Kentucky Derby Loses Favorite to Entrapped Epiglottis
The favorite for the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby, Omaha Beach was scratched, confirmed Richard Mandella, the trainer of the 3-year thoroughbred on Wednesday.
Mandella said Omaha Beach is suffering from entrapped epiglottis. The epiglottis is a piece of cartilage shaped in the form of a triangle that sits above the soft palate at the base of the airway.
Due to its location, breathing difficulties can be caused by an entrapped epiglottis and that would make running Saturday’s race difficult without first reversing the problem.
Mandella in his news release said that following Wednesday’s training Omaha Beach’s handlers noticed he coughed. He was therefore scoped and that is when an entrapped epiglottis was found.
Mandella added that the problem cannot be fixed this week which will cause the horse to be out of full training for the next three weeks.
Surgery will take place in Kentucky over the next couple of days and Omaha Beach is officially out of the hunt for the Triple Crown before its even begins.
Omaha Beach’s jockey Mike Smith, who picked the 3-year old over Roadster for his Kentucky Derby ride, now does not have a mount. Bob Baffert the trainer for Roadster said he would keep his current jockey Florent Geroux in place.
With the favorite now out of Saturday’s 1 ¼-mile run for the roses, odds makers have revised their lines to make Game Winner at 4 to 1 the new favorite.
Roadster has the next best odds at 9 to 2 while Improbable has the third best odds at 5 to 1, which means Baffert will have the top three favored horses in the field of 20.
Bodexpress who is Derby-eligible can now draw into the field and start from the No. 20 post unless another horse is scratched from the race prior to the deadline.
