drayden van dyke | Horse Racing Free Tips

Million-Dollar Spielberg Looms Large In American Pharoah Stakes

A gutty runner-up in two summertime starts, Bob Baffert's highly regarded Spielberg looms the horse to beat in Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita. For 2-year-olds at a mile and one sixteenth, the American Pharoah has attracted a field of eight.

Most recently second, beaten 1 ¾ lengths in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity going seven furlongs on Sept. 7, Spielberg, a $1 million Keeneland September Yearling, will try two turns for the first time and be ridden for the first time by eastern-based Luis Saez.

Third in the Del Mar Futurity, trainer Ryan Hanson's Weston, a Grade II winner going six furlongs in his second start, retains the services of Drayden Van Dyke, while trainer Rafael Becerra's Touchdown Brown, who owns the best last-out Beyer Speed figure in the field, is a California-bred facing open company for the first time.

The American Pharoah, named for Baffert's 2015 Triple Crown winner, is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge Race qualifier to the Grade I Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

SPIELBERG

Owner: SF Racing, LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, LLC, et al

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Second twice to Del Mar Futurity winner Dr. Schivel, Spielberg dug in gamely late while clearly second best. In what will be his third start, he'll try to provide Baffert with his record 10th American Pharoah victory.

WESTON

Owner: Chris Drakos & Ryan Hanson

Trainer: Ryan Hanson

Ridden in all three of his starts by Drayden Van Dyke, this bargain $7,000 Keeneland September Yearling showed brilliant speed in his June 21 debut here, winning by 1 ¼ lengths going 4 ½ furlongs. From there, he fought gamely to prevail by a neck in the Grade II Best Pal Stakes going six furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 8 and was subsequently third, beaten 5 ½ lengths in the Del Mar Futurity after vying head and head for the early lead. Trained and co-owned by Ryan Hanson, who is married to Santa Anita simulcast television personality Michelle Yu, Weston is battle-tested and retains the services of Van Dyke.

TOUCHDOWN BROWN

Owner: Edward Brown, Jr., Alan Klein & Phillip Lebherz

Trainer: Rafael Becerra

The lone California-bred in the lineup, this colt by Cairo Prince was ultra impressive in his 4 ½ furlong debut on June 19, winning by 5 ½ lengths as the 3-2 favorite. Away awkwardly in the 5 ½ furlong Graduation Stakes on Aug. 2, he never got untracked and finished last, beaten 5 ½ lengths in a field of seven. Ridden for the first time by upstart Juan Hernandez in the six furlong I'm Smokin Stakes Sept. 4, Touchdown Brown was second, beaten a half length in a resolute effort that provided him with a lofty 75 Beyer Speed figure. With Hernandez back aboard, he looms dangerous going two turns in his fourth career start.

THE GRADE I AMERICAN PHAROAH STAKES WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 8 of 11 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

Touchdown Brown—Juan Hernandez—122
Rombauer—Mike Smith—122
Dyn O Mite—Victor Espinoza—122
Notable Exception—Abel Cedillo—122
Spielberg—Luis Saez—122
Get Her Number—Flavien Prat—122
Weston—Drayden Van Dyke—122
Waspirant—Umberto Rispoli—122

First post time for an 11-race card on Saturday is at 12:30 p.m. Although there is no public admittance, Santa Anita's livestream video is free of charge at santaanita.com.

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Rider Reflections: Jockeys Miss Fans, Morning Workouts In Unusual Del Mar Season

The summer of racing at Del Mar in 2020 has been, to put it mildly, unlike any other.

Jockeys, for example, have done their jobs wearing the mandatory accessory of a face mask in addition to the customary helmet, goggles and safety vest. That said, they're still working at Del Mar, a place unlike any other.

So, out of curiosity, a number of the members of Del Mar's colony were asked two questions: 1.) What has been the toughest part of being at Del Mar this summer? And 2.) What has been your favorite part of being at Del Mar this summer?

The answers, in alphabetical order.

