DEL MAR, Calif. – Two fillies from opposite sides of the country and with opposite styles of running share the same objective Friday at Del Mar – win the $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for 3-year-old fillies bred in California.
They will not get in each other’s way. Om N Joy is a West Coast late-runner shortening to seven furlongs after a come-from-behind win in a stakes route at Santa Anita. Drink This Cup is an East Coast front-runner stretching out after she wired a fast allowance sprint at Delaware Park.
Neither Om N Joy nor Drink This Cup is a cinch in the 12-runner Fleet Treat, nor was neither supposed to be this good this soon for these connections. Trainer Aggie Ordonez recalls the first time she saw Om N Joy at the track. “She stepped off the van – this great, big, gangly filly – and I said, ‘I don’t know if we’ll get her to the races as a 2-year-old, but she’ll be a force when she’s 3, 4, 5.’ And I still believe that.”
Om N Joy raced six times at 2, and lost her first seven starts, before the light bulb went on and she went on a tear. Om N Joy, the first stakes winner sired by Om, has won three straight races, including two California-bred stakes for owner-breeders Jerry and Connie Baker. Michael Golovko and Terry Scanlan are co-owners.
Ordonez said Om N Joy is nearly 17 hands. “She’s long-legged, and long-bodied, and every time I look at her, she’s better looking,” Ordonez said. “She has physically filled out and grown. She’s a huge filly, and she’s slowly gotten better.”
The challenge facing Om N Joy on Friday is her closing style. Om N Joy produced no speed in either recent start. Ordonez worked her a sharp half-mile last week, her 47.80-second drill was the fastest of her career. “Now that I’m turning her back, I’m saying, ‘Girl, you’ve got to wake up a little bit,’ ” Ordonez said. “We sharpened her claws a little bit for this [race].”
Om N Joy is jockey Kent Desormeaux’s first mount of the meet, in a race that could set up for her closing style. Front-runners include Drink This Cup, trained by Michael Stidham. The filly is owned by the Battle Born Racing partnership headed by Nick Hines, and William Branch.
Hines was bidding on the unraced Drink This Cup last spring at a 2-year-old sale, but he stopped at $14,000. The winning bid was $15,000. Hines felt instant regret he did not go higher. Hines contacted the winning bidder, struck a deal, and took ownership of the Stay Thirsty filly.
Drink This Cup is “Virginia-certified,” which means she was stabled in Virginia for at least six months and therefore eligible for restricted races in Virginia, including lucrative stakes at Colonial Downs. That is why a California-bred ended up in the East.
After a runaway debut victory last fall at Delaware, Drink This Cup had a setback that needed time. Her spring comeback was a seventh-place debacle. “There was a bunch of speed in the race, and my rider tried to rate her and get her back off the speed, and she resented it,” trainer Michael Stidham said. “And on the sloppy track, she didn’t run at all under those conditions.”
But next out, from the outside post, Drink This Cup used her speed. She popped the gate and was gone at six furlongs. New jockey Juan Hernandez will employ similar tactics Friday.
“We’ll have the same [plan] for this race,” Stidham said. “I know we’re going seven-eighths of a mile, which will be a little farther, but she’s quick away from there. We’ll let her break running and then see.”
Drink This Cup arrived at Del Mar on July 16. Jockey Juan Hernandez, who will be aboard Friday, worked her a smooth half-mile July 19. To win the Fleet Treat, Drink This Cup must put away pace rivals Hurricane Layla and Fibonaccis Ride.
In the 10 years since Del Mar reinstalled dirt, the Fleet Treat has run to form – four winners were favored, four were second betting choice.
Ellen Jorth switches to dirt after winning her debut and finishing third in an allowance. Trainer Phil D’Amato is less concerned about footing, more with distance. “She’s trained well on dirt,” he said. “I do think at the end of the day she really wants to run two turns. Win, lose, or draw, after [Friday] I’ll stretch her out.”
Antonio Fresu rides Ellen Jorth.
The field includes Del Mar stakes winner In the Air Tonight, route-to-sprint upset candidate Lady Mendelssohn, Going Deep, Cooling Off, Young Love, Hot Girl Walk, and Sunset Grazen.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.