Del Mar racetrack
Plans were made for Paynter to run additional races before the Breeders' Cup Classic in the fall. His next race was the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 27, 2013. Shortly after his arrival at Del Mar racetrack in early July, Paynter was profiled on TV, showing that his usual temperament was back to normal, as the camera showed him attempting to nip Baffert. Running for the first time on a different synthetic surface, Polytrack, in the grade 2 race, Paynter was the 3–5 favorite, and at 122 pounds carried the most weight. After running close to the pace and taking the lead in the homestretch, he lost by a half-length to a late-running horse, Kettle Corn, at the finish. Jockey Bejarano believed the polytrack surface was a factor in his loss. "He never seemed comfortable out there, I felt like I had plenty of horse, but he just wasn't liking what he was doing ... he didn't have enough at the end." Nonetheless, purse money for his placing put him over one million dollars in lifetime winnings.