Throughout the extensive chronicle of American horse racing, the state of California has been a fertile ground for numerous locally nurtured champions.
Swaps, a prominent name from the early age of televised racing, set numerous records. Best Pal, in the 1990s, accumulated over $5.6 million in earnings. Lava Man, a resilient gelding, dominated California’s most lucrative events during the 2000s. The beloved California Chrome secured victories in the Kentucky Derby and earned the title of Horse of the Year twice between 2014 and 2016.
However, some might contend that Native Diver, a brilliant front-running competitor who thrived in the 1960s, stands as California’s greatest homebred. While it’s true that he experienced more losses than wins and primarily competed within California, a simple review of Native Diver’s racing history reveals why he remains celebrated as one of California’s most exceptional homegrown talents.
Owned and trained by Mr. and Mrs. Louis K. Shapiro, Native Diver demonstrated two key strengths throughout his remarkable career: exceptional speed and remarkable resilience. From his debut in 1961 to his final race in 1967, at the age of 8, Native Diver participated in 81 races, achieving 37 victories. Excluding his brief time as a juvenile, Native Diver averaged more than a dozen races annually and triumphed in nearly every significant stakes race in California, frequently multiple times.
Regarding speed, Native Diver possessed it in abundance. Throughout his career, he either broke or equaled seven track records, notably completing seven-eighths of a mile in a swift 1:20 (then a world record) while claiming victory in the 1965 Los Angeles Handicap.
And as for stamina, Native Diver had ample amounts. Complementing his sprinting prowess, Native Diver also displayed the endurance of a top-tier router. His three successive triumphs in the 1 ¼-mile Hollywood Gold Cup, each won by at least 4 ¾ lengths, offer strong evidence of that.
Native Diver’s third victory in Hollywood Park’s premier race in 1967 was a testament to both his talent and his unwavering resilience. The dark brown gelding, almost black in appearance, led from the start to secure a five-length victory in an impressive time of 1:58 4/5. This performance would have been commendable even for a 4-year-old at their peak. However, coming from an 8-year-old competing in his 80th race, the achievement was truly remarkable.
“The fabulous Native Diver, defying age and four rivals, achieved a stunning wire-to-wire triumph … as an admiring crowd of 51,664 showered the king of California Thoroughbreds with a warm and royal ovation,” reported Martin Kivel in the Independent Star-News of Pasadena, Calif. on July 16, 1967.
In some ways, Native Diver was fortunate to be racing at all. Jill Williams, in “Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century,” notes: “Native Diver possessed a wild spirit, injuring his back during a bout of impulsive behavior as a yearling. Consequently, he ran with his head held high to compensate for the injury. His unruly nature left his handlers with no choice but to geld him, but the procedure did little to tame his spirit.”
Perhaps this worked out for the best. Native Diver knew only one way to run – fast from the start to the finish – and his aggressive style served him well for seven seasons. Under the guidance of longtime jockey Jerry Lambert and dedicated trainer Buster Millerick, Native Diver maximized his vast potential and achieved lasting fame. His third victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup made him only the seventh horse in history to surpass a million dollars in earnings.
Native Diver regularly dominated races that remain highly esteemed events today. The Malibu Stakes? He won it by 6 ¼ lengths. The San Francisco Mile? He won it twice, four years apart. The San Diego Handicap? He won it three times, mirroring his achievements in the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Inglewood Handicap.
The Palos Verdes Handicap, the San Carlos Handicap, the Los Angeles Handicap – Native Diver claimed each of these races twice, though not always in consecutive years. Adding in over a dozen other stakes races that Native Diver won at various times, and the sheer extent of his racing record is astounding by modern standards.
One can only imagine how many more victories Native Diver might have achieved had it not been for his untimely passing. In September 1967, less than two weeks after winning the 1 1/8-mile Del Mar Handicap in record time, Native Diver was afflicted with colic. Despite prompt treatment at the University of California, Davis, veterinarians were unable to save the great gelding.
News of Native Diver’s passing spread across newspapers nationwide. “The ‘big black horse’ captivated horsemen and fans every time he appeared on the track,” wrote Ed Romero in the Sept. 13, 1967 edition of the San Francisco Examiner. “For the ‘Diver,’ even a training session was a beautiful sight. His morning workouts were often faster than most horses run in actual races.”
Millerick paid tribute to his stable star by simply telling the Examiner, “He was the best horse I ever had the pleasure of training.”
After seven years of working with the brilliant, black blur, some may have considered Millerick’s opinion biased. However, he might have had a valid point. Upon examining historical records and race results of the sport’s greatest champions, it becomes difficult to find another horse that maintained such consistent success at a high level, across a wide range of distances, like Native Diver.
Note: This story was originally published in 2019 and has been updated.
Fun Facts
- Native Diver concluded his career with 37 wins, 7 second-place finishes, and 12 third-place finishes in 81 starts.
- With total earnings of $1,026,500, Native Diver became the first California-bred racehorse to surpass $1 million in career earnings.
- Native Diver was a son of Imbros, out of the Devil Diver mare Fleet Diver, whom the Shapiros acquired for a mere $3,500 in 1954.
- Native Diver only raced outside of California once, finishing sixth in the 1965 Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park in Illinois.
- In 1978, Native Diver was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest horses to have never won a championship title.
- Native Diver was initially buried at Hollywood Park, the site of many of his most significant victories. Following the closure of Hollywood Park at the end of 2013, Native Diver’s remains were relocated to Del Mar.
