Om Will Carry Emotion, Hope in American Stakes

The Sareen Family Trust's Om isn't the highweight in the $100,000 American Stakes (G3T), but he'll be carrying a significant emotional load July 4.

When the son of Munnings   was a speedy, promising juvenile and 3-year-old, he was managed by owner K.B. Sareen's son, Taj Sareen, who dealt directly with trainer Dan Hendricks.

Om famously defeated American Pharoah   in the eventual Triple Crown winner's debut at 2, and Om went on to win his first graded stakes in September of 2015, when he took the Del Mar Derby (G2T) by 2 1/4 lengths.

Less than seven weeks later, U.S. Marine Maj. Taj Sareen died when his F/A-18 fighter jet crashed near London as he made his way back to his home in Northern California from his third deployment in the Middle East. He was 34.

Om has run nine times since, including his Twilight Derby (G2T) victory three days after Taj Sareen's death, but the symbolic significance of racing on the Fourth of July in a race called the American Stakes hits everything a bit on the nose for the Sareen family.

"Running on the Independence Day means a lot," said K. B. Sareen. "Om was his first horse. He basically owned the horse. It was the first time he showed interest in the horses. I took him to the stables and he started to show a lot of interest. I was giving another generation of Sareens a place in the horse business."

From a strictly racing perspective, Om will make his 5-year-old debut Tuesday, after four straight tough-luck losses to end 2016. He was never more than a half-length back at the wire in any of those four races, with the most gut-wrenching outcome being a nose loss defeat to Obviously in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), after jockey Gary Stevens dropped his whip in the stretch. He went winless in six starts—all graded—last year, but placed in five of them.

Om won three graded races on grass at 3—and had another half-length loss in the 2015 Hollywood Derby (G1T)—and has $848,845 in earnings.

"We've been out of racing luck for more than a year and a half," K. B. Sareen said. "Even in 2015 there were races we should have won. But hopefully that changes Tuesday. Dan has been happy with him and I came to watch him breeze. He's looking good and a little more mature."

Hendricks said winter rains in Southern California delayed Om's training at the start of the year, but the horse has been training forwardly for the one-mile American on the Santa Anita Park turf. He covered five furlongs in 1:01 3/5 on the Santa Anita main track in his final timed work for the race June 28.

"Om is ready to go and coming back really well," Hendricks said. "I gave him a short time off after Del Mar (his last start was a third-place finish in the grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap Nov. 26), but when he came back and we had all that rain, he wasn't going to get anywhere, so I just gave more time."

The trainer's patience ultimately led Om to his star-aligned start on a day draped in red, white, and blue—even though he'll carry the Sareen's gold and green silks. But even if Om doesn't win, K. B. Sareen has no intention of his son being forgotten, even in the small slice of the racing world. He has an unraced 2-year-old Into Mischief   colt with Hendricks named Major Cabbie. "Cabbie" was Taj Sareen's call sign in the Marines.

"Every day is a tough day," Sareen said. "But hopefully Om can win on Independence Day for my son. He was a hero."

American S. (G3T)

Santa Anita Park, Tuesday, July 04, 2017, Race 6

• 1m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 3:35 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Hunt (IRE)	Mike E. Smith	122	Philip D'Amato	5/1
98	2Smokey Image (CA)	SCRATCHED	0	UNKNOWN	-
2	3Kenjisstorm (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	Richard Baltas	10/1
3	4Om (KY)	Gary L. Stevens	122	Dan L. Hendricks	5/2
4	5Alert Bay (CA)	Tyler Baze	126	Blaine D. Wright	3/1
5	6Patentar (FR)	Martin A. Pedroza	122	Simon Callaghan	20/1
6	7Si Sage (FR)	Rafael Bejarano	122	James M. Cassidy	10/1
7	8Flamboyant (FR)	Brice Blanc	122	Patrick Gallagher	5/1
8	9Pee Wee Reese (CA)	Joseph Talamo	122	Philip D'Amato	4/1