Inordinate Outruns Syntax in G3 San Juan Capistrano

ARCADIA, CA — Inordinate dug deep in the final 1/8 of a mile and outran favored Syntax by a 1/2-length in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Corey Nakatani, trained by Richard Baltas, and owned by Paymaster Racing, LLC, the 5-year-old Kentucky-bred horse by Harlan’s Holiday negotiated the distance in 2:50.51

“This was a dream come true, ever since I started riding,” said Nakatani, 46, who began his career as a jockey nearly 30 years ago. “I always had a lot of faith in this horse. The way Richard has prepared him coming into this race, and David (Meah) and the whole team over there, they make my job easy.

“We experimented by putting blinkers on him last time and he was more forwardly placed. It got him to the point where he was training forwardly as well. It just didn’t work out in his last race.”

Inordinate, who came off a seventh place finish in the Grade 2, 1 1/2 miles San Luis Rey Stakes here on March 25, picked up his third win from 14 starts. With the winner’s share of $60,000, he increased his earnings to $207,440.

“I don’t know why I put the blinkers on last time,” said Baltas. “We took ’em off today and got a great ride. I thought the top two horses both ran big races. The cheap speed went and these two decided it. It was a helluva race.”

Inordinate and Syntax eased well off of the dueling early leaders Papacoolpapacool and Runasaurus Rex, who posted fractions of 24.50, 49.60, 1:15.17, 1:42.59, and 2:10.23. Power Foot was a close third early and took the lead a 1/4 mile from home before the field went four-wide off of the final turn.

Syntax appeared poised to win from the outside, but after some brief contact with Inordinate, he couldn’t take the victory. The contact resulted in Syntax’s jockey, Rafael Bejarano, claiming foul against Nakatani, a claim that was ultimately not upheld by the stewards.

“He tried hard,” said Bejarano of Syntax. “When there was contact, I thought my horse shifted a little bit. We were second-best today.”

Inordinate returned $7.60, $3.20 and $2.80. Syntax brought back $2.40 and $2.10, while Power Foot paid $3.60 to show.

Santa Anita Park