Omaha Beach Definite for Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile

Fox Hill Farm's Omaha Beach , who made a triumphant return to the races Oct. 5 with a thrilling head score over Shancelot in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1), will make his next start in the Nov. 2 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

Trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, Omaha Beach was also a likely candidate for the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) off his handy win at six furlongs but will stretch out to two turns at the World Championships.

"We're definitely going in the Dirt Mile," Fox Hill Farm owner Rick Porter said Oct. 17 from his home in Florida.

"Richard was fine with the Mile or the Sprint, but he was leaning toward the Sprint. He's just as happy with the Dirt Mile. It was six of one, a half-dozen of the other. The Sprint is probably the toughest competition. I was liking the Dirt Mile."

Porter added Omaha Beach will target the Dec. 26 Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park and the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park after the Breeders' Cup, should all go according to plan.

"The Dirt Mile will get some distance into him," Porter said. "He's only gone six furlongs once. The Dirt Mile isn't quite as prestigious. If Code of Honor doesn't win the (Breeders' Cup) Classic (G1), and if we'd have won the Sprint, I think we'd be 3-year-old champion male. That's one reason we were thinking of the Sprint.

"But I wasn't going to get involved. Spendthrift was anxious to run in the Dirt Mile versus the Sprint."

On April 30, four days before the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), it was announced that B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm had come to an agreement with Porter to acquire the colt's breeding rights for an undisclosed amount.

The following day, Omaha Beach, the morning-line favorite for the Run for the Roses, was scratched after being diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis. The son of War Front  out of the Seeking the Gold mare Charming won the Rebel Stakes (G2) and Arkansas Derby (G1)—both at Oaklawn Park—prior to shipping to Churchill Downs.

The Santa Anita Sprint Championship was Omaha Beach's first race since missing the Derby. He returned to the work tab after the comeback race with a four-furlong move in :48 1/5 Oct. 16 at Santa Anita.

Bred in Kentucky by the Charming Syndicate, Omaha Beach was a $625,000 RNA at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and was purchased privately by Porter.

Porter has had success in the Breeders' Cup, winning the 2006 Distaff (G1) with Round Pond and the 2015 Juvenile Fillies (G1) with Songbird. Songbird later finished a mere nose behind the Mandella-trained Beholder (owned by Spendthrift) in the 2016 Distaff.

In 2003, Mandella won four Breeders' Cup races in one day at Santa Anita with Pleasantly Perfect (Classic), Johar (Turf, G1), Action This Day (Juvenile, G1), and Halfbridled (Juvenile Fillies). Beholder won three Breeders' Cup events, and Mandella has also won Breeders' Cup races with Phone Chatter and Kotashaan.