Mandella Calls Scratch of Omaha Beach Devastating

Trainer Richard Mandella has been to racing's heights and experienced the sport's lows, but the Racing Hall of Famer said May 2 at Churchill Downs that being forced to scratch Omaha Beach from the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) drained his emotions.

Mandella and owner Rick Porter decided May 1 to scratch Omaha Beach, the morning-line favorite for the May 4 Derby, after an entrapped epiglottis was discovered and it didn't respond to treatment. Mandella said surgery to resolve the issue would be conducted at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital by Dr. Rolf Embertson, DVM. (Embertson told BloodHorse the surgery would most likely be May 3.)

"It was devastating, to be honest," Mandella said. "I have done this for 45 years. So I have seen the movie and starred in it. You know, that's part of training horses."

Mandella, 68, noted that friends and family helped him through the difficult day.

"But I had a nice message from Arthur Hancock yesterday and he said: 'Richard, (Hall of Fame trainer Charlie) Whittingham was 73 when he won his first Derby,' so who am I to think I should be doing this now?"

When Mandella informed owner Rick Porter and B. Wayne Hughes, whose Spendthrift Farm has purchased Omaha Beach's breeding rights, he marveled at their concern for him.

"I'm very fortunate to say that I trained for some of the greatest people in the world, and their concern was maybe more for me, after I got done, than for them which doesn't seem right," Mandella said. "But that's how lucky I am."

Following are some of Mandella's May 2 comments.

On May 1 Events

"He coughed a few times galloping yesterday which made us think we'd better take a look, mainly because he had a little bit of a sore throat eight or 10 days before that we had treated and went away. We didn't think we had anything to worry about until that. And when we scoped him yesterday, he had an entrapped epiglottis."

Omaha Beach out of Kentucky Derby

On the Issue Staying Hidden

"You couldn't have asked a horse to train any better or look any better this whole period we've been here. You've all seen it. He galloped yesterday. If you didn't look up his nose with a scope, you wouldn't know anything is wrong.

"But I'm sure by the time he'd hit the quarter pole (in the Derby), he would know it was there, and it would be a terrible feeling. As bad as it felt yesterday, it would be a horrible feeling to have him not finish well and know that I was at fault for running him. So we had to do the right thing by the horse, and that is give it up and go to the next step."

On an Expected Quick Turnaround After Minor Surgery

"I would say two weeks, possibly three, of no more than riding under the shedrow and then you can start to train. Saying that with the Triple Crown in mind, we obviously can't run in it. (Choking up a bit, Mandella joked, "I'm sorry, this whiskey is pretty strong. It's getting to me.") ...

"Had this happened three weeks ago ... this probably wouldn't be a discussion. We'd probably be running. But three days isn't enough to do anything to help it."

More on the Decision to Scratch

"We had an expert come up and look at it yesterday afternoon, Dr. Embertson (DVM) from Rood & Riddle, and he looked at it and said this man was correct in his assumption and we can't fix it and game over. And there was nothing but agreement with all of us. And I went back to my hotel room and sat down, had to gather my thoughts a little bit. And then I had to call Rick Porter and also Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm who has purchased his breeding rights.

Tentative Racing Plans

"The two weeks off just throws out the Triple Crown. ... having not run and try to train up to (the Belmont Stakes [G1]) with two weeks off, wouldn't be fair to the horse. I wouldn't try to put him through that. 

On Impact on Breeding Rights Agreement

"I never saw the details of the agreement. I do believe there was a pretty big kicker if he won the Derby. So I might have saved Mr. Hughes money."

Is This Your Biggest Disappointment in Racing?

"I'd say yes. And I guess it's because the Derby is what it is. And this horse, if you all had been around the barn, you can see how special he is. It just seemed like everything was so in line. In fact, I actually had a thought, is this too perfect? Because nothing's that perfect. And we found out that it wasn't. 

"But it was very devastating. Now Beholder came to (the 2015 Breeders' Cup) at Keeneland and got sick and couldn't run in the Breeders' Cup. But she had done so much before and after I could never hold anything against what happened to her. 

"So this is unique. It's the Kentucky Derby. We came flying in here like we had it written on us, and it didn't work. So Mel Stute said it best once when he was interviewed about the Derby or whatever it was, and he said, "I have got a lot of experience with disappointment. This game will do it to you."

On Horsemen Putting the Well-Being of the Horse Above All Else

 "Well, as we've said all along, it's said every year, when you learn about horse racing, the first thing you learn is the Kentucky Derby. You grow up in it. You work in it. Whether you are a jockey or trainer or groom, a hot walker, an owner, it doesn't matter. The Kentucky Derby is what everybody knows. So everybody has that dream to win it. 

"But horsemen care for their animals. We don't always get the warning and things happen. Horsemen always look for the warning signs and don't want to do the wrong thing. As I said before, as broken-hearted as I was yesterday, I would be a lot worse than that had I run him and he ran up the racetrack and I'd be kicking myself forever, "Why did I do this?" So we all live with that as horse trainers.

"Our players can't talk to us. We have to use instincts, little signs that we see. Hopefully a veterinarian that knows something. And occasionally things get past us. But we all do the best we can, but it means the world to us to what our horse's condition is."

On Handling the Bad News

"How do I handle it? The lady sitting right in the middle of the room, my wife, Randi, the most wonderful person in the world. Been with me for 50 years, married 46 or 47, and one more thing that I'm very fortunate and lucky to have. Makes it all worthwhile."

Mandella then joked, "Last night she tied one of my legs down to the bed so I couldn't jump out the hotel window. She had my arm done, too, and I almost broke loose."

On a Potential Race Schedule in 2019

"Let me say he is a special horse. I mean, you watch him out there on the racetrack, he was galloping one day. I said to somebody, I forget, I think it was Mike Smith. I said, 'That looks like Muhammad Ali when he's going into the ring.' He would just bounce and hardly touch the ground and float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. It just said it to me. He is really special.

"And then the kind personality. I never had a good horse like him that had such a kind personality and took it in stride the way he does. So it's just an unbelievable thing to have one like him, but I have not had time to sit down and look at the schedules ahead. And obviously what happens at the hospital and the next two weeks will fit into how I make plans.

"Saratoga Race Course could be a possibility. There's a couple of races there. There's the Haskell (G1) in New Jersey, the Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar. Breeders' Cup at the end of the year is the obvious big goal."

Racetrack Veterinarian Foster Northrop Provided Information on an Entrapped Epiglottis and Surgery

"An entrapped epiglottis is simply the tissue underneath the epiglottis swells. The epiglottis is shaped kind of like that, and this tissue is underneath it. It swells and comes up underneath it and then wraps around the top of it, and it prevents the epiglottis from moving, which is very important because this is what blocks the airway from the pharynx, which is where the food would be coming from. So it keeps food out of the trachea. That is, basically, one of the things it does.

"But when a horse entraps, it really limits their breathing. It blocks probably about a third of the airway. And in a race of this magnitude, that's too much to give up. So the only option is to treat it. And medically you can treat these things, but once they entrap, it's very difficult to treat them medically and you usually have to do surgery.

"The surgery is very simple. A lot of times it's done standing. They will go in and make an incision in that tissue. Basically cut it in half. It will fall back off the epiglottis and shrink up and disappear like it was before this all started. It's very unfortunate timing. But like Dick [Mandella] said, we saw some inflammation in the throat soon after the horse got there. And we treated him accordingly with some throat flush and all of that inflammation went away. So we all felt we were golden until yesterday morning."