DEL MAR, Calif. – The streaking California-bred filly Om N Joy took it to six Kentucky-bred rivals in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Del Mar.
Om N Joy ($10, third choice) reeled in longshot pacesetter So There She Was in deep stretch of the dirt mile, inching clear by a half-length in 1:37.99. It was 1 1/4 lengths farther back to third-place Tenma, the odds-on favorite making her first start in nearly four months.
The win by Om N Joy was the first graded stakes for trainer Aggie Ordonez, and first graded stakes for jockey Kent Desormeaux in more than two years. Ordonez called the connection between Desormeaux and Om N Joy “magical.”
Desormeaux regained the mount on Om N Joy in spring at Santa Anita following a maiden win in her eighth start. Om N Joy is now 4 for 4 under Desormeaux, all stakes. Before the race on Saturday, Ordonez told anyone listening Om N Joy had progressed since her dominating win July 25 in the seven-furlong Fleet Treat Stakes for Cal-bred fillies.
“She gives you what she has, she doesn’t worry about things, she doesn’t fret,” Ordonez said. “Where (Desormeaux) puts her, she’s happy with it. And when it’s go time, she goes.”
Desormeaux positioned Om N Joy three-wide in sixth position, not far from the slow-pace front-runner So There She Was. Desormeaux crept closer on the far turn, and Om N Joy was within two lengths of the lead at the quarter pole.
Om N Joy angled out, took aim, and pulled away late for her fifth straight victory and first in a graded stakes. So There She was, whose half-mile time was a leisurely :47.15, held second. The odds-on favorite Tenma had a built-in alibi: it was her first start since May.
“She kind of bobbled a little bit out of the gate and was a little bit rank,” Tenma’s jockey Juan Hernandez said. “She ran a good third. I just think she needed the race.”
Om N Joy is owned by Jerry and Connie Baker, Michael Golovko and Terrence Scanlan. The filly, sired by Om, has won five races and $401,140 from 12 starts. Prior to the Fleet Treat and Torrey Pines at Del Mar, Om N Joy won the Even Jewel and Melair Stakes for Cal-breds at Santa Anita.
Ordonez was thrilled with her first graded stakes, and proud of her filly. “Some girls like diamonds, some girls like jewels,” Ordonez said. “I like that kind of stride on a big, red mare.”
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