Santa Anita Stable Notes Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026

STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN SUNDAY, JAN 18, 2026

• ORDONEZ EYES GI’S FOR STAR SIBLINGS VODKA VODKA, OM N JOY • GRAND SLAM SMILE DOING WELL AFTER 8th STAKES WIN SATURDAY • WORKS: GAS ME UP BACK ON TAB AFTER GII JOE HERNANDEZ WIN • ASTRA STAKES FEATURED ON SPECIAL HOLIDAY MONDAY CARD

ORDONEZ EYES GI’S FOR STAR SIBLINGS VODKA VODKA, OM N JOY

Trainer Aggie Ordonez reported “everything’s great” with Vodka Vodka the morning after earning his first stakes win in Saturday’s Unusual Heat Turf Classic for California-breds.

“He ate all his dinner last night, his legs are cold and tight this morning,” she added. Vodka Vodka won the 1 1/8-mile Turf Classic by a half length under Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux. In his only previous stakes try, which came on Opening Day of the Classic Meet, Vodka Vodka finished fourth on dirt in GII Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes.

Bred by co-owners Jerry Baker and Connie Baker, Vodka Vodka is a 5-year-old gelding by Stay Thirsty out of the Hard Spun mare Margie’s Minute. His 4-year-old half sister Om N Joy, by Om, provided Ordonez last year with her first graded stakes win in the GIII Torrey Pines at Del Mar. The two siblings combined helped Ordonez produce a career-best year in 2025 with $645,233 in earnings, more than double her previous high. Ordonez currently has nine horses in her stable.

“It’s unbelievable to have the two best horses of my career running at the same time. In the barn, healthy and sound at the beginning of a new year,” Ordonez said. “I look back on last year and I couldn’t have dreamed to put something like that together. I almost didn’t want the year to change. I didn’t want to flip the calendar. I thought we can’t possibly keep that going or do it again. Then right off the bat Dark Omen comes up with a giant race to break his maiden here and now Vodka Vodka becomes a stakes winner. It’s more than I could dream.”

Dark Omen, a 3-year-old gelding by Om, was a debut winner on Jan. 10 at Santa Anita for Ordonez and owners-breeders Larry and Marianne Williams.

Next up for Vodka Vodka and Om N Joy could be Grade I’s on March 7 at Santa Anita. Ordonez is eyeing the 1 ¼-mile Santa Anita Handicap for Vodka Vodka, while Om N Joy is a candidate for the GI B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile on the same day.

“I’m a dreamer. I love to swing big,” Ordonez said. “(Vodka Vodka) ran a great race. I think his best race is actually dirt, I don’t think it’s grass.”

Om N Joy is back galloping at Santa Anita after spending “six to eight weeks” on the farm. She closed out the 2025 campaign on Oct. 18 with a fourth-place finish in the GII Raven Run at Keeneland.

“She looks great,” Ordonez. “She looks like a 4-year-old now. She had lost some weight towards the end of last year and I knew she needed some time after to recover after a tough season. “She’s going to be ready in March. I’d like to try her in the Beholder. I know people say ‘wow’ when I say the Beholder, but she’s been ‘wowing’ me for a while.”

GRAND SLAM SMILE DOING WELL AFTER 8th STAKES WIN SATURDAY

Grand Slam Smile became an eight-time stakes winner Saturday when winning the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint for California-breds. She’s never missed the board in 17 starts and has banked $828,120 for owners-breeders Larry and Marianne Williams.

What the ultra-consistent 5-year-old mare by Smiling Tiger has yet to do is win a graded stakes. An attempt at that coveted achievement could be next for Grand Slam Smile, trainer Sean McCarthy indicated Sunday morning.

“We’ll just enjoy yesterday for now and then start looking at things in a little bit and see where we want to go. But that’s what we’d like to do eventually,” McCarthy said. ”We thought yesterday was a good spot to get her going in the new year. We’ll look at graded stakes opportunities here and elsewhere also.”

In the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint on the hillside turf course, Grand Slam Smile broke in front and was never challenged on her way to a 1 ½-length victory under William Antongeorgi III.

Earlier on the card, McCarthy nearly won the Unusual Heat Turf Classic with the filly Hey Jessie. The 4-year-old Grazen filly rallied from second-to-last to finish second by a half length behind Vodka Vodka.

