Van Dyke, Miller Ride Stellar Seasons to Del Mar Titles

Drayden Van Dyke went from six behind in the rider standings to one in front with a Del Mar record-tying seven wins Aug. 19, then 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.

Trainer Peter Miller said he had no expectations of a third title coming into the meeting. But the wins started piling up and Miller went from tied for the lead after two weeks to three wins in front after 15 days, to seven in front entering the fifth week. He maintained the advantage entering the next-to-last week of the meeting, boosted the lead to 12 entering the final week and coasted home.

Miller finished with 31 wins from 114 starters with 16 seconds and 13 third-place finishes, a 27% win rate and 53% in-the-money figure. Doug O'Neill was second with 21 wins. Miller's total was tied for second-best in the 21st century at Del Mar, one short of 32 posted by Bob Baffert in 2000.

Van Dyke also was the top rider for stakes wins with nine. Prat and Tyler Baze had seven each. Trainer 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 (G1).

For the fourth time in the past six years, Kosta and Pete Hronis were Del Mar owner champions after yet another stellar summer at the shore for the brothers from Delano, Calif. The pair, who fly their silks under the name Hronis Racing, won a meet-leading total of 11 races along with $1,277,954 in purses, proving best in both departments for the second year in a row. Previously, they had been leading owners at the shore oval in 2014 and 2013, and had been in the top five in both 2016 and 2015.

The Hronis' big gun at the session was their star Accelerate, who turned in a record-breaking performance in the Pacific Classic, scoring by 12 1/2 lengths. The brothers also unveiled a superstar in waiting in double stakes winner Catalina Cruiser, who took honors in the San Diego Handicap (G2) and Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) at the session.

Accelerate's Pacific Classic triumph propelled him to honors as Horse of the Meeting and top older Horse for the 2018 summer season in a vote of the media. The 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky , was kept in reserve while stablemate Catalina Cruiser won the Classic prep San Diego Handicap. But when the time came in the Pacific Classic, Accelerate was turned loose by jockey Joel Rosario and left his closest pursuers in the dust to better the existing margin of victory record in the race of 8 1/2 lengths by Game On Dude in 2013.