Omaha Beach set to arrive at Churchill on Tuesday for Ack Ack

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Omaha Beach will make his first start since the Arkansas Derby by racing at Churchill Downs – just like he was meant to.

Of course, there’s one small detail that has changed from the original plan: timing. Instead of the 145th Kentucky Derby – the May 4 race from which Omaha Beach was scratched as the morning-line favorite – the colt will return to action next Saturday night (Sept. 28) under the Churchill lights in the 27th running of the Grade 3, $150,000 Ack Ack.

After breezing seven furlongs Friday in company in 1:27.20 at Santa Anita in his final serious prep toward the one-mile Ack Ack, Omaha Beach is all set to return to Barn 28 at Churchill. The 3-year-old War Front colt is scheduled to arrive here Tuesday at about 3:30 p.m. following a direct flight from his California base.

Omaha Beach, owned by the Fox Hill Farms of Rick Porter, will be accompanied by groom Jose Barrera and exercise rider Taylor Cambra, with trainer Richard Mandella arriving later in the week. Julien Leparoux will have the mount in the Ack Ack in place of Mike Smith, who is committed to McKinzie in the Awesome Again at Santa Anita earlier in the day.

Omaha Beach, winner of the April 13 Arkansas Derby, underwent minor surgery for an entrapped epiglottis shortly after being declared from the Derby. Mandella is using this comeback race as a critical stepping-stone to the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. The Friday work was the colt’s eighth since late July.

At least four other horses, all of them older, are expected to face Omaha Beach, including fellow California shipper Air Strike, who exits back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby and Grade 1 Forego for trainer Phil D’Amato.

Other known prospects include Mr Darcy, Mr. Jagermeister, and Thirstforlife. Entries for all Saturday night races will be drawn Wednesday.

Given the presence of Omaha Beach, the Ack Ack is overshadowing the richest race of the 11-day September meet, the Grade 3, $250,000 Lukas Classic. Confirmed starters for that 1 1/8-mile race, also next Saturday, include Quip, Silver Dust, Kukulkan, Pioneer Spirit, Timeline, and Big Dollar Bill.

Quip will be ridden by Florent Geroux when he looks to rebound off a ninth-place finish in the Aug. 17 Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Geroux was expected back in action here Sunday after serving a three-day suspension stemming from a riding infraction at the recent Kentucky Downs meet.

A third stakes, the $125,000 Jefferson Cup for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf, also will be part of the card next Saturday, which starts at 6 Eastern.

Lauer finds a good one

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or so goes the mantra of claiming trainers. Mike Lauer seems to have hit upon quite a find in Ruler of the Nile, who on Thursday won for the third time in five starts since being claimed in May for $8,000 by Lauer on behalf of the Bevo Racing of retired professor Steven Dworkin.

Ruler of the Nile, now 4, was a $1 million purchase as a 2-year-old in March 2017. A year later, the son of Pioneerof the Nile won his career debut for Todd Pletcher, but by September 2018 he was claimed for $16,000. Two starts later, Lauer claimed him, and now the colt has won three more times, including a $92,000 allowance at Saratoga and the $42,020 starter allowance Thursday at Churchill.

“He’s a beautiful horse,” said Lauer. “I look at him every day and I can’t figure out what [his previous trainers] saw wrong with him.”

Ruler of the Nile led off an eight-race twilight card that ended under the lights with back-to-back wins for owners Jim and Susan Hill. The Margaux Farm owners won the seventh with Troubling Moon ($13.20), trained by Rusty Arnold, and the last with Phantom Currency ($46.60), trained by Brian Lynch. The $2 double paid $313.40.

Bugboy to try Big A

Declan Carroll, the leading apprentice on this circuit, intends to move his tack in mid-October to New York, where he will ride regularly through the winter at Aqueduct with retired jockey Richard Migliore as his agent.

Carroll cited “greater opportunities for mounts” as his reason for the move, as many of the top New York jockeys go elsewhere for the winter. Although his apprenticeship would have expired Dec. 7 (one year after his fifth career winner), Carroll will be permitted to continue riding with a five-pound allowance into March after obtaining a medical extension stemming from the back injury suffered last winter at Fair Grounds that caused him to miss several months of action.

Into Friday’s card at Churchill, Carroll, 20, had 37 career wins. He is the son of former trainer David Carroll, now a top assistant for Mark Casse.