Om prepping for spring comeback

ARCADIA, Calif. – Om, who beat maidens in his second start last summer at 2, is being prepared for a comeback this spring.

Trained by Dan Hendricks, Om is expected to have his first workout of the year this week. He returned to racetrack training in early January, having been trained briefly at a local farm by Julie Adair-Stack.

“He came in looking super, like he never left,” Hendricks said.

Om was fifth in his debut at Santa Anita last June and beat maidens by 7 1/4 lengths at Del Mar last August, earning a 98 Beyer Speed Figure. Following that race, Om was sidelined with swelling in an ankle that did not require surgery.

“We couldn’t come up with anything other than a good guess,” Hendricks said of the ailment. “I think he might have jarred it. We had to give him a good four months off.”

By Munnings, Om races for the Sareen Family Trust. Om won a remarkably productive race at Del Mar. American Pharoah finished fifth and went on to be the champion 2-year-old male of 2014 on the basis of wins in consecutive Grade 1 races in September – the Del Mar Futurity and the FrontRunner Stakes. American Pharoah is a leading candidate for the Triple Crown.

Two other runners from that field are stakes winners – fourth-place finisher Calculator won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes last month, and sixth-place finisher Daddy D T won the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last September.

Hendricks said that Om is not considered a candidate for the Triple Crown races, considering his late start this year.

“I don’t know if he wants to go that far,” Hendricks said. “When he’s ready, we’ll find a race for him.”