Santa Anita

Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (Grade 1)

COMEBACK of the year? Kentucky Derby favourite Omaha Beach returned to action for the first time since scratching the week of the Run for the Roses. And, oh what a return. The three-year-old son of War Front showed his versatility with a stalking and pouncing effort to nail favourite Shancelot by a head in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship last Sunday.

Owned by Fox Hill Farm, trained by Richard Mandella and ridden by Mike Smith, Omaha Beach improved his career mark to four-for-eight and improved his win streak to four. Versatile? The dark bay colt now owns back-to-back Grade 1 stakes wins at six furlongs and nine furlongs.

“He’s a throwback to those classic horses. He can do anything. Three-quarters to a mile and a quarter. He’s extremely fast and he’s got tremendous stamina,” Smith said.

Mandella knows

“He just does that for us all the time, he is a fabulous horse, I think little by little he will have the respect he deserves,” Mandella said. “This horse has a heart of gold and he’s got the greatest personality of any horse I’ve ever had. I would say anything’s possible.” The Breeders’ Cup is squarely on the table, which setting is yet to be decided. The Breeders’ Cup Sprint at six furlongs, the Dirt Mile or the Classic at 10 furlongs are being bandied about like wine, whiskey and water at the local bar, which was where Mandella was heading after the comeback.

Irish-bred True Valour continued his upward swing in America, taking the Grade 2 City Of Hope Mile at Santa Anita last Sunday. The five-year-old son of Kodiac came this way last summer, finishing seventh in the Grade 2 Eddie Read for trainer Johnny Murtagh and 10th in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile for new trainer Simon Callaghan.

Freshened for the first time, the turf miler finished third in a mile allowance in January and won the Grade 3 Thunder Road in February.

Freshened for the second time, True Valour came back to step up another rung on the ladder, taking the Grade 2 stakes by a head over Restrainedvengence and favourite Prince Earl. “He’s such a cool horse. It was nice to get the head bob today,” Callaghan said. “Qatar may want to go for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, it’s here and he’s shown a pretty good affinity for the track as far as his last two races.”