Santa Anita: Nakatani heating up

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Corey Nakatani has had several multiple-win days in recent years.

On Saturday, he rode four winners on the 10-race program, including Qiaona in the California Distaff Handicap on the hillside turf course. In 2012, Nakatani had four winners at Aqueduct on April 7 and had five wins the following week at Oaklawn Park. On Oct. 8, 2011, Nakatani rode six winners at Belmont Park.

Nakatani’s four wins Saturday were in the final races, leading to a 50-cent all-Nakatani pick four that paid $4,104. Qiaona ($19.60) won the first leg, followed by Door’s Open ($12.60) in an optional claimer for sprinters, Empty Headed ($8) in an optional claimer on turf, and Eddie’s Turn ($24.20) in a maiden race for 2-year-olds.

“The horses were doing good, and all you can do is make the right decisions,” Nakatani said. “Everything came together.”

The four-win day left Nakatani tied for first in the jockeys’ standings with Smith and Bejarano with nine wins through Saturday.

For the Breeders’ Cup, Nakatani said he is looking forward to riding Unbridled’s Note in the BC Turf Sprint on the hillside. He expects other mounts to become available in the next few weeks before the event Nov. 1-2.

“We’re still a few weeks out,” Nakatani said. “They’ll be some movement with guys who ride more than one horse.”

Last Thursday, Nakatani switched agents, replacing Jim Pegram with Tony Matos. The move came a day after jockey Garrett Gomez told Matos that he did not intend to ride in the near future.

As of Sunday, it was unclear how long Gomez planned to remain inactive, or whether he would return to racing. Gomez, who missed racing in part of June and July to undergo counseling for alcoholism, has not returned phone calls in recent days.

Nakatani, who turns 43 on Oct. 23, said Sunday that he wanted to work with Matos when he returned from riding on the East Coast in the summer of 2012 but was unable to do so because of the agent’s involvement with Gomez.

“I talked about it before,” Nakatani said. “I started out with Tony. When I came back from back East, I wanted to get Tony.”