California shippers dominate Oaklawn Handicap

The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen GUIDING LIGHT: Jockey Drayden Van Dyke guides City of Light (11), left, across the wire Saturday at Oaklawn Park to beat Accelerate and jockey Victor Espinoza to win the Grade 2 $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap for older horses.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen GUIDING LIGHT: Jockey Drayden Van Dyke guides City of Light (11), left, across the wire Saturday at Oaklawn Park to beat Accelerate and jockey Victor Espinoza to win the Grade 2 $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap for older horses.

Three months ago, Drayden Van Dyke hoped to ride in the Arkansas Derby on the second Saturday in April.

Fate intervened when Van Dyke's early-season Derby mount, Mourinho, Oaklawn's Smarty Jones winner in January, suffered a fatal injury while training in California. In a sport of monumental highs and lows, the Lake Hamilton High School graduate scored a nice consolation prize on the Derby undercard Saturday.

Credit a trainer who knew what he had and in which Oaklawn race he should go.

If not in back-to-back Grade 1 victories at Santa Anita, City of Light stamped himself as a rising star in horse racing's older-male division in beating a last-out Grade 1 winner. The 4-year-old son of Quality Road edged 6-5 favorite and 123-pound highweight Accelerate by a neck in the Grade 2 $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap.

With 10 lengths separating the top two from third-place Untrapped, it was an impressive show of force by two horses previously unraced outside California.

Van Dyke now has won the Malibu, Triple Bend and Oaklawn Handicap in succession aboard the bay colt trained by Mike McCarthy. City of Light and Accelerate, the Santa Anita Handicap winner March 10, converged together upon tiring pacesetter Untrapped at the head of the stretch.

"He broke sharp and put me in a good spot," Van Dyke said. "Down the backstretch he was completely loaded and had a lot of horse the entire way. Just had to wait for home stretch to let him (run) and he did the rest himself."

Third choice in the betting, City of Light paid $11.40, $5.80 and $4.20 under 120 pounds from outside post 11. His fast-rated nine furlongs in 1:48.26 proved 1.60 seconds faster than 3-year-old Magnum Moon in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby one race later.

McCarthy chose the Oaklawn Handicap after nominating City of Light also to the six-furlong Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, won by Whitmore earlier on the card.

Stepping up from seven furlongs, "I didn't think a mile and an eighth would be a problem," McCarthy said. "I was a little worried obviously drawing the 11 hole, with the speed inside of us. I was worried about getting caught wide in the first turn."

Though City of Light "stumbled ... and let the other horses get a jump on him, Drayden was able to dictate his trip," the trainer said. "He was loaded at the half-mile pole. At the time I was nervous, because you worry if they are going to show up after the running starts, but when they got to the quarter pole and Drayden hadn't moved his hands, I had the utmost confidence in my horse."

Untrapped, a half-length in front after six furlongs in 1:11.53, took the show spot by a length and a quarter over opening-day Fifth Season winner Sonneteer. Hedge Fund, Oaklawn's Essex Handicap winner March 17, finished 10th. Inside Straight, last year's Oaklawn Handicap winner at 19-1, "refused to break," according to the chart footnote.

Sports on 04/15/2018

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