BRICE BLANC – Toughest: “The first two weeks around here, when we were dealing with some of our riders and the COVID, was worrying. But since then, things are better. But you've got to deal with all the things surrounding our situation. You've got to be adapting all the time. What's difficult for me is to ride with the mask. I had broken my nose years back and have some sinus issues, so I do my share of breathing through my mouth. It's hard to breathe through your mouth with a mask. But we adapt. Most of the stuff is minor.”

Favorite: “The usual here at Del Mar. It's just a great place to be. It is one of my favorite summertime places to go racing. Deauville (in France) and Saratoga (in New York) and Del Mar. They're the big three of summer locations. It's very different at Del Mar this year without people; sort of like we're naked. But it's still Del Mar and that's a good thing.”

ABEL CEDILLO – Toughest: “The whole coronavirus situation. Dealing with all the things we have to deal with. We all do it, though, so you do it. Tougher might be dealing with the horses. Some of them run, some of them don't. Sometimes they have a bad day. But I try my best every time and hope for the best.”

Favorite: “I think my favorite down here is the beach. My little boy loves the ocean and I love taking him down there for walks. We really enjoy Del Mar for that.”

VICTOR ESPINOZA – Toughest: “Dealing with the coronavirus business. I missed opening day at Del Mar because of it. I missed opening day! I never thought it would happen, but it did this year. That was hard.”

Favorite: “Everything about Del Mar. It's where I want to be. It's why I come to the races. Everything I want is here. It is just great to win races at Del Mar.”

RUBEN FUENTES – Toughest: “For me, it was not being able to work horses in the morning. That was very tough, not being able to get to know them and get to understand them a little before they raced, especially with the 2-year-olds.”

Favorite: “We got to run. We're very lucky to have a job and be working. A lot of people don't right now.”

RICKY GONZALEZ – Toughest: “Not being able to work horses.”

Favorite: “Winning and meeting new people.”

MARIO GUTIERREZ — Toughest: “I don't think there's anything tough about riding here. Same racetrack; same gate; same horses to ride. It's all good. I'm happy to be here and racing.”

Favorite: “I'm glad to be racing and having the chance to compete and make some money. I'm very happy that the people on the backside are able to work and take care of their families. Racing at Del Mar is a good thing.”

JUAN HERNANDEZ — Toughest: “The toughest part for me has been keeping up with the competition. It's tough here. I was here in 2012 and it's a much different room. Very competitive. And, of course, the whole business of 2020. Everyone feels that. But what are you going to do? You follow the rules and hope for better times.”

Favorite: “My favorite part of being here is the incredible horses. I've been riding some very good horses. And I'm enjoying being around these other riders. They're friendly and they're very good, so it's giving me a chance to learn from them.”

TIAGO PEREIRA – Toughest: “Dealing with all the virus issues. Being careful about everything. I take showers before and after everything. I have a 4-year-old daughter and I must be very careful around her. We all have to do it; the masks, all of it. But that's how it is.”

Favorite: “I like being at Del Mar and riding here. One of my favorite places. I like the beach for my daughter. We go down there during the week and play. She likes the ocean. We go up to the quite section, up above Dog Beach. Not many people up there and we can just have fun.”

FLAVIEN PRAT – Toughest: “I definitely miss the fans. Del Mar has always been all about having people around having fun. It's kind of sad not to see anybody.”

Favorite: “Just being able to ride, have a job and do something we love to do. There's a lot of people who can't right now.”

UMBERTO RISPOLI – Toughest: “I can't share all the winners and the good meeting with owners, fans and family.”

Favorite: “Enjoying the summer, the beach and good times with my family and friends and having the chance to win a lot of races.”

MIKE SMITH – Toughest: “I think the toughest overall has not been seeing any fans here. Del Mar is a social place. A place where people come to party and have fun. Not this year. It's sad. It kind of takes the gas out of your balloon. For me personally, the protocols (travel restrictions for riders) have been tough. I'm a 'traveling' jock. I'd have been at Saratoga several times already. I think the protocols have probably cost me three Grade Is.”

Favorite: “My favorite part is just being here. I love Del Mar. I want to end my career here. I love California and I especially love Del Mar.”

