Daytona Diamond © Benoit Photo
The young filly Daytona Diamond, made the odds-on favorite in an eight-horse field in the 34th edition of the $101,000 Generous Portion Stakes for California-bred 2-year-old fillies on Friday afternoon at Del Mar, broke poorly and spotted her rivals nearly 10 lengths at the beginning of the six furlong stakes. But then she dug in and put it in gear.
The dark bay or brown daughter of Tonalist, bred by her Williamson Racing’s owners, closed a gap on the backside, swung wide on the turn for home, then went wider still at the top of the stretch – all the while digging in. Jockey Kazushi Kimura never gave up on his filly, kept her to the task and – with a final closing rush – helped her make the lead and wind up a winner by a half length.
Daytona Diamond ran the six furlongs in 1:12.69 and, as the 1/2 favorite, returned $3 to her backers on a sun-sweet afternoon at the shore.
The winner earned a first prize of $57,000 and is now two-for-two in her brief career with earnings of $105,000.
Finishing second in the dash was Dana Stevens’ Tashie, who had four and a half lengths on the show horse, Lovingier and partners’ Stay Bossy.
Racing resumes at Del Mar Saturday with first post slated for 1:30 p.m.
KAZUSHI KIMURA (Daytona Diamond, winner) – “She didn’t want to go into the gate; then once we got her in there, she was all nervous, shifting about. When we broke she just wasn’t ready. But I stuck with her. I knew she could really close; she did that the first race she ran. She came from way back and won. So today I did what I had to do. I kept riding her. We went wide turning for home but she was picking them up. She’s a good filly.”
CARLA GAINES (Daytona Diamond, winner) – “I was having a heart attack. I thought ‘There goes our win’ because the slow break left her so far behind in the field and then she circled them to boot. I wasn’t sure (she was going to win) until it happened because she was pretty much used the whole way. She was tenacious. We’re so excited.”
FRACTIONS: :22.03 :45.84 :59.44 1:12.64
The stakes win was the first of the meet for rider Kimura and his first in the Generous Portion. He now has four stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the second of the meet for trainer Gaines, and her second in the Generous Portion (Hot Girl Walk, 2024). She now has 22 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The owners and breeders of the winner are Williamson Racing, which is overseen by Henry Williams of Valley Center, CA.