Omaha Beach feeling good enough for a jog
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Richard Mandella was all smiles back at the barn after watching Omaha Beach return to the track for a routine jog shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Thursaday. Omaha Beach is scheduled to make the final start of his career in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 25.
With his regular exercise rider Taylor Cambra aboard, Omaha Beach was accompanied by a pony while making one turn on the outside fence going the wrong way around Gulfstream Park’s nearly deserted 1 1/8-mile oval. He walked the final furlong or so before leaving the track alongside one of the other more prominent horses training locally this winter, the promising 3-year-old prospect Dennis’ Moment, who had just completed a training session of his own.
On Wednesday, Mandella revealed Omaha Beach was being treated for a bruise in his left front foot. The shoe was removed and the foot poulticed overnight. Omaha Beach was equipped with glue-on shoes prior to going to the track on Thursday.
“He lost some of the wall in his foot,” said Mandella while watching Omaha Beach walk the shed shortly after he’d returned from the track. “We shod him this morning and waited a few hours to make sure it was good. And it was real good, so we gave him a little jog. If he wasn’t perfect I wasn’t going to take him out there. He’s had other problems in the past, but not this problem. It’s not a big deal. If it was three days before the race, it would be a big deal.”
Mandella, who arrived here early Wednesday morning, said he’s hopeful he’ll still be able to work Omaha Beach twice here before the race.
“He looked fine out there this morning, so if all goes well we’ll gallop him for two or three days and we’ll work him,” he said. “He could work Sunday or Monday. We’ll just kind of see how he’s doing.”
Omaha Beach flew to Gulfstream Park on Dec. 30, just two days after closing out his 3-year-old campaign with an impressive victory in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita. He is scheduled to begin stud duty at Spendthrift Farm in the spring.