‘Dream Come True': Trainer Aggie Ordonez ‘Swinging Big' With Star California-Bred Om N Joy
After a 21-year training career, the 3-year-old California-bred filly Om N Joy is providing 57-year-old Aggie Ordonez with several career firsts.The chestnut filly provided Ordonez with her first career stakes win in the Evening Jewel Stakes at Santa Anita in May, and with her first stakes win at Del Mar when Om N Joy won the Fleet Treat over seven furlongs for 3-year-old California-bred fillies by 4 ¼ lengths on July 25.
The daughter of Om out of Margie's Minute (Hard Spun) is owned in partnership by breeders Jerry and Connie Baker, Michael Golovko, and Terrence Scanlan.'Winning the Fleet Treat was a dream come true,' said Ordonez. 'I'm pretty sure she hasn't peaked by a long way. My dreams are getting bigger by the day with this filly.'Ordonez's life has revolved around racing for as long as she can remember. She was born in 1968 to Pete and Julia Anderson. Her father, Pete, was a big-league jockey, riding horses such as Forego, Cavan, Cannonade, and Sword Dancer, and he later trained racehorses, as well.Ordonez graduated in the class of 1990 from Tulane University in New Orleans, La., and went on to work in racing publicity in the afternoons, while galloping racehorses in the morning. As time went on, she realized she wanted to be the one answering the media's questions, not asking them.
She started her first horse in 2004 and relies on what she learned from her father in her training.'My dad had so much respect for a racehorse,' said Ordonez. 'He was so far ahead of everyone in the respect of treating these animals like treasures and putting their well-being first.'Ordonez, like her father, has a kind hand with a horse. She shared that she likes to massage her runners before putting a bridle on them. Several times, Om N Joy has yawned as Ordonez is trying to put the bridle on, causing Ordonez to joke that she might be overdoing it with her attempts to relax her runners.
Om N Joy, who Ordonez calls a 'gentle giant,' is on a four-race winning streak, starting with her maiden-breaking score when she returned to dirt after spending the winter running on turf. Since then, she's dominated the California-bred sophomore filly scene with victories in the Evening Jewel Stakes, Melair Stakes, and now the Fleet Treat Stakes.Ordonez described Om N Joy as a 'gangly' 2-year-old, even doubting that she would make it to the races as a juvenile because of her physical and mental immaturity.'When she first started breezing, if I wanted her to go a half mile, I would tell the rider to go five,' Ordonez explained. 'Because it was in the early days, it took her an eighth of a mile to kind of get the idea.'
Om N Joy surprised her trainer and made six starts at two, including two thirds, before running a distant last in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf in her third start.Ordonez explained that she was hoping to run Om N Joy in a two-turn dirt maiden after she didn't take to the tapeta training track at Santa Anita.When Ordonez couldn't find a routing dirt maiden for Om N Joy, she was left with few options. She could run her filly on the turf, which she probably wouldn't like, or run her against the best juvenile fillies California has in the Oak Leaf Stakes, where she might be outclassed.'I know that's a crazy move, but sometimes when you know you've got something special in a young horse, you have to give them an opportunity to prove you're wrong,' said Ordonez.
It wasn't Om N Joy's day in the Oak Leaf, but now she's the second-highest earner from that field, only trailing G1 winner Tenma.With Del Mar's summer meet in full swing, Ordonez is at a crossroads with her star filly.Will she run against older California-bred fillies and mares on the turf in the Solana Beach Stakes on Aug. 17, or stay on her preferred surface but against open company in the G3 Torrey Pines on the Pacific Classic undercard on Aug. 30?'It's a Grade 3,' Ordonez said. 'That's a big step, but here I go again, swinging big.'
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Jul 29, 2025, where it first appeared.
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