One more comeback for Normandy Invasion

One way or another, you have an opinion on Normandy Invasion. Whether you think he is one of the most talented horses without a stakes victory in recent memory, or you instead believe he is an overrated underachiever, it seems that most racing fans have a pretty strong opinion on the Fox Hill Farms color bearer. Whichever side of the fence you stand regarding the good looking son of Tapit, the good news is you can look forward to another chance to see if you were indeed right about Normandy Invasion. Now five, the winner of 2-of-9 lifetime has been cleared with a clean bill of health to make his second comeback to racing after a long layoff.

Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms announced the good news today that Normandy Invasion had passed “a very methodical and thorough exam” with flying colors. Administered by one of the preeminent veterinarians in thoroughbred racing, Dr. Larry Bramlage, the exam included x-rays and ultrasounds, and revealed that Normandy Invasion has “healed even better than expected” and “should return to training”. Dr. Bramlage also said that the multiple graded stakes placed colt has a great chance of returning to the top level of racing, according to the Fox Hill press release.

You can understand the excitement in having the talented horse back for the folks at Fox Hill, and for his new trainer, Larry Jones, but the question remains, will the next version of Normandy Invasion be the one that finally breaks through and wins a major stakes race?

Long considered the best ‘non-winner of one other than’ in training, Normandy Invasion became the best ‘non-winner of two other than’ in training the last time he returned from a lengthy layoff. Back in late February of 2014, he turned in an electrifying performance in his first start after a nearly ten month break from racing.

On that afternoon, Normandy Invasion blitzed an allowance field at Gulfstream Park with disdainful ease, and in the process broke the track record with a 1:33.13 final time for the flat mile. Once again, the future looked nothing but bright for the colt that had zoomed into the lead on the far turn of the 2013 Kentucky Derby, before fading to finish 4th, in his last race before the layoff.

A good second to Palace Malice in the New Orleans Handicap followed his dazzling return, which was his third runner-up finish in a graded stakes race, along with the Remsen and Wood Memorial, but comeback #1 would soon go downhill for Normandy Invasion. The horse who lost much of his three-year-old season to a deep abscess, disappointed in the $1.25 million Met Mile, and a lung infection was detected after the race. After time off, his return was derailed once again, this time by a fractured sesamoid, last fall. Now we know, Normandy Invasion has another comeback in him.

Extremely unlucky -- or injury prone? Supremely talented -- or not as good as advertised? These questions and more should be answered soon, thanks to the good news today  from Fox Hill. Personally, I tend to think we have still yet to see the best from Normandy Invasion, and I cannot wait to see more from him.