Prime Attraction Makes the Grade in Native Diver

A day after he scratched out of the Hollywood Turf Cup (G2T), DP Racing's Prime Attraction made his connections look astute with a score in the $100,000 Native Diver Stakes (G3) at Del Mar.

With an ideal stalking trip under jockey Victor Espinoza behind frontrunner Curlin Rules, the 4-year-old Unbridled's Song colt took command late in the second turn of the 1 1/8-mile test and held off late challengers to win by 2 1/2 lengths.

Bob Baffert-trained runners Irish Freedom (second) and Mubtaahij (another length back in third), completed the trifecta, as Prime Attraction hit the wire in 1:49.87.

"The key with him is to not take a hold of him early," Espinoza said. "If you take a hold, he gets all cranked up and wants to go. But if you let him settle—get into a rhythm—then he's fine. He's strong—a really strong horse—and if you have to fight him, you're in trouble."

While Prime Attraction moved by Curlin Rules on the outside in the second turn, 2-1 second choice Top of the Game—who romped last time out in the Comma to the Top Stakes Oct. 28 at Santa Anita Park—was boxed in by Mubtaahij and Irish Freedom on the rail when Curlin Rules began to tire. The Desert Party  gelding checked and lost momentum in the turn and mounted a mild rally in the stretch, but could do no better than fourth.

Curlin Rules set a pace of :23.22 and :47.55 with a clear lead, but the margin was just a head through six furlongs in 1:12.25, as Prime Attraction forced the issue.

Prime Attraction, trained by Jim Cassidy, started to show signs of improvement over the summer at Del Mar, when he finished fourth in back-to-back grass stakes, then was a head away from his first stakes score Oct. 1 in the John Henry Turf Classic (G2T) at Santa Anita.

"Sometimes, no matter what you do, it works out," Cassidy said. "Victor knows how to ride him. You can't grab this colt early. You've just got to hope that nobody sends ... and goes with him early, because he'll go as fast as he can and then he'll tire himself out. He got to go at it nice and easy and he didn't tire himself out today."

He found his first stakes win back on dirt, however, where he broke his maiden late in 2016 and won an optional-claiming allowance in February. Prime Attraction now has a 4-2-0 record from 12 starts, with $235,545 in earnings.

Bred in Kentucky by Payson Stud out of the A. P. Indy mare Strawberry Sense, Prime Attraction was a $335,000 purchase by his owners from Stone Farm's consignment to the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale.