Van Dyke gets shot to end meet strong with Authentic

Jockey Drayden Van Dyke will start the June portion of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting Friday with three wins in the three weeks since racing resumed May 15.

“I’m definitely back in the flow,” he said Sunday morning “I’ve won three races, which is better than none. I would have liked to have started off a little better. Hopefully, I can end it really strong.”

Van Dyke will have every chance to do so Saturday. He rides Authentic in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles, the meeting’s top race for 3-year-olds. Authentic, who has emerged as one of the nation’s leading 3-year-olds, is unbeaten in three starts, including the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 7.

The San Felipe Stakes was intended as a prep for the Santa Anita Derby on April 4, but the race was postponed until Sunday after the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ordered racing stopped at Santa Anita on March 29. The track received approval from government officials to resume racing May 15.

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Sunday, Van Dyke, 25, was aboard Authentic for a six-furlong workout in 1:12.40, the colt’s last major exercise before the $400,000 Santa Anita Derby.

“I thought he worked really great,” Van Dyke said. “We went a nice steady work, nothing too fast. He had good energy coming off the track. I ended up having a horse break off in front of me, and I used him as a target. I was going my own pace. I caught him right at the wire.”

Van Dyke rode Authentic to wins in a maiden special weight race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar last November and in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at a mile at Santa Anita in January. In recent weeks, Van Dyke has noticed a change in Authentic, who is trained by Bob Baffert.

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An altered morning schedule has helped Authentic. Jockeys cannot go into the stables during the coronavirus pandemic, but climb aboard their mounts for workouts in the walking ring before proceeding through the tunnel to the racetrack. After works, jockeys bring horses to the walking ring before they are taken to the stables. Van Dyke said Authentic has handled the change well.

“He seems more mature,” he said. “He was on his toes, but the last few times he’s really calmed down and walked in there like an older horse. I think going to the paddock has helped him.”

The Santa Anita Derby has a projected field of six, including Anneau d’Or, Azul Coast, Honor A. P., Rushie, and Shooters Shoot. Azul Coast, winner of the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields in February, worked six furlongs in 1:13.80 for Baffert.

The Santa Anita Derby is one of seven stakes on Saturday’s program, the richest program of the spring portion of the meeting.

Van Dyke is booked to ride Improbable for Baffert in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles. The race was run as the Gold Cup at Santa Anita from 2014-19, but track officials announced last week that the race will revert to its historic name. The Hollywood Gold Cup has a purse of $300,000.

Improbable was second by three-quarters of a length to Tom’s d’Etat in the Oaklawn Mile in Arkansas on April 11 in his first start of 2020. Improbable was fifth as the 4-1 favorite in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, but was promoted to fourth after Maximum Security was disqualified from first and placed 17th.

Through Saturday, Van Dyke ranked fifth in the jockey standings at Santa Anita with 30 wins, trailing leader Flavien Prat who had 65 wins.

After workouts Sunday, Van Dyke flew to Northern California where he was booked to ride Eclair for Baffert in the $75,000 California Oaks at Golden Gate Fields. Santa Anita’s meeting concludes June 21, followed by two weekends of racing at Los Alamitos and the start of the Del Mar meeting on July 10.

Del Mar will race on a Friday-through-Sunday basis and will do so without spectators because of the pandemic. Last summer, Van Dyke finished second in the jockey standings to Prat. Van Dyke expects a different atmosphere this summer.

“I’m looking forward to getting down to Del Mar,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we won’t have fans.

“It’s like any other athlete, a basketball player or a soccer player, when you have all these fans cheering for you or your horse, it’s pretty cool. It makes the job fun. Hopefully, we can get them back.”