Sadler plotting BC Classic course for Higher Power

DEL MAR, Calif. – The lawn jockey in the center of the paddock at Del Mar for the past year has been painted in the colors of Hronis Racing, who won last year’s Pacific Classic with Accelerate. After Saturday’s win by Higher Power, there’s no need to call SherwinWilliams.

“We saved them money,” trainer John Sadler said Sunday morning. “They don’t need to paint it.”

Sadler and brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis won the Pacific Classic for the second straight year, with Higher Power following in the footsteps of Accelerate. He romped by 5 1/4 lengths, earning a first prize of $600,000, a Beyer Speed Figure of 107, and a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

Sadler and the Hronises won the Classic with Accelerate last year, at Churchill Downs.

Higher Power’s victory, the development of Fawree – who won an allowance race Saturday – and the return to training of Santa Anita Handicap winner Gift Box following a minor setback gives Sadler a strong hand in the local older horse division in coming months.

Sadler said Higher Power looked good Sunday morning. He said he likely would work Higher Power once at Del Mar – whose closing day is Sept. 2 – before leaving for Santa Anita and formulating a concrete race plan.

“Every horse is different,” he said. “Two years ago Accelerate had too much spacing coming into the Breeders’ Cup, and it didn’t go well. Last year, we prepped in the Awesome Again, and it set him up well. We’re in a good spot with this horse. We’ll get up to Santa Anita, wait and see what’s what.”

Gift Box will be on a similar work schedule, Sadler said. He has not raced since finishing fourth in the Stephen Foster on June 15 at Churchill.

“Hopefully, we’ll breeze him once before we leave here, then train him at Santa Anita and see what to do,” Sadler said.

Fawree earned himself a chance in the Grade 1 Awesome Again on Sept. 28 at Santa Anita, Sadler said, after recording his third straight victory Saturday. He won a $20,000 claiming race May 24, then a starter allowance July 6 at Los Alamitos before a second-level allowance win Saturday, all since Sadler took over as his trainer.

“I think dirt,” Sadler said when asked why Fawree, a 5-year-old gelding by Candy Ride, had suddenly blossomed. “He had been running on synthetic up north. He got a huge fig” – a 92 Beyer – “in the starter allowance. He’ll get a shot in the Awesome Again.”

Fawree earned a 96 in the allowance win.

– Jay Privman

Omaha Beach improving fast

Omaha Beach could resume training by the end of the week after his summer schedule was disrupted over the weekend by illness, trainer Richard Mandella said.

Widely considered one of the nation’s leading 3-yearolds, Omaha Beach will miss a scheduled start in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes for 3-yearolds at a mile on Sunday at Del Mar. Mandella said Sunday that Omaha Beach had shown improvement over the weekend and that a blood test “was good.”

“It’s a virus, not an infection,” Mandella said. “He had a temperature of 101 and a fifth, barely over normal. There was a little something there. Hopefully, it won’t take long to get him back to the track. He could be training by the end of the week, if it all goes good.”

The tentative plan is to start Omaha Beach in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes on Sept. 28 at Santa Anita, he said. The $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes is run at 1 1/8 miles and would be Omaha Beach’s first start against older males.

Omaha Beach won the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in April and missed the Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs when he was diagnosed with an entrapped epiglottis that required a minor procedure.

Omaha Beach was rested through May and returned to California in June. Mandella said Omaha Beach’s throat was examined Saturday morning as a precaution and that no abnormalities were found.

Owned by Rick Porter, Omaha Beach has won 3 of 7 starts and earned $1,121,800. He won a division of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in March in his stakes debut.

In April, Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky acquired the stallion rights to Omaha Beach at the conclusion of his racing career. Mandella said Sunday he is hopeful Ohama Beach will race as an older horse.

“I hope he can race again next year,” he said.

Mandella had a difficult weekend with horses intended for stakes. United, second in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at Santa Anita in May, was withdrawn from Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap because of illness. Bombard, who won the restricted Wickerr Stakes at a mile on turf July 21, was scratched from Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Mile because of a bruised foot.

Mandella was uncertain when United would race again.

“I’ve got to find a race now,” he said. “He’s jumping out of his skin.”

Amalfi Sunrise out of training

Amalfi Sunrise, the unbeaten winner of the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar earlier this month, has been taken out of training and will undergo diagnostic tests in coming days, trainer Simon Callaghan said Sunday.

It was not immediately clear how long Amalfi Sunrise would be sidelined, but the setback will prevent a start in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 31.

“She’s going to need some time off,” Callaghan said. “It looks like it might be a tibia. She’s sore behind. We’ll do some diagnostic work this week.”

Owned by Doug Branham and Marsha Naify, Amalfi Sunrise won her debut in a maiden special weight race at 4 1/2 furlongs by 6 1/4 lengths on June 23 at Santa Anita and her stakes debut in the Sorrento Stakes at six furlongs by six lengths on Aug. 3 at Del Mar.

By Constitution, Amalfi Sunrise was purchased for $195,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s sale of 2-year-olds in-training in April for $185,000. She has earned $159,000.

–Steve Andersen