{"id":116490,"date":"2019-10-05T11:57:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T18:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=116490"},"modified":"2019-10-06T11:51:34","modified_gmt":"2019-10-06T18:51:34","slug":"omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/","title":{"rendered":"Omaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Omaha Beach will finally make his long-anticipated return to racing Saturday when the Richard Mandella-trained colt comes back to the track Saturday for the Grade I Santa Anita Sprint Championship.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Omaha Beach, seen here edging Improbable in April’s Arkansas Derby, returns from a six-month layoff to race Saturday in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship. (Image: CourierJournal.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019ll mark the first time in nearly six months that Omaha Beach has raced. His last win came on April 13 in the Arkansas Derby. After that, he became the morning line favorite for the Kentucky Derby, but three days prior to that race, doctors discovered a throat issue that scratched him from the Derby<\/a> and required surgery.<\/p>\n

Initially, Mandella planned to have his 3-year-old race in the Grade III Ack Ack Stakes last weekend at Churchill Downs. However, Omaha Beach had a bad training session leading up to the race, so Mandella opted to keep him back in California instead.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s six-furlong race will be the shortest Omaha Beach has run. He started on the turf, finishing second twice and third once in his first three races. After that, Mandella switched him to dirt. He ran second in his first race before finally breaking his maiden in a February race at Santa Anita. That led to his sharp performances at Oaklawn Park<\/a> in both the Grade II Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby.<\/p>\n

The Sprint Championship is a Breeders\u2019 Cup \u201cWin and You\u2019re In\u201d Race, with the winner getting an automatic entry into the $2 million Breeders\u2019 Cup Sprint, which will be held at Santa Anita in four weeks. Whether Mandella points his colt toward that race, the $6 million Classic, or something else afterward remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re anxious to see how it goes. But the main thing is getting him back to the races,\u201d Mandella said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what might be next after we run. I\u2019ll tell you after we get a race into him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The race is scheduled to run at 4:55 PT\/7:55 ET and will be broadcast on TVG.<\/p>\n

Shancelot the Early Favorite<\/h2>\n

Omaha Beach, ridden by Mike Smith, will start from the second gate and stands as the second choice in the race with morning line odds of 8-5.<\/p>\n

\n

His main competition will be Shancelot. Trained by Jorge Navarro, the 3-year-old has raced four times, and ended up in the winner\u2019s circle three times. That includes a whopping 12-1\/2-length victory in the 6-1\/2-furlong Grade II Amsterdam Stakes on July 28.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In his last race, the seven-furlong Grade I H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Saratoga, Shancelot held the lead at the stretch, but was caught by both Mind Control and Hog Creek Hustle in a three-way photo finish.<\/p>\n

Ridden by Emisael Jaramillo, Shancelot starts as the 4-5 morning line favorite. He\u2019ll break from the third gate.<\/p>\n

Other Runners<\/h2>\n

Flagstaff will make his graded stakes debut at age 5. Trained by John Sadler, the gelding has won three of his seven career starts, including his last race. On Aug. 18, he posted a half-length victory in a six-furlong allowance claiming race at Del Mar.<\/p>\n

Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Flagstaff will break from the fourth gate and starts with 4-1 odds.<\/p>\n

Two other geldings start off at 15-1 odds. California Street, ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, will also make his graded stakes debut. Horse Greedy is looking for his first graded stakes win. Ridden by Martin Pedroza, the John Sadler-trained gelding has four wins in 19 starts.<\/p>\n

Another colt who last raced in the Arkansas Derby will start inside of Omaha Beach. One Flew South finished 11th in that race. Trained by Doug O\u2019Neill and ridden by Evin Roman, the 3-year-old starts off at 30-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Omaha Beach will finally make his long-anticipated return to racing Saturday when the Richard Mandella-trained colt comes back to the track Saturday for the Grade I Santa Anita Sprint Championship. It\u2019ll mark the first time in nearly six months that Omaha Beach has raced. His last win came on April 13 in the Arkansas Derby. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":116491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOmaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Santa Anita Sprint Championship marks Omaha Beach's first race since winning the Arkansas Derby in April. The six-furlong race will be his shortest.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Omaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Santa Anita Sprint Championship marks Omaha Beach's first race since winning the Arkansas Derby in April. The six-furlong race will be his shortest.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-05T18:57:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-06T18:51:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Omaha-beach.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2987\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/\",\"name\":\"Omaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Omaha-beach.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-05T18:57:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-06T18:51:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"The Santa Anita Sprint Championship marks Omaha Beach's first race since winning the Arkansas Derby in April. The six-furlong race will be his shortest.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Omaha-beach.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Omaha-beach.jpg\",\"width\":2987,\"height\":1680,\"caption\":\"(Image: CourierJournal.com)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Horse Racing\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/horse-racing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Omaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint Championship\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Omaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint","description":"The Santa Anita Sprint Championship marks Omaha Beach's first race since winning the Arkansas Derby in April. The six-furlong race will be his shortest.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Omaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint","og_description":"The Santa Anita Sprint Championship marks Omaha Beach's first race since winning the Arkansas Derby in April. The six-furlong race will be his shortest.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-10-05T18:57:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-06T18:51:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2987,"height":1680,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Omaha-beach.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/","name":"Omaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Omaha-beach.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-05T18:57:29+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-06T18:51:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"The Santa Anita Sprint Championship marks Omaha Beach's first race since winning the Arkansas Derby in April. The six-furlong race will be his shortest.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Omaha-beach.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Omaha-beach.jpg","width":2987,"height":1680,"caption":"(Image: CourierJournal.com)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/omaha-beach-returns-to-racing-saturday-in-santa-anita-sprint\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Horse Racing","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/horse-racing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Omaha Beach Returns to Racing Saturday in Santa Anita Sprint Championship"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}