Team player Inordinate gets his reward in San Juan Capistrano

ARCADIA, Calif. – Inordinate has gone from being a pacemaker for then-stablemate Flintshire at Saratoga last summer to becoming a graded stakes winner at Santa Anita last weekend. On Saturday, Inordinate won the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes, the lengthiest stakes that has been continuously run on the California calendar.

The victory in the about 1 3/4-mile race came in Inordinate’s third start for trainer Richard Baltas. The win left Baltas thinking of races at Del Mar this summer for Inordinate.

“I think we’ll regroup,” Baltas said on Sunday. “There are plenty of races at Del Mar.”

Options include the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf July 22 or the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf Aug. 19.

Baltas is Inordinate’s third trainer. The 5-year-old horse was stakes-placed when trained by Pascal Bary in France in 2015. Last year, Inordinate was winless in four starts with Chad Brown on the New York circuit. Inordinate finished first in an optional claimer at Belmont Park last June but was disqualified and placed fifth for causing interference.

In the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Belmont Park last August, Inordinate set the pace for Flintshire and then scooted off the rail on the final turn just in time to allow his stablemate to sneak through en route to a win by 1 3/4 lengths.

Inordinate was owned by Juddmonte Farms last year and was acquired last November at Keeneland for $65,000. Inordinate races for Julia and Michael Dowell’s Paymaster Racing.

Inordinate closed from fourth in a field of six to finish a half-length in front of 4-5 favorite Syntax and earn the winner’s share of $60,000 in the $100,345 San Juan Capistrano. Baltas said the extended distance of the San Juan Capistrano worked in favor of Inordinate, who has won 3 of 14 starts. He was unbeaten in two starts in France as a 2-year-old in 2014.

“A lot of horses can’t run that far,” Baltas said.

Inordinate was the first runner for Baltas, 55, in the San Juan Capistrano, which dates to 1955 at its current distance.

“I know it’s kind of lost its luster, but it’s still a good race,” Baltas said.

Baltas has hopes of winning another turf marathon when Place des Vosges starts in Sunday’s Grade 3 Santa Barbara Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/2 miles on turf. Place des Vosges has won her last two starts, optional claimers on turf at 1 1/4 miles on Feb. 24 and 1 1/8 miles on March 26.

Saturday’s main race is the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes for turf milers. Twentytwentyvision, seventh in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 11 in his stakes debut on dirt, is among the 15 nominees.