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Thumb_privman Jay Privman , Churchill Downs , 05/02/2019 - DRF Live Posted : May 2, 2019, 8:18 AM

Omaha Beach to have throat surgery within next few days, then back to CA, return to races in summer, per Mandella

Omaha Beach will have surgery in the next few days on his entrapped epiglottis, but should be back in action by the summer, trainer Richard Mandella said at Churchill Downs on Thursday morning.

"I don't know if it'l be tomorrow or Monday, but soon," Mandella said. "We'll wait a few days until after the surgery to make sure he's good, then we'll get him home."

Omaha Beach will have surgery at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington with Dr. Rolf Embertson, Mandella said.

"He just has to trim the material. You get redundant material under the epiglottis," Mandella said.

Mandella said if all goes well Omaha Beach would go right back into training and in theory could be ready to run by Belmont Day.

"If the Belmont was a mile and and eighth I'd be tempted, but I'm not going to beat him up to run a mile and a half after not running this week," Mandella said. "I'll find something."

Mandella said races like the Haskell and Travers this summer made sense. If Omaha Beach needs more time, one race he'd love to point towards is the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens on Travers Day.

"Allen Jerkens introduced me when I went into the Hall of Fame," Mandella said. "That would be something, to win that race."

Not getting a chance to run in the Derby, though, hit hard. A well-wisher stopped by the barn on Thursday morning and tried to cheer up Mandella with platitudes like "this story will have  happy ending," but having to scratch from the Derby with the morning-line favorite was still a bit raw.

"I kinda had my heart set on this," Mandella said.

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