Om N Joy will race the boys in Pacific Classic
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DEL MAR, Calif. - There was considerable activity involving the multiple stakes-winning filly Om N Joy at Del Mar on Sunday morning.
Om N Joy worked six furlongs in 1:16, resulting in a conversation between co-owners Jerry and Connie Baker and trainer Aggie Ordonez whether to run Om N Joy in Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic against males at Del Mar or wait for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes for fillies and mares at Saratoga on Aug. 29.
By 9:45 a.m., the team had decided to stay home for the Pacific Classic. Minutes later, Ordonez submitted the entry.
Om N Joy will be the only filly or mare in a field of 11 in the $1 million, 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic, the track’s richest annual race.
“This is the main event,” Ordonez said. “I know it’s tough. The distance is what she wants to go.”
Om N Joy, who will be ridden by Kent Desormeaux, drew the inside post. The other runners, in post position order, are Forged Steel, Finger, Subsanador, Malarchuk, Original Sin, Hit Show, British Isles, Navajo Warrior, Full Serrano and Knightsbridge.
The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
Forged Steel, Original Sin, Hit Show, Navajo Warrior and Knightsbridge are domestic shippers. Knightsbridge, trained by Bill Mott, won the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup at 1 1/8 miles by 10 1/4 lengths at Monmouth Park on July 18, and is the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the Pacific Classic.
Forged Steel won the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita on May 25, but was fifth of 11 after a poor start in the Grade 2 Suburban Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga on July 4. Forged Steel is trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., who also starts Navajo Warrior, who has won his last three starts including the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows on July 11.
Hit Show is best known for winning the $12 million Dubai World Cup in April 2025. He was second in the Suburban Stakes last month.
The lone 3-year-old in the field is the Japanese-based Finger, who arrived at Del Mar on Sunday after clearing quarantine in Los Angeles. Finger has won 4 of 8 starts, the latest the $628,930 Tokyo Derby at 1 1/4 miles at Oi Racecourse in Tokyo on June 10.
Aside from Om N Joy, the local runners are led by Malarchuk, British Isles and Subsanador, who were second, fourth and last of five in the Hollywood Gold Cup, and Full Serrano, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile here in 2024.
British Isles won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March. Subsanador won the Grade 1 California Crown Stakes at Santa Anita in September 2024, but was sidelined with injury until March of this year.
Trained by Richard Mandella, who has won the Pacific Classic four times, Subsanador was found to have dislodged a shoe in the Hollywood Gold Cup. He has displayed quick workouts in recent weeks.
Full Serrano, second in the 2024 Pacific Classic, has not raced since he finished fourth after a troubled start in the Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile at Oaklawn Park on March 28.
Full Serrano is trained by John Sadler, who did not enter The Goat, a 5-year-old Chilean-bred, in the Pacific Classic. Sadler said on Sunday morning that The Goat will start “in another spot” in coming weeks.
The San Diego Handicap was won by Journalism, who was recently retired because of injury. Nysos, winner of the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park on June 6, was considered for the Pacific Classic before he was retired to stud.
Nysos is trained by Bob Baffert, who considered the multiple stakes winner Nevada Beach for the Pacific Classic before opting not to start.
Om N Joy, co-owned by Michael Golovko and Terrance Scanlan, has won 6 of 18 starts, with all the wins in the last 17 months. She has won five stakes, including the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on May 30.
In her lone start at the current Del Mar meeting, Om N Joy closed from sixth of nine to finish second by a half-length in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares on Aug. 1.
The Pacific Classic will be her first start at 1 1/4 miles.
Om N Joy will be the first filly or mare to start in the Pacific Classic since Beholder finished second to California Chrome in 2016. Beholder, a four-time champion and Hall of Famer, won the 2015 Pacific Classic, the only filly or mare to do so.
On Sunday, Ordonez timed the first three furlongs of her six-furlong work in 40.20 seconds, and the final three furlongs in 35.80.
“She’s on top of her game right now,” Ordonez said. “She’s a big, strong, sound filly and she’s ready to run.”
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