope he can have, and that everyone is really excited about. That will be our number one concern, and what his starting date will be, it will be. I think there’s a decent chance he’ll be on time, but if we need to wait, we’ll wait.”

As a three-time Grade I winner by War Front and a half-brother to champion Take Charge Brandi and grandson of Broodmare of the Year Take Charge Lady (Dehere), the odds are short that Omaha Beach’s stud career will be worth the wait.

“This is just a really exciting stallion prospect I think by anyone’s standards,” Toffey said. “We couldn’t be more excited to have him. He’s such a classy looking and classy acting horse, and it goes with the pedigree and everything we’ve seen and heard about him. We’re just really excited about this horse.”

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