Connie and Jerry Baker experienced a bit of Breeders' Cup-reflected glory last year when their homebred Vodka Vodka won the first race Oct. 31 at Del Mar. In the allowance optional claimer, Vodka Vodka stormed home by 2 3/4 lengths in the opener amid the huge crowd and all of the purple Breeders' Cup logos and decorations.
"It was the most thrilling thing that you can imagine," Connie said. "We have a lot of people who follow the horses, and there were easily 100 people there cheering for him, screaming and yelling and having a great time. For it to be the lead-up to the start of the Breeders' Cup was really special."
This year could be even more special if Vodka Vodka wins the Sept. 26 Goodwood Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park. With the race part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, victory comes with a fees-paid, automatic berth to the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Keeneland, which would mean that in 2026, the Bakers could be rooting for Vodka Vodka in an actual Breeders' Cup event instead of a race on the undercard.
In fact, they have two Breeders' Cup chances this weekend at Santa Anita because Vodka Vodka's half sister Om N Joy goes in the Sept. 27 Zenyatta Stakes (G2), a Challenge Series event for the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).
All of this success traces back to the Bakers' first racehorse Margie's Minute, the dam of Vodka Vodka and Om N Joy. They owned her with several others, and after Margie's Minute finished racing, the Bakers decided they loved her too much to part with her. So they went into the breeding business.
Margie's Minute has amply repaid them by producing two of the best California-breds currently in training. When she developed laminitis a couple of years ago, the Bakers tried valiantly to save their mare. But she lost that battle earlier this year.
"We'd been treating it and trying everything imaginable," Connie said. "It was really heartbreaking. We tried putting her in a hyperbaric chamber; they designed special shoes for her. There was just no way to save her."
The Bakers insisted that Margie's Minute not suffer, and thus made the difficult decision to euthanize her. Though they continue to miss her, they remember the mare through her offspring. Margie's Minute has produced six foals for the Bakers, who have creatively named each of them.
Vodka Vodka, a 5-year-old gelded son of Stay Thirsty , received his name from a visit the Bakers made to The Derby restaurant near Santa Anita after the races. As Connie tells the story, a waitress came by to take their drink orders.
"He said, 'I'll have a vodka.' She said, 'What would you like with your vodka?' He said, 'Vodka,' and the woman said, 'So you'll have a vodka vodka?' And he said, 'Yes, I will.' That's how the horse got his name," Connie recalled.
The Bakers love music and have named several foals for bands and song lyrics, including Sugar Kisses, the mare's first foal, and Hot Hot Heat, her unraced 3-year-old.
Then there was Zzyzx, a name known by anyone who has made the drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. In the middle of nowhere is the exit for Zzyzx Road, and the Bakers named Margie's Minute's 2020 filly by Goldencents after the unusually named avenue.
"We were driving to Vegas," Connie recalled, "and we had read a Michael Connelly book where a lot of it takes place at the end of Zzyzx Road. So we said, 'Well, we've never been down that road before,' and my husband said, 'Let's go now.' So we hopped off the freeway and went all the way to the end."
Neither Sugar Kisses nor Zzyzx became stakes winners, but Vodka Vodka and Om N Joy have both cemented Margie's Minute's place as a top broodmare, whose four starters are all winners. Vodka Vodka this year has won the Sunland Park Stakes and Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes, and he ran second to British Isles in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1).
Om N Joy, a 4-year-old daughter of Om, was named champion California-bred 3-year-old female of 2025 and has won five stakes, including this year's Santa Margarita Stakes (G2). She most recently finished fourth against males in the Pacific Classic Stakes (G1).
Aggie Ordonez trains both horses for the Bakers, who have put together partnerships on the horses with friends. They own Om N Joy with Scanlan Racing and Michael Golovko, and Vodka Vodka with McLean Racing Stables, William Gorman, Anthony and Rachel Parsons, Delbert Williams, and Ordonez.
"Vodka Vodka was always a bit of a bully in the pastures," Connie said. "He would do what you told him to, but it was not an easy process. When Aggie first saw him, she fell in love with him. And so she bought 5% of him right off the bat. She loves him. She calls him her boyfriend with a tail."
Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux completes the team, riding both Vodka Vodka and Om N Joy. If all goes well at Santa Anita, that team will move up considerably at this year's Breeders' Cup at Keeneland from the mere allowance race they participated in a year ago at Del Mar.
