Omaha Beach Returns to Sprinting in Malibu Stakes

While his scratch as the morning-line favorite days ahead of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) will always have his connections wondering "what if?" Omaha Beach  will try to provide a few more pleasant memories this winter, beginning when he starts in the $300,000 Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1) Dec. 28 at Santa Anita Park.

Plans call for Omaha Beach to use the Malibu to as a prep race to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park. The son of War Front  is then scheduled to begin his stallion career at Spendthrift Farm in Central Kentucky.

The seven-furlong Malibu is one of four graded stakes moved to the Saturday Santa Anita card after the scheduled Dec. 26 opening day was postponed because of rain in the forecast. As far as adjusting to detours and changed plans, Omaha Beach has plenty of experience.

Fox Hill Farms' Omaha Beach took five starts to secure his maiden win but when he finally broke through, he did so in style, rolling to a nine-length score Feb. 2 at Santa Anita. That effort earned him a start in the Rebel Stakes (G2), where he prevailed by a nose over champion 2-year-old male Game Winner. Omaha Beach then followed with a clear victory in the Arkansas Derby (G1) over Improbable and eventual Kentucky Derby winner Country House.

That Oaklawn Park win earned Omaha Beach the role of Derby favorite, but an ill-timed entrapped epiglottis forced him to be scratched. A successful surgery meant Omaha Beach eventually returned in the Oct. 5 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1), prevailing in that six-furlong test by a head over Shancelot—using a rail rally to just get up after bobbling at the start.

A start in the Nov. 2 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) followed, and Omaha Beach finished second to Spun to Run in that two-turn start at Santa Anita. Now Omaha Beach returns to one-turn racing, where he is perfect in two starts: his maiden win and the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. 

Trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, Omaha Beach has never finished worse than third in nine career starts.

Shipping in from the East, is grade 1 winner Complexity. Trained by Chad Brown, Complexity won the 2018 Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park but finished off the board in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Churchill Downs. Rested after that effort, Klaravich Stables' Complexity didn't fire in a June 8 return in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) at Belmont. But the son of Maclean's Music  looked in better form in his most recent return, drawing off to a 7 1/4-length score in a seven-furlong allowance-level race Nov. 20 at Aqueduct Racetrack. 

Also awaiting Omaha Beach Saturday will be a pair of accomplished runners from the barn of Bob Baffert, a three-time winner of the Malibu. Baffert has entered Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Roadster, who will try to end a four-race skid—a stretch that includes finishing just a nose behind in second in the Nov. 2 Damascus Stakes going seven furlongs at Santa Anita; and Much Better, who has placed in a pair of grade 3 stakes—including a runner-up finish in this year's Bay Shore Stakes at seven furlongs. 

Rounding out the expected five-horse field will be Susan Moulton's Manny Wah, a grade 3-placed son of Will Take Charge  who enters off a runner-up finish in the Nov. 25 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Racecourse.

Entries: Malibu S. (G1)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, December 28, 2019, Race 9

• Grade I
• 7f
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 3 yo
• 3:26 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Much Better (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Bob Baffert	12/1
2	2Complexity (KY)	Javier Castellano	120	Chad C. Brown	5/2
3	3Manny Wah (KY)	Channing Hill	120	Bob Baffert	8/1
4	4Roadster (KY)	Joel Rosario	122	Bob Baffert	3/1
5	5Omaha Beach (KY)	Mike E. Smith	124	Richard E. Mandella	4/5