“She’d been training really well. Tearing down the barn as a matter of fact and she showed it yesterday,” McCarthy said. “She made a heck of a run, just couldn’t quite get there. Vodka Vodka is obviously a very good horse.”

As for what’s next for Hey Jessie, McCarthy said “we’ll play it by ear” but added a stakes try on dirt could be forthcoming. She’s ran on dirt only once in nine starts. As a 2-year-old Hey Jessie won the one-mile Soviet Problem for statebreds at Los Alamitos.

“She likes a distance of ground. I don’t think dirt’s out of the question,” McCarthy said. “She obviously won a stakes at Los Alamitos as a 2-year-old. That course for whatever reason does tend to favor turf horses. But she’s always trained well on the dirt so we might look at that.”

WORKS: GAS ME UP BACK ON TAB AFTER GII JOE HERNANDEZ WIN

Gas Me Up, upset winner of the GII Joe Hernandez on the hillside turf course Dec. 29, worked for the first time since his breakthrough victory Sunday at Santa Anita. Other notables on the tab included Buetane, Kristofferson and Bottle of Rouge for trainer Bob Baffert; Almendares and Balnikhov for trainer Phil D’Amato; plus Grade I winner Lovesick Blues and graded stakes winner Hey Nay Nay.

Gas Me Up drilled four furlongs in 47.60 seconds. A 6-year-old gelding by Hard Spun, Gas Me Up won the Joe Hernandez by 1 ¼ lengths at 13-1. He previously finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Buetane drilled six furlongs in 1:11.60. The work came just eight days after finishing second as the favorite in the GII San Vicente going seven furlongs on Jan 10. Buetane is a Tiz the Law colt owned by Zedan Racing Stables.

Kristofferson is a 3-year-old Nyquist colt on the comeback trail for Baffert. He worked six furlongs in 1:12.40. Kristofferson hasn’t started since finishing sixth in the GI American Pharoah when making his second start on Oct. 4.

Grade I winner Bottle of Rouge, who was scratched from last weekend’s Santa Ynez, worked five furlongs in 1:00.40.

Almendares, who is a candidate for this Saturday GI Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park, worked five furlongs on the synthetic training track in 1:00.40 for D’Amato. Multiple graded stakes winner Balnikhov also worked five furlongs on the training track in 1:00.40. The 7-year-old gelding most recently finished eighth in the GII Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar Nov. 28. Lovesick Blues, trained by Librado Barocio, worked five furlongs in 1:01.80. Winner of last year’s GI Bing Crosby, the 7-year-old Grazen gelding has been off since finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1.

Hey Nay Nay, trained by John Sadler, worked five furlongs on the training track in 1:00.20. A 3-year-old colt by No Nay Never, Hey Nay Nay last year won both the GIII Del Mar Juvenile Turf and the Tyro Stakes at Monmouth Park. He most recently was third in the GIII Cecil B. DeMille at Del Mar on Nov. 30.

FINISH LINES: Santa Anta will host a special holiday program on Monday with nine races starting at 12:30 p.m. PT. The feature on the card is the Astra Stakes for older fillies and mares at 1 ½ miles on turf. Headlined by multiple graded stakes winner Mrs. Astor, the Astra goes as the seventh race at approximately 3:30 p.m…Cesar Belmont, a 21-year-old jockey from France, won his first-ever race at Santa Anita Saturday with massive longshot Famous Forza in the third race. Trained by Bill McLean, Famous Forza paid $136.60 for the upset victory…A two-day carryover of more than $78,000 in the $2 Pick Six helped fuel a healthy $9,608 payout for 31 winning tickets on Saturday. The winning horses in the sequence were #3 One Time Gal ($8.40), #8 Vodka Vodka ($3.80), #6 Titanic Thompson ($7.60), #3 Cee Drew ($6.40), #3 Start the Ride ($29.20) and #3 Grand Slam Smile ($3.60)…Sunday’s $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 starts at 1:20 p.m. PT with the ninth race from Gulfstream Park…The annual charity basketball game between Santa Anita Jockeys and Holy Angels Middle School will be held Thursday, Jan. 30 at La Salle High School. Doors open at 6 p.m. and there will be a jockey autograph session starting at 6:30 p.m. Tip-off is 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 with proceeds going to benefit both the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and Holy Angels…Equine scout Larry Zap will be host Tom Quigley’s handicapping guest Monday on the Santa Anita simulcast feed starting at 11:20 a.m.