Del Mar Press Release
Jockey Drayden Van Dyke captures the Jockey track title
Drayden Van Dyke went from six behind in the rider standings to one in front with a Del Mar record-tying seven wins on Sunday, August 19, and tenaciously held on through the final 11 days of the meeting to secure his first major Southern California riding championship at the 79th Del Mar summer meeting.
The 23-year-old native of Louisville, Ky., overtook defending champion Flavien Prat, who was serving a three-day suspension at the time, to take a 26-25 lead and finished the meeting with 42 wins to 37 for Prat. It tied for the highest win total since 2014.
Van Dyke had won titles at the brief Los Alamitos meetings during an Eclipse Award-winning apprentice campaign in 2014, but the championship was a first at Del Mar or Santa Anita in five years on the circuit.
Van Dyke was also the top rider for stakes wins with nine. Prat and Tyler Baze had seven each. John Sadler had eight stakes victories, tying a personal record at Del Mar, highlighted by the victory by Accelerate in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic.
DEL MAR STATISTICS
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Monday, September 3, 2018 Inclusive)
| Jockey | Starts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Win% | In-money% | Money Won |
| Drayden Van Dyke | 160 | 42 | 17 | 21 | 26% | 50% | $2,754,118 |
| Flavien Prat | 146 | 37 | 26 | 13 | 25% | 52% | $2,523,977 |
| Tyler Baze | 178 | 25 | 21 | 18 | 14% | 36% | $1,495,945 |
| Assael Espinoza | 193 | 21 | 18 | 20 | 11% | 31% | $866,598 |
| Heriberto Figueroa | 119 | 19 | 13 | 8 | 16% | 34% | $576,590 |
| Mario Gutierrez | 125 | 17 | 23 | 14 | 14% | 43% | $1,344,809 |
| Geovanni Franco | 159 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 11% | 36% | $931,847 |
| Tiago Pereira | 125 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 11% | 38% | $727,352 |
| Joseph Talamo | 126 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 10% | 28% | $844,571 |
| Evin Roman | 129 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 9% | 29% | $598,138 |
