Omaha Beach Stretches Legs at Gulfstream

Fox Hill Farm's Omaha Beach  took his first trip across the Gulfstream Park racetrack with an easy jog Jan. 4, gearing up for a start in the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1).

Trained by Richard Mandella, the 4-year-old son of War Front  arrived from California Dec. 31. He will make his final start in the Pegasus before being retired to stud at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. According to Mandella, who will arrive Tuesday to supervise the colt's final preparations, Omaha Beach might breeze Jan. 9 or 10.

Omaha Beach is bedded down in Mark Hennig's barn at Gulfstream, with Mandella foreman Jose Vera keeping an eye on things until the Hall of Fame trainer's arrival.

"Omaha Beach went to the track today, will gallop Wednesday, and might work Thursday or Friday," Mandella said at Santa Anita on Saturday morning.         

An Eclipse Award finalist and three-time grade 1 winner, Omaha Beach was favored in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) off victories in the Arkansas Derby (G1) and Rebel Stakes (G2) before he was scratched three days before the race because of complications from an entrapped epiglottis.

After recovering at WinStar Farm in Kentucky, the colt returned to California and was back at the races by the fall, winning the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G1) and finishing second in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). He enters the Pegasus off a 2 3/4-length, geared-down victory Dec. 28 in the Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park, a win that pushed his career bankroll to $1,651,800.