Om N Joy goes last to first in Santa Margarita
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ARCADIA, Calif. – Almost everything broke in favor of Om N Joy on Saturday at Santa Anita, where a wicked pace duel set up her closing rally in the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes for fillies and mares.
Om N Joy ($19.20) rallied from last in the 1 1/8-mile dirt race that unfolded perfectly for the California-bred filly who was wheeling back one week after she finished last in a statebred turf stakes.
While the Santa Margarita front-runners Simply Joking and odds-on Seismic Beauty dueled through a half-mile in a blazing :45.37 and six furlongs in 1:09.30, Om N Joy and jockey Kent Desormeaux bided their time. Desormeaux could sense what was happening with the front-runners.
“They really took off,” Desormeaux said. “That was exciting for me. I’m like, go ahead, entertain each other. I’ll be back here.”
Positioned last of four while running comfortably into the bridle, Om N Joy waited for Desormeaux to give her the cue. On the far turn, Om N Joy commenced her rally, and looped outside into the lane. Then, a problem with his whip at the three-sixteenth pole.
“I went to cock my stick, and away it went,” Desormeaux. Turns out, he did not need it. Om N Joy ran past the tiring speedsters, and drew off by 3 3/4 lengths. The final time of the fast-early slow-late race was 1:50.03.
The pacesetter Simply Joking held second, six lengths in front of Seismic Beauty, who was making her first start in nearly seven months. Lavender Love was eased. Lemon Muffin scratched.
Om N Joy was wheeling back one week after a strange trip finishing last in the Fran’s Valentine on turf. She galloped out super past the wire, and her trainer had already considered running her back in the Santa Margarita before her misfire on turf.
“If I was nervous about anything, it was about feedback from other people,” trainer Aggie Ordonez said. “I know it’s not traditional (running back in seven days), but if you train horses out of a textbook, then they wouldn’t have any need for me.”
Ordonez has made all the right moves with Om N Joy, a 4-year-old by Om who has now won six races and $616,703 from 17 starts. She is 5 for 12 on dirt, and is expected to make her next start in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on Aug. 1 at Del Mar That race is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Om N Joy was the first California-bred to win the Santa Margarita since Warren’s Veneda in 2015. Om N Joy is owned by Baker Stables, Michael Golovko and Terrence Scanlan.
The two Santa Margarita favorites were compromised by circumstances. Seismic Beauty broke a half-step slow, and Simply Joking capitalized on the favorite’s poor start to take the initiative. Jockey Emisael Jaramillo guided her to the lead and the rail. That is usually a good spot.
But into the first turn, Seismic Beauty saw daylight and took off under Juan Hernandez. “She likes to run on the lead, she was a little aggressive,” Hernandez said. “She broke slow out of the gate, and I went a little quick.”
The favorites dueled through the hot pace and were all but done into the stretch. The race was the first start for Seismic Beauty since she finished next-to-last as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
The next filly-mare dirt-route stakes race in California is the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on Aug. 1 at Del Mar. Seismic Beauty won the Hirsch last year.
*** The $2 pick six began with a $51,261 carryover; $363,156 in new money was wagered on Saturday. The pick six paid $245,272 to one winning ticket.
The $2 win payoffs in the pick six sequence (races 4-9) were $6.80 (second favorite), $20.80, $5.40 (favorite), $6.80 (favorite), $19.20 and $6.40 (favorite).
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