More X-rays planned for Omaha Beach after arrival in Kentucky

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Omaha Beach is set to travel on Monday to Kentucky, where he is scheduled to begin stud duty next month at Spendthrift Farm. But once arriving there, his condition will be monitored to see if the injury that forced his withdrawal on Thursday from the Pegasus World Cup Dirt on Saturday will impact the start of breeding season.

Omaha Beach was scratched from the Pegasus, which was scheduled to be his final career start, after X-rays detected what appeared to be the beginning of a fracture in his right hind ankle. The evaluation was made by the well-respected veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage.

“We’ll do follow-up X-rays to see if there’s any change one way or another, and formulate a plan from there,” Ned Toffey, the general manager of Spendthrift Farm, said while visiting Omaha Beach and his trainer, Richard Mandella, on Friday morning at Gulfstream Park. “We’ll have our vet get together with Dr. Bramlage. I’m cautiously optimistic he can start the breeding season on time, but if he can’t, he can’t.”

Toffey said Omaha Beach, a son of War Front, has been extremely well received by breeders.

“His book is set. It’s in the 200 range,” Toffey said.

Jose Vega, a long-time assistant to Mandella, will travel with Omaha Beach to Kentucky to facilitate the handoff.

Mandella said Omaha Beach “still had a little filling” in his right hind ankle on Friday morning. He had the colt out of the stall and had exercise rider Taylor Cambra walk him for a few minutes.

“We had him out and washed his legs. He wasn’t off at all. It’s pretty minor,” Mandella said.

“But it’s a minor one that if you went on would be a terrible one. The only way you can look at it is that as bad as we feel now, imagine how bad we’d feel if he ran and something bad happened. In that area, there’s no room for error.”

Omaha Beach raced 10 times, and won five, including three Grade 1 races – the Arkansas Derby, Santa Anita Sprint Championship, and Malibu Stakes, which turned out to be his final start. He finished second four times and third once. He earned more than $1.6 million for owner Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms Inc.