And that's the reason we have one of the most intriguing horses, trainers and stories of the 18th running of the signature race of the summer meeting here to ponder.

JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune Giuseppe Iadisernia, with his son, Joe, has gelding Delosvientos running in the Pacific Classic.

Giuseppe Iadisernia, the 49-year-old owner and trainer of the 5-year-old gelding Delosvientos, is of the Seventh-day Adventist faith, which observes Saturday, the original seventh day on the Judeo-Christian calendar, as the Sabbath. Which means for him no work and no racing on Saturdays. Which means . . .

“No Breeders' Cup. No Kentucky Derby. Nothing,” said Iadisernia's son, Joe, citing the two biggest annual Saturday events on a racing calendar that is Saturday-loaded. “He has principles. He puts God above everything. So money's not really a factor and it's easy when you own your own horses.

“You can do what you want to do. You don't have owners putting pressure on you.”

Joe Iadisernia, 20, is the stable spokesman. His father was born in a small village south of Rome and moved to Venezuela with his family at age 7. Giuseppe is more comfortable with his first two languages, Italian and Spanish, than English.

So Joe, a junior biology major about to enter Florida State this fall, has stepped up to help visitors to barn BB in the stable area where Delosvientos and two stablemates are ensconced.

The Iadisernias, an exercise rider and a couple of stablehands have been here for about a month. It became the destination of choice after Delosvientos – which translates from Spanish as “of the wind” – won the historic, Grade II Brooklyn Handicap on June 6 at Belmont Park, beating handicap division hard-knocker Evening Attire in the process.

The Pacific Classic is a $1 million race. And even though it was in a place, California, where the Iadisernias had never been, and over a synthetic surface, Polytrack, which the horse had never experienced, it did have one overriding attraction. It was on a Sunday.

“After we won the Brooklyn, we just packed up and came out,” Joe said. “It's a perfect opportunity for us to really find out what we have. To find out what this horse is made of.”

Delosvientos is a Kentucky-bred son of Siphon out of the Cryptoclearance mare Secret Psalm. Del Mar followers will remember Siphon as the Brazilian-bred, Richard Mandella-trainee whose speed softened up Cigar for the come-from-behind upset victory by stablemate Dare and Go in the 1996 Pacific Classic. One year later, Siphon was the “2” behind Gentlemen in the 1-2 finish of Mandella-trained Pacific Classic runners.

Delosvientos was purchased as a yearling with the idea of being sold later as a 2-year-old in training, Joe Iadisernia said. When the bidding didn't reach the specified minimum, however, he was retained. He didn't make the races until March of last year as a 4-year-old.

He's been a feast-or-famine-type horse, winning six times in 11 starts and finishing off the board in the other five with earnings of $251,170. The victories have come in two three-race winning streaks.

The first, from May through July of last year, took Delosvientos from the maiden to ungraded stakes ranks. The second winning streak started in February at Gulfstream Park near the Iadisernias' Boynton Beach, Fla., home, and continued through two starts at Belmont Park, concluding with the Brooklyn Handicap.

Iadisernia said that around the barn Delosvientos can be moody, gentle and affectionate one day and “kind of a jerk” the next. For running style, he's a speed type like his sire and five of his six wins, including the last three, have been gate-to-wire efforts.

Delosvientos seems to have a mind of his own once the gates open for a race. Joel Rosario, named Monday to replace East Coast-based jockey Eibar Coa, will have to do some accommodating in that regard Sunday.

The horse's last three starts have been at nine, 12 and 12 furlongs, nicely bracketing the 1¼ miles of the Pacific Classic. Stamina has not been a problem. Giuseppe Iadisernia says, and Joe translates, the universal racetrack bromide: “The longer the race, the better he likes it.”

Giuseppe has been around the racing game about four decades, or since shortly after the move from Italy to Venezuela, where the family owns an electrical supply business in Santa Teresa. He started a training center at the Calder track in Florida in 1996, then moved to Puerto Rico to race for a few years and was out of the game for a while to return to Venezuela and run the family business.

Back in the training business for four years, he's found Del Mar to be “very beautiful” in this first trip to California. Winning a $1 million race and a Grade I stake for the first time in his career would be “very special.”

And make this Sunday a Sunday best.

Hank Wesch: (619) 293-1853; hank.wesch@uniontrib.com