Journalists Wandering Eyes Posted September 4, 2018 Journalists Share Posted September 4, 2018 Drayden Van Dyke was six wins back in the Del Mar rider standings Aug. 18, but he jumped into the lead with a track record-tying seven wins the following day and never looked back to earn his first major Southern California riding championship at the 79th Del Mar summer meeting. The 23-year-old native of Louisville, Ky. overtook Flavien Prat and finished the meet with 42 wins to Prat’s 37. Van Dyke had captured titles at the brief Los Alamitos meetings during an Eclipse Award-winning apprentice campaign in 2014, but the championship was a first at Del Mar or Santa Anita in five years on the circuit. He also triumphed in nine stakes and led all riders in earnings with $2,754,118. On the training side, Peter Miller, who led for the majority of the meeting, finished as easily the summer’s top conditioner with 31 victories from 114 starters, 10 wins ahead of Doug O’Neill. The total tied for the second-most at Del Mar this century, one behind the 32 tallies Bob Baffert posted in 2000. John Sadler, who finished sixth with 15 wins, saw eight of those come in stakes, highlighted by Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky)’s dominant victory in the GI TVG Pacific Classic. In the owner standings, Kosta and Pete Hronis’s Hronis Racing narrowly beat back the challenge of Rockingham Ranch to pick up their fourth title in the past six years at Del Mar. The pair, from Delano, Ca., topped all owners with 11 victories and-buoyed by Acclerate’s heroics-$1,277,954 in purses, proving best in both departments for the second year in a row. Rockingham Ranch finished one back with 10 scores. View the full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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