Dortmund Dominant in Native Diver

Kaleem Shah's Dortmund sure seems to love his home circuit in Southern California.



The 3-year-old son of Big Brown   pushed his record in the region to a perfect seven-for-seven Nov. 28 at Del Mar, taking the $150,000 Native Diver Stakes (gr. III) by an easy 4 1/2 lengths in his first start at the seaside racetrack.



Dortmund tracked frontrunning Majestic City   in second until the final turn of the 1 1/8-mile Native Diver, then blew by in the final turn and pulled away from the field steadily without feeling the whip from first-time jockey Gary Stevens.



Imperative and Iron Fist closed to take second and third, respectively, but could not get close to the Bob Baffert-trained winner. The 3-5 favorite in the field of five, Dortmund delivered $3.20, $2.60, and $2.10 across the board. Imperative paid $3.60 and $2.10, and Iron Fist brought $2.10 to show.



Majestic City clicked off fractions of :23.75, :47.61, and 1:11.36 before Dortmund cruised by on his outside and left his rivals in the dust to hit the wire in 1:48.06. Big Cazanova came in fourth and Majestic City followed to complete the order of finish.



The Native Diver was Dortmund's second straight commanding stakes win since returning from a more than five-month layoff following runs in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I). He won the Big Bear Stakes with authority last time out Oct. 24 in his return to racing.

Dortmund, bred by Emilie Gerlinde Fojan out of the Tale of the Cat   mare Our Josephina, now has an 8-0-1 record from 10 starts, with just more than $1.7 million in earnings.