Santa Anita: Nitti rolls home to upset San Juan Capistrano

Making his stakes debut for trainer Leonard Powell, Nitti launched a rally from last on the final turn and blew past rivals in the stretch to win the Grade 3, $100,000 San Juan Capistrano going about 1 3/4 miles on turf Sunday on closing day of the Santa Anita spring meet.

With Armando Ayuso aboard, Nitti (5-1) raced far back as Time Song (7-1) and Hector Berrios set fast early fractions of 23.70, 46.73, 1:10.72 and 1:37.50 for a mile. Tracking Time Song in second was Balladeer (3-1), who had Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux aboard.

“I was not worried about how far back I was. I knew they were going fast,” Ayuso said.

Just past the three-eighths pole, Nitti began his rally. Time Song continued to lead into the stretch through latter fractions of 2:03.50 and 2:29.32. But rolling widest of all and with a full head of steam was Nitti. He stormed past both Time Song and Balladeer inside the eighth pole and drew away to win by 2 1/2 lengths.

“This horse, he is always at the back of the pack,” Ayuso said of the winner. “He knows what he is doing. He’s a smart horse.”

Time Song finished second by three-quarters of a length over Balladeer. Favorite Divin Propos, who was never a factor, completed the superfecta.

Nitti, who had previously won a first-level allowance going 1 1/8 miles on May 3 at Santa Anita, finished in a time of 2:45.94.

For both Ayuso and Powell, this was their first time winning the historic San Juan Capistrano.

“The fractions were very fast, so the first part of the race I was very happy with the trip we were getting,” Powell said. “I got a little worried when Armando decided to track the seven (Divin Propos) and the seven wasn’t moving forward. But then he decided to take course B and it worked out well. That horse has a terrific turn of foot.” 

A 4-year-old gelding by Make Believe, Nitti was bred in Ireland where he was winless in three starts as a 2-year-old in 2023. He made his U.S. debut in February of 2024 and took five more starts to break his maiden. After graduating, he was beaten twice in first-level allowance races before finally clearing that condition last time out.

Nitti is owned by Innergy Racing, Zephyr Racing and Sonny Pais. He improved his overall record to 12: 3-1-1 with $151,398 in earnings.

Nitti paid $12.00, $5.80 and $3.20. Time Song, trained by Jonathan Thomas, returned $8.40 and $4.40. Balladeer, trained by George Papaprodromou, paid $4.40.

Live racing will return to Santa Anita on Sept. 26 for the start of the Autumn Meet.