2019 Eclipse Awards: Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach was one of the best 3-year-olds in the land in the spring, when he won the Arkansas Derby and wound up as the morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby, and in the fall, when he returned from a layoff of nearly six months to win a Grade 1 sprint, and in the winter, when he won yet another Grade 1 race. He began the racing year in January and ended it in December, overcoming several twists and turns along the way, with his talent and the skill of his Hall of Fame trainer, Richard Mandella, winning out more often than not.

Omaha Beach, a colt by War Front out of the Seeking the Gold mare Charming, won five times in seven starts, with one of his three Grade 1 victories coming against older horses. He never finished worse than second. That résumé made him a finalist for the 2019 Eclipse Award for 3-year-old male.

It took five starts for Omaha Beach to win his first race. It came in his second start of 2019, in a maiden race at Santa Anita where he suffered a quarter crack. Then came all the detours. A suspension of racing at Santa Anita forced him to head to Oaklawn for a division of the Rebel, which he won, beating the 2018 champion 2-year-old male, Game Winner. The next logical spot, owing to spacing, was the Arkansas Derby, which he won again in a performance that made him the favorite for the Kentucky Derby.

But three days before the Derby, after posts were drawn and he was made the favorite, Omaha Beach was withdrawn owing to an entrapped epiglottis, which had to be surgically repaired.

“He was coughing, which made us suspicious, and we scoped him,” Mandella said in announcing Omaha Beach would miss the Derby. “It’s not anything we can fix to have him run on Saturday, so we’re going to have to scratch him.”

:: Full list of 2019 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

The recuperation took longer than expected, and when Omaha Beach went back into training during the summer at Del Mar, minor setbacks further delayed his return. Faced with few options, Mandella decided to bring him back in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. In one of the best races of the year, he caught the high-class Shancelot, who subsequently was second to Mitole in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Mandella marveled that Omaha Beach adjusted to going six furlongs after being pointed to races at a mile until minor hiccups in August and September pushed back his comeback.

“I had two weeks to make a sprinter out of him,” Mandella said. “Really good horses can adapt.”

Omaha Beach subsequently was second in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, then ended the year with an overpowering victory in the Malibu, giving him Grade 1 wins at six, seven, and nine furlongs.

Omaha Beach is scheduled to enter stud this year at Spendthrift Farm following a final career start in the Pegasus World Cup for owner Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms.