Om N Joy Wheels Back in a Week, Takes Santa Margarita

In a throwback to the days of yore when trainers regularly ran horses back a week later, Om N Joy successfully jumped up from state-bred competition into the Santa Margarita Stakes (G2). She took on Seismic Beauty, a powerhouse from the Bob Baffert barn, and earned her second set of graded stakes stripes in the May 30 stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita Park. Trainer Aggie Ordonez sketched out tactics precisely when considering the race for Om N Joy. "It couldn't have been more perfect," Ordonez said. "We drew the inside; we're going to save ground. Everybody else wants the lead. If it were in the movies, you'd say, 'That's silly—get realistic, please.' It was just perfect in every way." Five entered, but only four went to the gate upon the scratch of Lemon Muffin. Seismic Beauty, last year's Santa Margarita winner as well as heroine of the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1), went off as the 2-5 favorite, with Simply Joking 19-10, Om N Joy 8-1, and Lavender Love 12-1. When the gate opened for the 1 1/8-mile journey, Simply Joking went to the front, using tactics that helped her win the April 19 Santa Maria Stakes (G3) by 6 3/4 lengths. Though Simply Joking received pressure in both races, Seismic Beauty had considerably more credentials than Nafisa, another graded stakes winner trained by Baffert. Om N Joy, with regular rider Kent Desormeaux aboard, ran last of the quartet for the first half-mile, through Simply Joking's fractions of :22.44 and :45.37. She moved into third on the backstretch and then set her sights on the front pair around the second turn. Even Desormeaux losing his crop in upper stretch didn't deter Om N Joy, who caught and passed Seismic Beauty and Simply Joking with her huge strides. Approaching the wire, she lengthened her advantage, defeating Simply Joking by 3 3/4 lengths in 1:50.03. Six lengths separated Simply Joking and Seismic Beauty. Lavender Love pulled up at the top of the stretch, did not finish, but walked off the track under her own power. "By the time we got head and head, I went to grab my stick and away it went," Desormeaux said. "My riding crop is at the sixteenth pole. She was already passing them—she was fantastic." Om N Joy's road to the Santa Margarita actually began well before the previous week's Fran's Valentine Stakes, a turf race for California-bred and -sired runners. Ordonez was discussing plans with Jerry and Connie Baker, who bred Om N Joy and own her with Michael Golovko and Terrence Scanlan. "Connie and Jerry and I sat in the office at the barn," Ordonez said, "and I presented the plan. They said, 'Well, the grass race is easier—it's Cal-breds—and the other race is her surface.' I said, 'Well, what about both?' It got quiet for a moment, but they liked the idea and I was so glad we could pull it together." Om N Joy won four stakes in a row last year, all on dirt, with the streak culminating in the Torrey Pines Stakes (G3) at Del Mar. That earned her the title of 2025 Cal-bred champion 3-year-old female. However, in four starts on turf prior to the Fran's Valentine, her best finish had been a third. She never relished the going in the 1-mile Fran's Valentine, finishing seventh and last. Entered back seven days later in the Santa Margarita, Om N Joy—and Ordonez—received plenty of criticism from armchair quarterbacks. "If I was nervous about anything, it was about the feedback from other people," Ordonez said. "And if I trained a horse based on feedback from other people, then I might as well just go home and sit down. I know it's not traditional, but if you train horses out of a textbook, they wouldn't have any need for me." Om N Joy is a "big, strong, sound" 4-year-old filly, the trainer said, and that played into the decision, as did her temperament. "She doesn't fret," Ordonez said. "When she goes to the races, she puts her own bridle on. The races don't take a lot out of her." The Bakers bred Om N Joy from their Hard Spun mare Margie's Minute, the first horse they ever owned. Margie's Minute earned $149,090 the hard way, in the claiming and allowance ranks. She also has produced Vodka Vodka, a 5-year-old Stay Thirsty gelding who has won two stakes this year. The Bakers own Vodka Vodka with Ordonez and McLean Racing Stables. Om N Joy and Flyover are 2026 stakes winners sired by Om, a millionaire son of Munnings. Om is standing the 2026 season for $5,000 at Pete and Evelyn Parrella's Legacy Ranch near Clements, Calif.