Los Angeles Times - 31.10.2019

D6 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

Six months ago, Richard

Mandella sat next to Dr. Fos-

ter Northrop at an im-

promptu news conference at

Churchill Downs. That combi-

nation, trainer and veterinari-

an, is rarely a good sign.

Stoically, Mandella ex-

plained why Omaha Beach,

the morning-line favorite,

would not be running in the

Kentucky Derby. A trapped

epiglottis, a throat issue that

is not life threatening, cost the

trainer his best shot at win-

ning the Derby in his more

than four-decade career.

“It was devastating, to be

honest,” Mandella, 68, said at

the time. “I have done this for

45 years, so, I have seen this

movie and starred in it. ... But I

had a nice note from [owner-

breeder] Arthur Hancock,

and he said: ‘Richard, [Char-

lie] Whittingham was 73 when

he won his first one.’ So, who

am I to think I should be doing

this now?”

Omaha Beach’s projected

three-week recovery turned

into five months. Various

small issues delayed, but ne-

ver canceled, his return to rac-

ing. Omaha Beach will run

Saturday at Santa Anita as

the 8-5 favorite in the $1-mil-

lion Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Omaha Beach’s racing ca-

reer began not with a flash but

as a slow grind. He started as a

turf horse.

“[Omaha Beach] finally

said to me after his last grass

race, ‘Boss, you ought to run

on the grass, not me,’ ” Man-

della likes to say.

The horse’s fourth race

was on dirt and he finished

second by half a length. Then

something clicked, and Feb. 2

he won a maiden race by nine

lengths. Expectations were

high and he was entered in the

Rebel Stakes, which had an

overcrowded field and was

split into two divisions be-

cause Santa Anita had closed

over a rash of horse deaths.

Otherwise, he would have run

in the San Felipe Stakes,

which never took place this

year.

He won the Rebel by a nose

over Game Winner, the 2-year-

old Eclipse Award champion

who at the time was the pre-

sumptive Kentucky Derby fa-

vorite. About a month later,

Omaha Beach won the Arkan-

sas Derby by a length, beating

Improbable and Country

House, the horse that would

be awarded the Kentucky

Derby win after the disqualifi-

cation of Maximum Security.

Then it was on to Ken-

tucky, where cheers became

tears for his connections. Still,

Mandella doesn’t regret how

the year turned out.

“It’s been a great year,”

Mandella said Tuesday after

watching Omaha Beach’s fi-

nal workout before Saturday’s

race. “As a horse trainer, you

learn to live with disappoint-

ments. We have plenty of prac-

tice at that.

“But you don’t get many

that win the Arkansas Derby

and then come back and win

the Santa Anita Sprint. And

the Rebel. You erase the

things that didn’t happen and

you live on what did happen.”

Omaha Beach’s most stel-

lar performance might have

been that win in the six-fur-

long Sprint Championship af-

ter a six-month absence from

racing. He’s not a sprinter.

“He’s a throwback to those

classic horses,” jockey Mike

Smith said after the win. “He

can do anything. Three quar-

ters [of a mile] to a mile and a

quarter. He’s extremely fast

and he’s got tremendous

stamina. When you need him

to be quick, he is. He can do it

all.”

It left Mandella with a di-

lemma: For the Breeders’

Cup, should Omaha Beach be

entered in the Cup Sprint,

Dirt Mile or Classic?

“I was hung up between

short and long, so I went in the

middle,” Mandella said.

Mandella says he feels

good about Omaha Beach’s

prospects Saturday.

“He’s such a smart horse,”

Mandella said. “You’ve seen

the works he’s been doing. He

just does it so nice. ... Whatev-

er he does won’t surprise me

because he’s that good.”

After the Breeders’ Cup,

Mandella has targeted

Omaha Beach for the Malibu

Stakes at Santa Anita, a sev-

en-furlong race Dec. 26, to be

followed by the 1^1 ⁄ 8 -mile, $9-

million Pegasus World Cup on

Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.

“He’s set to go to stud at

Spendthrift, and I know the

agreement reads you can run

him in the Pegasus at the end

of January,” Mandella said.

“And then they could take him

straight to Spendthrift and go

to stud. ... We still get to keep

him a little bit. We’ll see what

happens.”

A win in the Dirt Mile and

the Malibu Stakes could put

Omaha Beach in the picture

for the Eclipse Award for

3-year-old horse of the year.

With a disputed Kentucky

Derby and no real standout

the rest of the year, he could be

the favorite with a couple of

victories. Voting concludes a

few days after the Malibu.

“Let’s not talk about that,”

Mandella said.

Omaha Beach has something to prove

He is the favorite in

the $1-million

Breeders’ Cup Dirt

Mile at Santa Anita.

