Del Mar: Ultra Power, Mixto lead Native Diver field

Six route horses will contest the 47th edition of the Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar in an interesting mix of speed and stamina in the headline offering on a nine-race card.

Among the noteworthy runners in the nine-furlong stakes are Don Alberto Stable’s Ultra Power and Calumet Farm’s Mixto.

Ultra Power, a 3-year-old grey homebred by super stallion Curlin, will be gunning for his first stakes victory in his sixth career start. The sophomore 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 and give a leg up to top jockey Juan Hernandez, the leading rider in four of the past six meets at Del Mar and the winner of two of the last four editions of the Native Diver.

Mixto, 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 August’s $1 million Pacific Classic (G1). 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, gave a clue 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.

The Native Diver is 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 he became the state’s first runner to earn $1 million. He is buried in Del Mar’s infield.

Mirahmadi, named for the popular race caller, broke through in his ninth try when he was stretched out to 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 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 occasions.