DRAYDEN VAN DYKE – Toughest: “Having to be part of 2020 and the whole coronavirus thing. Plus all the other stuff going on in the country right now. The Black Lives Matter thing. It's a very unsettled time for the country. It's hard for a lot of people.”

Favorite: “My favorite part of being at Del Mar is being at Del Mar. Right here 'where the turf meets the surf.' I've been riding some good horses and winning some big races. What's not to like about it all. How can you have a frown on your face when you're in San Diego?”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Chariot Racing World Champ Finds Success With Thoroughbreds

Trainer Ryan Hanson was excited to earn his first graded stakes win with Thoroughbreds at Del Mar recently, saddling Weston to victory in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes, but it was hardly the first major horse racing victory for the 39-year-old native of Idaho.

Hanson conditioned multiple graded stakes-winning Quarter Horses, and he is also a World Champion in the sport of chariot racing.

“In my office, the chariot racing photos are the ones that get the most people talking,” the trainer said. “It's the one thing I really miss about being in the northwest; I don't miss the snow or the cold, but I miss chariot racing.”

Both Hanson's father and grandfather also earned World Champion titles in chariot racing, which is conducted by hitching two horses side-by-side and competing over a quarter of a mile. Hanson won the title in 2006, just before the family moved to Southern California.

“It's a really, really huge family activity, but it's still ultra-competitive,” Hanson explained. “By the time I was doing it, we were claiming Quarter Horses from Los Alamitos, hooking them on the chariot and racing in Idaho.”

Unfortunately, it was hard to make a living during summertime Quarter Horse racing in Idaho, and chariot racing is exclusively a winter activity. Hanson's father James “Jim” Hanson moved the family racing operation to Los Alamitos in 2006, and everyone pitched in to help climb the ranks.

A jockey for his father from age 16, Ryan Hanson outgrew those boots and became his father's assistant and top exercise rider. Eventually Hanson took the horses under his own name, saddling 2013 AQHA World Champion Distance horse Honoroso, who the family had claimed for $6,250 in 2012.

Ryan Hanson in a 2006 chariot race

In 2015 Hanson went home to Idaho for the summer, racing at what turned out to be the final season in Boise. Returning to Southern California that winter, Hanson made a change. He took a job galloping Thoroughbreds for trainer Robertino Diodoro, and worked his way up to assistant.

“It's really hard to make a living in Idaho,” Hanson explained.

Two years later, Diodoro left California, and Hanson felt he didn't really have a choice but to try to make a go of it on his own. He hung out his shingle over a single horse, True Ranger, a $12,500 claimer.

That chestnut gelding may not have won a race for Hanson, but he did hit the board in most of his starts at Santa Anita and Del Mar. Hanson would win just one race in 2017, with a horse he co-owned with his father named Poshsky, but he started to make his presence felt on the Southern California circuit.

In 2018 Hanson began to train for outside clients, first in partnerships between his father and Robin Dunn. Dunn recommended Hanson to an owner named Chris Drakos, who had actually lived 15 minutes away from Hanson in Idaho, but the two had never met face to face.

Drakos took a chance and sent Hanson four horses, and the two are now co-owners of Grade 2 winner Weston.

Weston and Drayden Van Dyke after the Best Pal

“It was nice of Robin and dad to partner with me, but I wasn't able to make it on that alone,” Hanson explained. “I'm so appreciative of Drakos, because not too many people want to give a young guy a chance, and he did.”

Hanson started winning a few more races, and today he conditions a 25-horse string at Del Mar alongside his wife, Michelle Yu. Yu works afternoons as an on-air handicapper at Santa Anita, and the couple have two children under the age of four.

“They're my pride and joy,” Hanson said. “They get to come with us to the ranch, and before COVID, they'd come to the track in the afternoons as well.”

Every morning, seven days a week, Hanson rides at least 10 horses over the track before heading out to a ranch in Pico Rivera, where he, Yu, and a couple exercise riders spend another two hours or so starting babies and riding out the young horses in the river bottoms.

