Bob Baffert came out of a strong Breeders’ Cup with choices to make about when and where Dirt Mile winner Nysos, Filly & Mare Sprint winner Splendora and a barn full of potential stars of 2026 will race next.

For one of them, there’s no waiting: Nevada Beach, who was overmatched when he finished seventh behind Forever Young in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, is back in competition just three weeks later to run Saturday at Del Mar in the $100,000, Grade III Native Diver Stakes.

The 1⅛-mile Native Diver looks like an easy if not especially lucrative spot for the 3-year-old whose victories in the Los Alamitos Derby and Grade I Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita make him the only stakes winner in a field with Indispensable, Westwood, British Isles and Clouseau.

“That (Breeders’ Cup Classic) was a tough race, and he just couldn’t hang with them,” Baffert said Thursday. “But I think he’s a nice horse. He’ll get better. We’ll see what he does (Saturday).”

Nevada Beach, who’ll be ridden by Juan Hernandez, belongs at the top of the Hall of Fame trainer’s roster of still-improving soon-to-be-4-year-olds who could make a mark on the older-horses division at Santa Anita and elsewhere starting this winter. They include Goal Oriented, Rodriguez, Barnes, Privman, Gaming and Madaket Road. Citizen Bull has been retired.

The Native Diver may be Baffert’s preview of coming attractions.

Del Mar racing is scheduled to resume Saturday after it was canceled Friday because of expected rain, and an extra card was added Monday.

A $51,879 carryover in the pick 6 awaits Saturday bettors. It was assured when Low Expectations got up in Sunday’s nightcap and paid $42.80. Low Expectations was one of six winners to rally from fifth or more on a track drying out following Saturday’s rainout.

Jeriko, under Jesus Ayala, and Empressum, with Rodrigo Vallejo, earned the final two spots in the Dec. 13 Champion of Champions by running 1-2 in the faster of two divisions of the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials on Sunday.

Empressum, the 2022 and 2024 Champion of Champions winner, and Jeriko will face major stakes winners Stanley Cartel, FDD Dreams, Scoops Dynasty, Hott Temptation, RC Corona King, Unrelentless, Hooked N Gone and Norco.

An early steppingstone for Santa Anita Derby hopefuls was lost when Del Mar canceled the Bob Hope Stakes after the $100,000, Grade III race at 7 furlongs failed to draw enough entries for its original date Sunday or its intended new date Friday.

The Bob Hope was a lead-in to the Los Alamitos Futurity in December and was key to the development of two recent Santa Anita Derby winners. Practical Move finished third (to Havnameltdown) at 9-1 in 2022 before winning the Los Al Futurity. Stronghold ran second (to Nysos) at 9-2 in 2023 and then ran second (to Wynstock) in the Los Al race.

Amid California’s horse shortage, Baffert said: “For the Bob Hope not to be able to fill, that was sort of reality starting to check in.”

Purses at Santa Anita’s Dec. 26 to April 5 “Classic Meet” will see slight increases at the sub-stakes level but decreases for three graded stakes, according to racing executives and a schedule released this week.

The stakes absorbing cuts include the Grade III Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 7 ($200,000 to $100,000) and Grade II San Felipe Stakes on March 7 ($300,000 to $200,000), both stops on the way to the Grade I Santa Anita Derby on April 4 (which remains at $500,000, the richest purse of the meet).

Santa Anita, Del Mar and the Los Al thoroughbred meets have raised non-stakes purses this year after the elimination of racing in northern parts of California sent more betting revenue to the southern tracks.

The prospects for California racing north of Arcadia improved when a six-month harness meet to start in November 2026 at the Fresno fairgrounds was approved by the California Horse Racing Board on Wednesday.

Racing would be held during the day – the Fresno site has no lights – and run by the harness operators who lost their lease in Sacramento in May.

The death of the winless 2-year-old gelding Whole Shebang from an injury in training Nov. 17 at Santa Anita is the 30th horse fatality in racing and training at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos since the start of the California racing season Dec. 26, 2024, according to an unofficial count based on CHRB data.

That number, which includes deaths from musculoskeletal and other causes, is four less than occurred in the same period last year and one less than the average for recent years.

An accident in a claiming race at Aqueduct last Friday killed the 4-year-old New York-bred Heavyweight Champs, sidelined jockey Dylan Davis indefinitely with collarbone and rib fractures and a partially collapsed lung, caused Ricardo Santana Jr. to fall too, and forced Chris Elliott and Lane Luzzi to ease their horses.

Racing Hall of Fame writer Jay Hovdey pointed out that all four riders involved are sons of jockeys: Robbie Davis, Ricardo Santana, Stewart Elliott and Mike Luzzi.

“The family business is tough,” Hovdey wrote on X.

(Through Sunday)

Jockeys / Wins

Mirco Demuro / 10

Antonio Fresu / 8

Umberto Rispoli / 7

Hector Berrios / 6

Armando Ayuso / 6

Tiago Pereira / 5

Edwin Maldonado / 5

Juan Hernandez / 5

Trainers / Wins

John Sadler / 6

George Papaprodromou / 6

Doug O’Neill / 5

Steve Knapp / 4

Steve Miyadi / 3

Jeff Mullins / 3

Bob Baffert / 3

Leonard Powell / 3

DEL MAR

Saturday

• $100,000, Grade III Native Diver Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 1⅛ miles

Sunday

• $100,000, Grade III Red Carpet Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1⅜ miles on turf