Omaha Beach staying in California for Santa Anita Sprint Championship

Omaha Beach, unraced since a win in the Arkansas Derby in April, will start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 5 and will not be sent to Churchill Downs for the Grade 3 Ack Ack Handicap on Sept. 28, trainer Richard Mandella said Saturday.

Mandella said he was not pleased with Omaha Beach’s seven-furlong workout in 1:27.40 on Friday at Santa Anita.

“I didn’t feel it was a good enough workout,” he said. “We’ll run him here.”

The $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship is run at six furlongs. The $150,000 Ack Ack Handicap is run at a mile around one turn.

The Santa Anita Sprint Championship will be the shortest race of Omaha Beach’s career. He won a maiden special weight race at seven furlongs by nine lengths on Feb. 2 at Santa Anita, having run in turf races at a mile or 1 1/16 miles in his first three starts.

“When I went back to seven, he ran good,” Mandella said.

“He’s more than ready for the sprint. It will be a good place to get a race into him.”

Owned by Rick Porter, Omaha Beach had a disrupted late spring and summer campaign. He was the morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby, but was withdrawn three days before the race when diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis that required a minor procedure.

Omaha Beach was rested on a Kentucky farm in May before he was sent back to Mandella’s California stable. Last month, Omaha Beach missed a scheduled start in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar because of an illness.

By War Front, Omaha Beach has won 3 of 7 starts and earned $1,121,800.

Omaha Beach is scheduled to begin a stud career in Kentucky in 2020.