It was a long road back to the winner's circle for Paymaster Racing's Inordinate, but he found his way back April 22 at Santa Anita Park.
The 5-year-old Harlan's Holiday horse ended an 11-race winless streak dating back to September of 2014, when he won an allowance race at Longchamp in France, with a marathon turf score in the $100,000 San Juan Capistrano Stakes (G3T).
The Richard Baltas trainee raced in fourth under jockey Corey Nakatani through much of the about 1 3/4-mile grass test, split horses on his final trip through the stretch and outfinished 4-5 favorite Syntax to win by a half-length.
Last-out claimer Runasaurus Rex set the pace in the race that began down the Santa Anita hillside turf course and set fractions of :24.50, :49.60, 1:15.17, and 1:43.94 through a mile, as Papacoolpapacool raced just off the leader. The pace quickened in the backstretch as Power Foot pressed the frontrunners, setting up the closing runs from Inordinate and Syntax. Inordinate hit the wire in 2:50.51.
Video: San Juan Capistrano S. (G3T)
"The cheap speed went and those two decided it," Baltas said. "It was a hell of a race."
It was Inordinate's third start for Baltas. He raced four times in for trainer Chad Brown in 2016—and actually crossed the wire first but was disqualified in his second U.S. start at Belmont Park—following his first seven races in France.
Bred in Kentucky by Juddmonte Farms, out of the Warning mare Out of Reach, Inordinate was a $65,000 purchase by Baltas assistant David Meah, agent, out of the 2016 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
"I always had a lot of faith in this horse," Nakatani said. "The way Richard has prepared him coming into the race, and David and the whole team over there—they make my job easy."
