Van Dyke looking to use Los Alamitos meet as springboard to Santa Anita
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For jockey Drayden Van Dyke, the best part of the final week of the Del Mar summer meeting was the action.
From Sept. 3 through last Monday, Van Dyke had 18 mounts, by far his busiest segment of an eight-week season in which he won with 3 of 38 mounts.
For Van Dyke, Del Mar was a comeback meeting after a self-imposed break from September 2025 to early August of this year. Van Dyke’s return to everyday race riding continues this month at Los Alamitos, building toward the Santa Anita fall meeting that starts on Sept. 25.
“Things started to pick up toward the end,” Van Dyke said of Del Mar. “I feel as I had my strongest week in the final week.
“I’m happy with my meet. I gained some new barns. Everything went smooth.”
On Sunday at Los Alamitos, Van Dyke has two mounts on a modest eight-race program, including contender Bessie Coleman in an allowance race for California-bred fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs that goes as race 4.
Bessie Coleman, entered to be claimed for $20,000, starts from the outside post in a field of six.
Bessie Coleman was 10th after a troubled trip in an allowance race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Monday when ridden by Emisael Jaramillo. Van Dyke has the mount for the first time on Sunday, the 5-year-old mare’s 15th start for owner and breeder Nick Alexander and trainer Steve Miyadi.
Bessie Coleman’s main rivals are stablemate Christa McAuliffe, who finished sixth after a slow start in an allowance race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 9, and Factor P, the front-running winner of a maiden race for statebred fillies and mares at six furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 7 for trainer Antonio Garcia.
Van Dyke, who turned 32 on Thursday, took a break from race riding last year for physical and mental reasons. He said during earlier this summer that time away from the sport restored his desire to ride races.
Van Dyke began riding at the age of 19 in 2013, and has won 873 races through Friday. He won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding apprentice 2014, and ranked among the leading riders in Southern California in the mid-2010s.
Van Dyke was the leading rider at the 2018 Del Mar summer and fall meetings. He holds the Del Mar record of six wins on a single card, set in 2018.
But in the early 2020s, Van Dyke struggled, winning five races in 2023. He rode part of 2024 at Gulfstream Park, a year he won 52 races, and was based there in 2025 before returning to California 18 months ago. After the 2025 Del Mar summer meeting, Van Dyke decided to leave racing for nearly a year.
“Day by day, I felt myself getting better and better,” Van Dyke said. “When it’s like that, the days are exciting.
“I’m trying to get back to where I was. I’m in a good place right now. I’m enjoying what I’m doing.”
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