WITH American Pharoah now retired, the spotlight in the Bob Baffert barn has turned to Dortmund. The towering son of Big Brown, who couldn’t handle American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby or Preakness, returned on Saturday with a powering victory in the Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar.

With Martin Garcia on the east coast, Baffert put Gary Stevens up on Dortmund who said it reminded him of riding another Baffert horse in Preakness and Belmont winner Point Given.

Dortmund cruised home four and a half lengths clear of Imperative in second. Dortmund’s only losses came in the Kentucky Derby, in which he was third, and the Preakness where he was fourth.

“He’s a big, long-striding horse,” said Stevens. “He’s got a big engine. I didn’t know how much acceleration he had. He’s got sprinter speed, but he acts like he can run a mile and a quarter.”

Dortmund has won races ranging from six and a half furlongs to nine furlongs. His next start is scheduled to be in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs on December 26th at Santa Anita.

Later on the card Chiropractor, who had been taken along slowly by his trainer, Tom Proctor, won the Grade 2 Hollywood Derby by a neck from March and Om, the horse who won American Pharoah’s debut race last year.

Jeremy Noseda was unhappy with the ride given to his runner Mister Brightside (9th) by Kent Desormeaux.

MATRIARCH STAKES

Ed Moger Jr sent out his first Grade 1 winner when his mare Stormy Lucy, owned by younger brother Steve, got a Grade 1 win with a 65/1 shock in the Matriarch Stakes, highlight of the final day card at Del Mar last Sunday.

Stormy Lucy was the second-longest shot in the 14-horse field of older female turf horses. She rallied from the middle of the field through the final half-mile of the mile race and got up to beat Recepta by a head. Filimbi, the 5/2 favourite, was third.

Hard Not To Like stumbled at the start and Filimbi was caught in traffic around the far turn, and several runners were compromised when She’s Not Here bore out into the straight.

Stormy Lucy and Kent Desormeaux got a clear run for her eighth win in 31 starts. She had finished third in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive in September and she was fourth in the Grade 1 Gamely in 2014, both at Santa Anita. She had won a Grade 2 and Grade 3 stakes but not a Grade 1. “I’ve been waiting a long time, 40 years,” Moger said afterwards.