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Big Cazanova rolls in Native Diver

Big Cazanova earned his first stakes victory in style when taking the Native Diver (Benoit Photos) Big Cazanova put his speed to good use and earned his first stakes win on Saturday at Del Mar, leading all the way for a comfortable 3 1/4-length victory in Grade 3, $200,500 Native Diver. Elvis Trujillo hustled his mount to the lead from the innermost post position, completing the opening quarter-mile in :23 with a one-length advantage, and the five-year-old ridgling was up by three lengths after a half-mile in :47 1/5. The Peter Miller-trained chestnut was not threatened the rest of the way, finishing 1 1/8 miles in 1:49 1/5 on the Polytrack. "He broke slow on me and I had to send him. But he's such a good horse, I had confidence all the way," Trujillo said. "I work this horse and I've ridden him and I know what a good horse he is. I had confidence all the way today. This horse is just a winner." "When I saw the second split, I felt good. The first split was a little rapid but when I saw :47, we had no excuse from that point," Miller remarked. "This horse is really fast and he just kind of runs them off their feet. That's the way he runs.

"Elvis did a great job slowing them down that second quarter and then kicking around the 2 1/2 (furlongs) before they got to him."

Blue Tone, the 5-2 co-second choice, rallied belatedly to easily finish second ahead of Avanzare in third.

"I'm amazed at those fractions. Seemed to me we were going a whole lot faster than shows on the board. Funny race. The winner breaks slow, he sends him early and he wins. Funny race," mused Blue Tone's rider, Kent Desormeaux.

Big Cazanova opened his racing career in Peru but broke his maiden stateside in his 14th start earlier this year, taking a maiden special weight on dirt at Santa Anita. Two starts later, he reeled off the first of two convincing wins on Del Mar's Polytrack versus allowance/optional claiming rivals.

His first U.S. stakes start resulted in a non-threatening seventh in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park two starts previously and Big Cazanova entered the Native Diver off a fifth in the Las Vegas Marathon on the Breeders' Cup Friday undercard.

Favored at 2-1 against six foes on the speed-friendly Polytrack, the son of Giant's Causeway returned a $6.20 win mutuel and earned $120,000 to improve his overall ledger to 20-4-6-6, $393,692.

Bred in Argentina by Haras de La Pomme, Big Cazanova is out of Morning Bob mare Gem Bob and is a half-brother to Group 1 winner Best Bob.

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