“Riding them yourself, I just thing you get a better feeling of the horses, you can see how they're doing,” Hanson said. “When I'm getting on them, I can make split-second decisions. When I'm out there we take them two at a time, so if I see the horse next to me doing something and think he needs to do something different, we can make that decision on the track right then.

“I do think Quarter Horses are a bit smarter than Thoroughbreds, because the Thoroughbreds you have to get out on the track every day. We try to do something different with them every day, gallop in a different way, or jog them, just something different to keep them thinking differently.”

Weston, a $7,000 purchase at the Keeneland September yearling sale, was one of those started through Hanson's program at the ranch.

“Honestly, he was miserable to break and miserable to ride,” Hanson said. “We brought him in (to the track on) April 1, and I remember thinking I couldn't wait to get him into the track and geld him. It didn't really help.”

Hanson rode the 2-year-old son of Hit It A Bomb for his first several workouts but didn't think too much of the gelding, so he decided to turn the reins over to exercise rider Emily Ellingwood. Now Ellingwood gallops Weston every day, and the gelding seems pleased with the new arrangement.

He won his debut on June 21 at Santa Anita by 1 1/4 lengths, then came back on Aug. 8 to win the G2 Best Pal by a neck.

“I was happy to win it for Ryan Hanson,” jockey Drayden Van Dyke told Del Mar publicity after the race. “He's such a kind man and a good horse trainer. And this horse showed some class, too. Ryan told me he never got to paddock him (prior to the race), but he was just standing in there like an old pro. I knew I got there in the end and I'm real glad I did.”

Hanson was thrilled, of course, but the pragmatic trainer not sure what the next step will be with Weston.

“I'm happy we got the race, but I don't know how good of a horse he is,” Hanson said honestly. “We caught the right field, and we were very ready. I'm not happy that we don't have another place to go with him besides the Del Mar Futurity, but if he continues to do well, I want to take advantage of it.”

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Irish-Bred Red Lark Gains First Stakes Triumph In Del Mar Oaks Upset

Irish-bred Red Lark made a three-wide rally into the stretch under Drayden Van Dyke, overhauled front-running favorite Laura's Light and Warren's Showtime and scored a decisive one-length victory in Saturday's Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on Saturday, recording her first career stakes victory and second win overall from 12 starts.

Trained by Patrick Gallagher and racing for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Red Lark covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.64 and paid $40.20 as a 19-1 outsider. Another longshot, 25-1 California Kook, rallied for second, with Warren's Showtime, the 7-2 second betting choice, finishing third.

A 3-year-old filly by Australian-bred Epaulette, Red Lark began her career in Ireland, going winless in five starts at 2, then broke her maiden in her second U.S. start on Feb. 9 on turf at Santa Anita. She was stakes-placed when runner-up to Toinette in the G3 Wilshire on June 20 and third most recently in a Del Mar allowance/optional claiming race on July 12 at Del Mar.

Laura's Light, coming into the Del Mar Oaks off back-to-back graded stakes victories in the G3 Honeymoon at Santa Anita and the G2 San Clemente at Del Mar, was sent to the front by Abel Cedillo. After setting fractions of :24.46, :48.14 and 1:12.34 she was overtaken at the top of the stretch by Warren's Showtime, but the latter was unable to sustain her rally in the final furlong after a mile was clocked in 1:36.76.

Van Dyke saved ground with Red Lark in the early stages of the Oaks, shifted off the rail in the run down the backstretch and rallied for the victory with a sharp turn of foot in the final quarter mile.

“Out of the gate, we had the perfect spot,” said Van Dyke. “I wanted to follow Mike Smith (Warren's Showtime), because I thought his filly would be the one to beat. I knew my filly had a good chance because she was really fit. We got bottled up in her last race. Today, she got to run and she showed how good she is.”

“The allowance race here set her up well and she came out of it good,” said Gallagher. “I was confident in the filly; I knew she was happy and all, but I didn't know if she was good enough. She needed to run the race of her life and she did. Drayden had her in a great spot all the way and when he asked she responded and was good enough.”

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