Omaha Beach Heads Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile

The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), picking up the sponsorship of Big Ass Fans for the first time, is sometimes thought of as a consolation event for runners not suited to the demand of the 10-furlong Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

A quick scan of recent winners and the lineup assembled for this year's running at Santa Anita Park tells a much different story.

Once Omaha Beach 's hat was dropped into the ring last week, the complexion of the race changed dramatically. The top 3-year-old heading toward the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) until he was derailed with an entrapped epiglottis, Omaha Beach made a striking return to the racetrack Oct. 5 with a head victory over Shancelot in the six-furlong Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1).

With an eye toward returning the Fox Hill Farms runner to two turns, the advance to the Dirt Mile makes logical sense for the son of War Front . Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella, who has nine Breeders' Cup wins, sent Omaha Beach out for a bullet :59 3/5 move for five furlongs Oct. 23 at Santa Anita.

"He had a great work," Mandella said. "He's in pretty good shape."

The Dirt Mile, which has proved successful for 3-year-olds such as Caleb's Posse  (2011), Goldencents  (2013), and the late Battle of Midway (2017), has a strong cast of sophomores for 2019, including the streaking Mr. Money and local star and Derby favorite Improbable.

Mr. Money, who races for Allied Racing Stable, had a four-race graded stakes win streak snapped when he missed by a neck in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) in mid-September. He, too, fired a bullet in his penultimate work for trainer Bret Calhoun. He's a son of Goldencents, who successfully defended his Dirt Mile title in 2014.

WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and Starlight Racing Stable's Improbable has not had much success beyond eight furlongs, so the drop back to the trip off a fourth-place finish in the Pennsylvania Derby, in which he broke poorly, should have him in the right spot. Three of his four wins have come in California at Santa Anita, Los Alamitos Race Course, and Del Mar.

"I really think Improbable is doing great," trainer Bob Baffert said. "He likes it here. He's doing as well as he can be doing, and the Mile is right up his alley. He's not a bad gate horse. He just gets in there, and he knows better, but he moves around. It's funny. In the morning, he'll just stand in there for an hour without acting up."

Of the older runners, Giant Expectations merits watching off his 10 starts over the main track at Santa Anita, as does 5-year-old Coal Front, winner of the Godolphin Mile Sponsored By Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City-District One (G2) at Meydan in late March.

Entries: Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, November 02, 2019, Race 6

• Grade I
• 1m
• Dirt
• $1,000,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 1:10 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Giant Expectations (NY)	Jose L. Ortiz	126	Peter Eurton	12/1
2	2Improbable (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	123	Bob Baffert	3/1
3	3Spun to Run (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	123	Juan Carlos Guerrero	6/1
4	4Mr. Money (KY)	Gabriel Saez	123	W. Bret Calhoun	6/1
5	5Omaha Beach (KY)	Mike E. Smith	123	Richard E. Mandella	8/5
6	6Ambassadorial (KY)	Jamie P. Spencer	126	Jane Chapple-Hyam	30/1
7	7Coal Front (KY)	Javier Castellano	126	Todd A. Pletcher	6/1
8	8Blue Chipper (KY)	Flavien Prat	126	Kim Young-Kwan	20/1
9	9Diamond Oops (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	126	Patrick L. Biancone	15/1
10	10Snapper Sinclair (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	126	Steven M. Asmussen	30/1