By John Cherwa

OMAHA BEACH, who was sidelined several months because of illness, works out at Santa Anita.

Getty Images

heralded Corentin Moutet,

beating the 97th-ranked

Frenchman 7-6 (2), 6-4 to

reach the third round of the

Paris Masters. Earlier, Domi-

nic Thiemwithstood 30 aces

from the big-serving Milos

Raonicto win 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-4

and seventh-seeded Stef-

anos Tsitsipasserved 13 aces

in beating Taylor Fritz7- 6

(3), 6-3.

IndyCar team McLaren

added a pair of young drivers

and unexpectedly dumped

veteran driver James Hinch-

cliffe. Arrow McLaren SP offi-

cially named Indy Lights

champions Pato O’Wardand

Oliver Askewas its drivers

for 2020.

Jim Gregory, the Hockey

Hall of Famer and popular

longtime NHL executive best

known for being one of the

first to start bringing Europe-

an players to North America,

has died. He was 83. ... Ducks

general manager Bob Mur-

raysaid defenseman Josh

Mansonwill be out five to 10

weeks with a sprained knee.

Nicolas Benezet and

Nick DeLeoneach scored

a goal as fourth-seeded To-

ronto FC upset second seeded

Atlanta United 2-1 in the East-

ern Conference final at At-

lanta. Toronto will travel to

Western Conference champi-

on Seattle for the MLS Cup on

Nov. 10.

Santa Anita is looking into
the possibility of removing its
dirt surface, where the major-
ity of the track’s 36 horse
deaths since December have
occurred, and going back to a
synthetic surface.
That’s according to Dr.
Dionne Benson, chief veter-
inary officer for the Stronach
Group, which owns the track.
“We haven’t ruled any-
thing out,” she said Wednes-
day.
The drastic measure is be-
ing explored as a way to cur-
tail the spate of deaths at the
track, which is hosting the
Breeders’ Cup world champi-
onships this weekend for a
record 10th time.
In 2007, Santa Anita in-
stalled a mixture of silica
sand, synthetic fibers, elastic
fiber and granulated rubber
with a wax coating after the
California Horse Racing
Board mandated the change
for all of the state’s thorough-
bred racetracks.
The surface experienced
drainage problems the follow-
ing year that cost the track 11
racing days and it was eventu-
ally replaced by another
brand of synthetic that failed
to perform adequately under
the extreme temperatures in
Arcadia.
Statistics showed synthet-
ics reduced the number of
equine fatalities in California.

However, trainers and bet-

tors were among those oppos-

ing the surface change and

Santa Anita returned to dirt

in 2010.

COLLEGES

Oregon women

No. 1 in first poll

Fresh off its first Final

Four appearance, the Oregon

women’s basketball team is

ranked No. 1 in the Associated

Press poll for the first time in

school history.

Oregon, led by guard Sa-

brina Ionescu, received 25 of

the 28 first-place votes from

the national media panel to

grab the top spot in the pre-

season rankings.

No. 2 Baylor, the defending

national champion, received

the other three first-place

votes. Stanford, Maryland

and Connecticut round out

the top five.

Alabama quarterback

Tua Tagovailoareturned to

practice. Coach Nick Saban

said that Tagovailoa could be

“a game-time decision” with a

sprained right ankle but he

was set to practice.

Connecticut freshman for-

ward Richie Springswill sit

out this season as an aca-

demic redshirt. Springs is a

6-foot-9 power forward.

Sam Jankovich, the Mi-

ami Hurricanes’ athletic di-

rector from 1983 to 1990 when

they won their first three na-

tional championships in foot-

ball, died Wednesday in his

native Butte, Mont. He was 85.

ETC.

Hamilton faces

assault charge

Former All-Star slugger

Josh Hamiltonwas charged

with injury to a child after his

14-year-old daughter told his

former wife that he’d struck

her.

Hamilton turned himself

in to the Tarrant County Jail

in Fort Worth and was re-

leased on $35,000 bond. Ac-

cording to a police affidavit,

Hamilton’s daughter told Kel-

ler police that he went on a

rampage Sept. 30. She said

she made a comment to Ham-

ilton that upset him, so he

threw a full bottle overhand at

her, hitting her in the chest,

then began cursing and

shouting at her.

She said he finally threw

her over his shoulder, carried

her to her room, dumped her

on her bed, pressed her head

against the mattress and hit

her legs.

Four-time champion No-

vak Djokovic overcame a

first-set wobble against un-

THE DAY IN SPORTS

Synthetic surface for Santa Anita?

wire reports

A new brush fire in Simi

Valley on Wednesday is dis-

rupting high school sport-

ing events and practices just

as football teams prepare

for the final week of the

regular season and playoffs

take place in other fall

sports.

