Van Dyke off to hot start at Del Mar in stakes and otherwise

With four wins on the weekend, a pair of them in stakes races, Drayden Van Dyke ended the first week of the meeting atop the rider standings for both overall wins (6) and stakes (2).

Van Dyke’s scores for trainer John Sadler aboard Catalina Cruiser ($4.60) in the San Diego Handicap and Catapult ($44.00) in the Eddie Read Stakes garnered national attention and Van Dyke was named the Jockeys’ Guild Foundation "Jockey of the Week."

Van Dyke came into the 2017 Del Mar meeting not long recovered from a broken right arm and used the summer to rebuild business while finishing sixth with 21 wins from 127 mounts. He bagged six wins from 19 mounts in the first five days of the 36-day meeting to lead defending champion Flavien Prat by one with veteran Mario Gutierrez and apprentice Asa Espinoza tied for third with four wins each.

“I was pretty excited coming into the meeting because I’ve got some two-year-olds that I have high expectations for and I’m looking forward to when they’re going to run,” Van Dyke said Wednesday morning.

While waiting for the babies, he did some very good work aboard 4-year-old Catalina Cruiser and 5-year-old Catapult in two of the six stakes of the first week.

“Catalina Cruiser is a very good horse and there were a lot of scratches in that race, so it was pretty simple. Get him to the lead and get him to relax. He did the rest.

“Catapult was keen with me in the first turn the first time I rode him at Santa Ania but I learned a lot about the horse in that race. I was surprised he was like the longest shot on the board.

“He ran the way John said he was going to run.”