Six horses will match strides at Del Mar Sunday in the 45th edition of the Native Diver Stakes, a Grade 3 affair named for one of California's great racehorses.
'The Diver' won an amazing 34 races and was the state's first racing millionaire and he did it with pure speed, something that should prominent among the half dozen racing Sunday.
It appears the horse to beat in the nine-furlong, $150,000 headliner for 3-year-olds and older is Pegram, Watson, and Weitman's Defunded, a 4-year-old Dialed In gelding who comes in off a front-running score in the Awesome Again (G1) at Santa Anita on October 1, a race contested at the Native Diver distance. Trainer Bob Baffert had veteran jockey Edwin Maldonado on board that day and he'll give him a leg up again on Sunday.
The full field for the Natice Diver from the rail out with owners, riders, morning line odds: Pegram, Watson and Weitman's Azul Coast (John Valezquez, 6-1); MyRacehorse or Spendthrift Farm's Tizamagician (Flavien Prat, 4-1); Hurst Racing Stables' Go Joe Won (Jose Valdivia Jr., 12-1); David Bernsen and Little Red Feather Racing's Newgrange (Ricardo Gonalez, 5-2); Defunded (6-5), and C R K Stable's Parnelli (Victor Espinoza, 6-1).
The post Defunded Among Half Dozen For Native Diver At Del Mar appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
