Ultra Power. (Benoit Photo)
Del Mar Press
DEL MAR, Calif.—Six route horses will contest the 47th edition of the Native Diver Stakes Saturday at Del Mar in a most-interesting mix of speed and stamina in the headline offering on a nine-race card at the seaside oval.
Among the most noteworthy of the runners in the nine-furlong, Grade III hundred grander are Don Alberto Stable’s Ultra Power and Calumet Farm’s Mixto.
The former, a 3-year-old grey homebred by super stallion Curlin, will be gunning for his first stakes victory in his sixth career start. The soph has two special things going for him in the test – his trainer and his jockey. Bob Baffert, who has won the Native Diver four times, including the last three in a row, will bring the colt over from his barn, then give a leg up to top jockey Juan Hernandez, the leading rider in four of the past six meets at Del Mar and also the winner of two of the past four editions of the Native Diver.
The latter horse, a 4-year-old chestnut colt by Curlin’s prolific son Good Magic, has guaranteed himself big-time bragging rights anytime he appears at Del Mar in the wake of his impressive tally in this past August’s $1,000,000 Grade I FanDuel Pacific Classic. He’ll run out of the highly productive barn of trainer Doug O’Neill and be handled by one of Del Mar’s top riders in Antonio Fresu.
Del Mar’s morning line maker, Jeff Siegel, gives all a clue as to how tough it might be to separate these two Kentucky-breds by hanging Ultra Power a slight 2-1 favorite over the 5/2 Mixto.
Mirahmadi, named for the popular race caller, broke through in his ninth try when he was stretched out to a mile and one-sixteenth at Santa Anita October 12 and romped in a straight maiden test.
Tarantino comes into the stakes off a pair of scores in his most recent outings, game efforts in both cases that saw him prove victorious in photo finishes, one at Del Mar and the other at Santa Anita.
Skinner, a 4-year-old by Curlin, finished second in this race last November. He’s been stakes-placed on four different occasions.
The Native Diver is, of course, named after one of California’s greatest racehorses, the Hall of Fame gelding who raced for seven seasons and won a remarkable 34 stakes races. He was wickedly fast and was known as either “The California Comet” or simply “The Black Horse” and became the state’s first runner to earn $1 million. He is buried in Del Mar’s infield.
The Native Diver will be Race 8 on the Saturday card with a post time of approximately 4 p.m. First post as always is at 12:30 p.m.