Several girls’ volleyball

matches have been moved

from Wednesday to Thurs-

day.

Palisades Charter

School was closed on

Wednesday for the third

consecutive day because of

the Getty fire.

The Dolphins’ football

team is scheduled to play at

Fairfax on Friday in a game

that will decide the Western

League title.

Officials have been in dis-

cussions monitoring the sit-

uation.

Brea Olinda had to can-

cel football practice after a

fire broke out near the 57

freeway and Tonner Canyon

Road.

West Hills Chaminade

football coach Ed Croson

said he has players living in

Simi Valley and Moorpark

who couldn’t attend prac-

tice on Wednesday because

of evacuations and other

players who live in Canyon

Country who were evacuat-

ed because of the Tick fire.

He said one of his linemen is

home taking care of the fam-

ily house while his parents

are out of town.

The football playoffs be-

gin next week, and fires in

Southern California and

Northern California are

causing officials at the CIF

offices to plan ahead in case

changes are needed to the

scheduling. Last year’s state

playoffs were delayed a week

because of a similar situa-

tion.

“We’re a little earlier than

last year,” CIF spokeswom-

an Rebecca Brutlag said of

the fire disruptions.

“We have some time.

We’re aware of the situation.

We’re looking at having con-

tingency plans in case we

need them.”

The finals are scheduled

for Dec. 13 and 14 at Cerritos

College for the upper foot-

ball divisions.

City Section football

playoff seedings are Sat-

urday and Southern Section

seedings are Sunday.

The North Coast Section

in Northern California has

extended the regular season

in football by one week be-

cause of the Kincade fire.

Fires disrupting high school sporting events

Officials scramble to

make alternate plans

in case football

playoffs postponed.

By Eric Sondheimer

When Lorenzo Hernandez
was attending Huntington
Park High, he was fascinated
with the Garfield-Roosevelt
football game — from the
enthusiasm of the fans, to the
sheer size of the band and
drill teams arriving on multi-
ple buses at East Los Angeles
College, to the pride of the
players walking onto the field
in their school colors and the
outpouring of community
support.
“I was mesmerized,” he
said.
In 2001, he became coach
at Garfield, calling it “a fairy
tale to come here.”
The 85th edition of the
East. L.A. Classic will be
played Friday night at East
Los Angeles College, and it
will take place one week
before release of a documen-
tary film about the game,
“The All-Americans,” which
opens in theaters Nov. 8.
Written and directed by
Bill McMillin, the movie was
filmed during the 2014-15
school year. Hernandez and
former Roosevelt coach
Javier Cid are featured promi-
nently. The film focuses on
two players from each team —
Stevie Williams and Joseph
Silva from Garfield, and
Sammy Hernandez and
Mario Ramirez from Roose-
velt.
McMillin said he was
relatively new to living in Los
Angeles and didn’t follow
sports when he heard an
announcement on a radio
station that the annual
Garfield-Roosevelt football
game would be played.
“I had wanted to do a
project on immigration that
was different than a lot of
people were talking about,”
he said.
The idea was to make a
film about “what it means to

be an American and take the

temperature down and help

people understand how

similar we are,” he said.

Sports is a uniter, so it

makes perfect sense to tell a

story of the East L.A. commu-

nity while providing an inside

look at the passion before,

during and after the annual

game.

I already learned some-

thing from seeing a screening.

There was Hernandez driving

a police car with a radio

clipped to his uniform. Who

knew that he was a reserve

police officer and dreamed of

becoming a police officer

before he became a teacher

and coach?

“I try to guide the kids not

to make the same mistakes I

see out on the streets,” Her-

nandez said.

This year’s game will have

added importance with the

Eastern League champi-

onship on the line. Each team

is 5-2 overall and 5-0 in league.

Hernandez faces real pres-

sure each year from the per-

son sleeping next to him.

His wife, Martha, is a

Garfield grad. She doesn’t

like losing to Roosevelt.

“She doesn’t care about

any other game except that

one,” Hernandez said. “We’re

trying to get into playoff

contention and she’s worried

about the Roosevelt game.”

McMillin said he followed

the players for three years

after filming began and pro-

vides updates in the credits.

Asked whether there were

any surprises, he said, “Every-

body had told me how loud it

was. Even though they had

told me, I was not prepared

how overwhelming it was. I

didn’t grow up playing high

school sports. The amount of

cheering and booing is one of

the interesting things about

the Classic that I liked. The

level of highs and lows fans

get into is truly unique about

the game.”

East L.A. Classic drama is inspiration for documentary

ERIC SONDHEIMER
ON HIGH SCHOOLS

ROOSEVELT HIGHplayers warm up before facing Garfield in a rivalry depicted in “The All-Americans.”

Delirio Films