(Winner’s Circle photo from the Santa Margarita Stakes / Photo Courtesy of Santa Anita)

From the Santa Anita Media Team / Victor Ryan:

GRADE II, $200,000 SANTA MARGARITA STAKES QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

KENT DESORMEAUX, OM N JOY, WINNER: “This filly, she’s got ample speed, she’s gone .44 and change before and once that inside horse squeezed between the pair going under the wire the first time they really took off. So that was exciting for me, I was like, ‘Go ahead entertain each other and I’ll be back here.’ But ‘Joy, she just stayed in drive the whole time. She was telling me, ‘When do you want to go Kent? Just when do you want to go?’ At the apex of the turn. In the middle, I got to encouraging her. By the time we got head and head, I went to grab my stick and away it went. My riding crop is at the sixteenth pole. She was already passing them. She was fantastic. “

TRAINER QUOTES

AGGIE ORDONEZ, OM N JOY, WINNER: “This is something that we talked about before we entered in the turf race (Frans Valentine Stakes on May. 23). This was the plan all along, I was very confident with this move. I had a lot of confidence in ‘Joy, and if there is anything that we have learned from ‘Joy, is ‘Joy does things on her time. She chose today to show up. It was a beautiful day to do it.”

OWNER QUOTES

JERRY BAKER, OM N JOY, CO-BREEDER/CO-OWNER, WINNER: “I’m so excited. I am just amazed what a run she put in. You could see her back there start to move and she just went by. It was amazing, absolutely amazing. She just proved herself once again, she is really is something special, really special. What a joy.”

NOTES: The winning owners are Baker Stables, LLC, Michael Golovko, and Terrence J. Scanlan.