Omaha Beach to miss Shared Belief Stakes due to a virus

DEL MAR, Calif. - Omaha Beach, widely rated as one of the nation’s leading 3-year-olds, will miss a scheduled start in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 25 after he was diagnosed with a virus on Saturday.

“I’ve got a virus going through the barn,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “He’s not going to run next weekend."

Omaha Beach won the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in April but missed the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4 when he was diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis that required a minor procedure.

Omaha Beach was rested through May and returned to California in June. Mandella said Omaha Beach’s throat was examined on Saturday morning as a precaution and that no abnormalities were found.

“We scoped him to make sure his throat was okay,” he said. “The good news is the throat looked fine.”

The Shared Belief Stakes at a mile for 3-year-olds was considered the start of a late summer-autumn campaign. Mandella said a substitute race for a comeback could be the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 28. The $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes would be Omaha Beach’s first start against older horses.

“Maybe we’ll train up to the Awesome Again or maybe we’ll go on the road,” he said.

Owned by Rick Porter, Omaha Beach has won 3 of 7 starts and earned $1,121,800.

Mandella had high hopes for Omaha Beach in the Shared Belief. Omaha Beach worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds on Aug. 4, the fastest of 75 that morning, and six furlongs in 1:13.60 on Aug. 12.

There have been several notable defections by 3-year-olds for major stakes in recent days. Thursday, Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018, was declared from the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24 because of an illness, trainer Bob Baffert said.

Maximum Security, the winner of the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in July, was taken out of consideration for the Travers Stakes after trainer Jason Servis said he was not satisfied with the colt’s recent progress.