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.

Post	Silks	Horse / Sire	Rating	Trainer / Jockey	Last Start / Next Start	HRN
1		Mirahmadi Into Mischief	5.74	Bob Baffert Martin Garcia	1st, SA MSW (10/12/2024-R8) 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3	6-1
Last Race Next Race		1st, SA MSW (10/12/2024-R8) 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3
2		Ultra Power Curlin	5.92	Bob Baffert Juan J. Hernandez	3rd, SA AOC (10/26/2024-R6) 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3	2-1
Last Race Next Race		3rd, SA AOC (10/26/2024-R6) 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3
3		Skinner Curlin	6.72	John A. Shirreffs Hector I. Berrios	2nd, DMR AOC (11/01/2024-R1) 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3	5-1
Last Race Next Race		2nd, DMR AOC (11/01/2024-R1) 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3
4		Salesman Dubawi	5.93	Richard E. Mandella Kazushi Kimura	3rd, 2024 Cougar II G3 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3	10-1
Last Race Next Race		3rd, 2024 Cougar II G3 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3
5		Tarantino Pioneer Of The Nile	5.52	Peter Eurton Edwin A. Maldonado	1st, SA AOC (10/26/2024-R6) 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3	3-1
Last Race Next Race		1st, SA AOC (10/26/2024-R6) 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3
6		Mixto Good Magic	7.35	Doug F. O’Neill Antonio Fresu	11th, 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic G1 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3	5-2
Last Race Next Race		11th, 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic G1 2024 Native Diver Stakes G3