Van Dyke, recovered from arm injury, gets back to work

ARCADIA, Calif. – Drayden Van Dyke walked through the Santa Anita parking lot late Sunday morning, his white long-sleeve T-shirt covered with flecks of dirt on the arms.

Getting dirty was a fun way to spend the morning for Van Dyke, who resumed exercising horses on Saturday after a three-week absence because of injury.

Van Dyke was unseated from Eight Rings in the opening furlong of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 2 and sustained a bruised and swollen right arm. He was cleared to resume working horses last Friday and wasted no time getting back to work.

“I’m happy to be back,” he said. “The doctor gave me total clearance. My arm felt great.”

During his recovery, Van Dyke said he took an aggressive approach to improving the condition of his arm. He will resume riding on Friday on the opening day of the Santa Anita autumn meeting that includes the Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 1-2.

“I was working on it every day,” he said. “I was trying to do what I could to ice it and soak it in Epsom salts. I was very pleased when the doctor said I didn’t break anything. That was my main concern with any injury.

“I was very relieved. With all these big races, I was trying to get back as quick as physically possible.”

Sunday, Van Dyke worked True Valour, the winner of the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf in February. Trained by Simon Callaghan, True Valour is a candidate for the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf on Oct. 5.

Van Dyke, who turned 25 on Sept. 10, finished the Del Mar meeting in second-place in the jockey standings to Flavien Prat.

The injury has cost him two leading mounts for trainer Bob Baffert in Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds on Friday. John Velazquez will replace Van Dyke on Bast in the Chandelier Stakes for fillies and Eight Rings in the American Pharoah Stakes, Baffert said.

Van Dyke rode Bast to a win in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 31. Baffert said the change was made recently when it was unclear whether Van Dyke would return by Friday.

“We weren’t sure,” Baffert said.

Though disappointed, Van Dyke took a philosophical outlook to being replaced. “I was confident I’d be 100 percent” by Friday, he said. “But I totally understand it.”

Bast and Eight Rings were among several prominent horses to have workouts at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Bast worked five furlongs in 1:01, while Eight Rings worked the same distance in 1:01.60. Baffert said Eight Rings was fitted with a more closed set of blinkers for this workout, and will wear them in Friday’s $300,000 race.

“We put more blinkers on him than last time,” Baffert said. “He was manageable.”

The American Pharoah Stakes field is expected to include Collusion Illusion, who won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 10 and Del Mar Futurity winner Nucky. Other candidates are American Theorem, Defense Wins, Express Train, Fore Left, and Storm the Court.

McKinzie, considered the leading older male in the nation, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 on Sunday in advance of Saturday’s Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles, a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2.

The Awesome Again Stakes will include the first two finishers of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 17 – Higher Power and Draft Pick. Sunday, Higher Power worked six furlongs in 1:13, while Draft Pick worked five furlongs in 1:02.

In other works, Acclimate, winner of the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 17, worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles. Secret Spice, second in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on July 28, worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds for the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes for fillies and mares on Sept. 29.

Ollie’s Candy, who won the Clement Hirsch, is a probable starter in the $300,000 Zenyatta.