Favourite Omaha Beach scratched from Kentucky Derby with throat issue

Omaha Beach, favourite for the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, will not run in the race after being diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis.

Owner Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farm said on Wednesday evening that he was still having trouble comprehending the turn of events.

"We were all devastated," Porter said of the connections, which include Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella and Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith.

"Where it's really hurting is we made a lot of plans. First of all, Mike Smith and I are good friends. Telling Mike devastated me right away. All my family was coming for the first time for the Derby. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe this had happened, but it did."

Off the track, Porter has won a two-year battle with cancer that went into remission in 2017. On the track, he was devastated by the fatal breakdown of his filly Eight Belles after she finished second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby.

"You know what, I've had some worse things in the last few years, and we're going to go forward and he's going to be ready to win the big races later on in the year," Porter said.

"He's going to have very minor surgery next week, and we hope to have him back racing as soon as late June or early July."

The epiglottis is a triangular-shaped cartilage that lies at the base of the airway just in front of the arytenoid cartilages which cover the airway during swallowing. When an abnormality occurs in this area, it can hinder the performance of horses.

"A little bit of coughing caused us to scope him," Mandella said. "We found an entrapped epiglottis. We can't fix it this week, so we'll have to have a procedure done in a few days and probably be out of training like three weeks. Then we'll have to figure out a whole new game plan."

The scratch allows also-eligible Bodexpress to draw into the field of 20 for the Derby off a runner-up finish in the Xpressbet Florida Derby. The son of Bodemeister will break from post 20. All horses outside of Omaha Beach's assigned post position (12) will move over one position in the starting gate. Programme numbers will not change.

Game Winner, runner-up to stablemate and Derby rival Roadster in the Santa Anita Derby, is now the 9-2 choice on the revised morning line.

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