Leparoux to ride Omaha Beach in Ack Ack

Julien Leparoux will ride Omaha Beach in the Grade 3 Ack Ack Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 28, trainer Richard Mandella said on Friday.

Mike Smith rode Omaha Beach to wins in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes and Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in the spring, but is scheduled to ride top older horse McKinzie in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.

Considered one of the nation’s top 3-year-olds, Omaha Beach, unraced since a win in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in April, was credited with a seven-furlong work in 1:25 at Santa Anita on Friday. Mandella said Omaha Beach worked six furlongs in 1:12 and “had a good gallop-out.”

Owned by Rick Porter, Omaha Beach was scratched as the morning-line favorite from the Kentucky Derby in May in the days before the race after being diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis that required a minor procedure.

Omaha Beach returned to Mandella’s stable in California in late spring. Last month, Omaha Beach missed a scheduled start in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar because of an illness.

Friday at Santa Anita, the Mandella-trained United worked seven furlongs in 1:26.80, although Mandella timed the 4-year-old in 1:15 for six furlongs. United was withdrawn from the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 17 because of illness and is scheduled to run in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.