Drayden Van Dyke jumped right into a career in racing following his high school graduation, traveling to Southern California from his home in Arkansas to work for trainer Tom Proctor. His ambitious move has paid dividends, as Van Dyke, 20, is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2014.
Looking back with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, 4-1 was quite possibly the overlay of the year when Eclipse Award finalist Untapable made her 3-year-old debut in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes.
Even 14 months after the fact, Keith Desormeaux still couldn’t believe he left the 2013 Keeneland September yearling auction with a son of Afleet Alex for whom he paid a paltry $17,000.
She danced almost every dance at six different racetracks from coast to coast. She was very much the embodiment of the philosophy that trainer D. Wayne Lukas has demonstrated for four decades – that racehorses are meant to race. And the combination of her innate ability and Lukas’s faith in her enabled Take Charge Brandi to mount a late-season charge that made her the heavy favorite to win an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly.
It has become something of a rarity for a Thoroughbred to win a Grade 1 stakes at 2 and then come back and do it again the following year. Sweet Reason was sufficiently talented and durable to do so, and the daughter of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense earned a spot among the Eclipse Award finalists in the 3-year-old filly division.
“It’s not how you start but how you finish” is a phrase that applied to Stopchargingmaria, who earned a spot among the Eclipse Award finalists in the 3-year-old filly division with a strong second half in 2014.
Nationwide in 2014, Stephanie’s Kitten commanded attention in the filly-and-mare turf division, running in six consecutive Grade 1 races in Kentucky, New York, and California.
It took time for Shared Belief to be able to put his best foot forward in 2014, but once he did, he quickly got back to the level of racing that propelled him to an Eclipse Award as the champion male 2-year-old of 2013. He is seeking to become the first male 2-year-old champ to repeat at 3 since Lookin At Lucky in 2009-10.
Taylor Rice might be from a family long steeped in racing, but the 26-year-old waited a while to join the fray and in 2014 carved out her own place in the sport. Rice was one of North America’s leading “rookie riders” last year and for her accomplishments is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2014.
Owners and breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey are in familiar territory as Eclipse Award finalists. Based in Nicholasville, Ky., the Ramseys are four-time Eclipse winners – three times as outstanding owner and once as outstanding breeder. They earned honors in both categories in 2013, following a breakthrough season for their homebred stallion Kitten’s Joy. Their previous owner awards came in 2004 and 2011.
