Om N Joy captures her first stakes in the Evening Jewel (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif. — Om N Joy, bet down to 2-1 favoritism from a 10-1 morning line, followed up a maiden win last month at Santa Anita with her first stakes victory in Saturday’s $125,000 Evening Jewel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies bred or sired in California going 6 ½ furlongs at Santa Anita.
With Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux in the irons, Om N Joy was last in the early going before steadily making up ground behind splits off 22.43 and 45.52 seconds for a half mile. When the field reached the stretch, Desormeaux appeared loaded with Om N Joy but found himself blocked behind multiple horses. When a seam did open, Om N Joy shot through and drew off to win by 2 ½ lengths.
“She got to ‘em,” Desormeaux said. “They were all coming back to her down the stretch. I picked a pocket for her to jump through, she took off like she was going to plow through it if she had to.”
Sunset Grazen (12-1) was second followed by Hot Girl Walk (3-1) and Going Deep (7-1).
“She was very brave,” Desormeaux continued of the winner. “She’s huge too. She’s got to be one of the tallest horses on the backside. But she’s agile with her long legs. She’s pretty athletic for a giraffe.”
Om N Joy is trained by Aggie Ordonez for breeders Jerry Baker and Connie Baker and partners Michael Golovko and Terrence J. Scanlan. For Ordonez, this was her first-ever stakes win.
“This meant the world to me,” Ordonez said. “This is the Great Race Place and I am so happy to be here and be a part of such a special day. Everything is first class and top notch so cheers to Santa Anita, thank you.
Om N Joy won in a time of 1:17.85. She was exiting a statebred maiden win March 14 at Santa Anita going 6 ½ furlongs on dirt when making her eighth start. By Om, Om N Joy improved to 9: 2-0-4 with $150,640.
Desormeaux previously rode Om N Joy when she made her first two career starts last summer at Del Mar.
“We were always high on her at Del Mar,” Desormeaux said. “She just needed some time to develop.”
Om N Joy paid $6.20, $3.20 and $2.60. Sunset Grazen, ridden by Armando Ayuso for trainer Blaine Wright, returned $8.00 and $4.80. Hot Girl Walk, with Antonio Fresu up for trainer Carla Gaines, paid $3.60.
