By DRF.com
ARCADIA, Calif. (Mar. 18, 2026) — Vodka Vodka and Om N Joy, Cal-bred half-siblings who were second and third in Grade 1 races on March 7, have springtime stakes at Santa Anita on their schedules.
Trainer Aggie Ordonez said Om N Joy, a four-time stakes winner in 2025 who was third in the $300,000 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on dirt on March 7 in her Grade 1 debut, is expected to start in the Grade 3 Santa Maria Stakes, a $100,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on April 19.
Ordonez said the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on May 30, and the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 1 as long-range goals. They are preferred to stakes outside from California, Ordonez said.
“We can try to pick up some of these home races,” she said.
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A 4-year-old filly by Om, Om N Joy was beaten 12 3/4 lengths by the heavily favored Splendora in the Beholder Mile.
Vodka Vodka, a 5-year-old gelding by Stay Thirsty, was second by 4 1/2 lengths to British Isles in the $300,000 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on March 7, the track’s leading race for older males on dirt.
Ordonez said the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup, at 1 1/4 miles on May 25 may include Vodka Vodka. Another option is the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes for California-breds at a mile on turf on May 23. Vodka Vodka won the $175,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic at 1 1/8 miles against statebreds on Jan. 17, his first stakes win.
“It’s nice to have a versatile horse that can win a stakes on turf and run second in a Grade 1” on dirt, Ordonez said.
Vodka Vodka will be nominated to the Grade 3 San Carlos Sakes at seven furlongs on March 29, but his participation is doubtful.
“He would have to be doing pirouettes in his stall to run,” Ordonez said.
Ordonez co-owns Vodka Vodka with a partnership that includes breeders Jerry and Connie Baker and McLean Racing Stables. The Bakers own Om N Joy with Michael Golovko and Terrence Scanlan.
Om N Joy and Vodka Vodka, out of the Hard Spun mare Margie’s Minute, are the two leading runners for the 58-year-old Ordonez, who has trained for more than 30 years.
“It’s great to be in a position to pick up a stakes schedule and try to map out of schedule,” she said.