DEL MAR — The emotions became jumbled and knotted as joy, relief and a twinge of sadness all wrestled to take control inside of Drayden Van Dyke.
The 30-year-old had shocked the field Saturday in a $1 million race, the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar, after his 19-1 long shot Soul of an Angel seemed hopelessly lost, after his footing as a jockey in Southern California slipped, after his life teetered on being perilously adrift.
Racing had kept the demons temporarily at bay when his father, Seth, an exercise rider and valet who tangled with unrelenting depression, took his own life.
Van Dyke stepped away to regroup late last year. When business became unsteady, as it routinely can in that topsy-turvy world, he found his stride again at Gulfstream Park in Florida.
Then, in a homecoming scripted like a Disney tear-jerker, Van Dyke found release.
“I’ve been going non-stop since I was 18,” Van Dyke said. “I lost my father at 18. I just kept going, kept going, kept going. I never took time to really mourn and process everything. I took the time off for myself.”
Drayden Van Dyke is congratulated after winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint on Saturday at Del Mar. (Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Miraculous finishes demand long odds and somber and gloomy beginnings.
They require uncommon comebacks.
Soul of an Angel was dead last among the nine-horse field for much of Saturday’s race, saddled with the second-longest odds and a mountainous climb ahead.
Van Dyke baked in patience with belief, swung wide as he turned for the stretch and began blowing past traffic like a Formula 1 racer among Fiats to stun all involved with a half-length victory.
It was Van Dyke’s second Breeders’ Cup victory after piloting Stormy Liberal in the 2018 Turf Sprint. The fat $41.60 payday for a winning ticket told the story of an astonishing race.
Van Dyke spelled out the rest.
“I’ve learned a lot,” said Van Dyke, who won the summer and fall riding titles at Del Mar in 2018. “It’s how this game is. You’re not always on top. Rare few guys stay on top. There’s a lot of ups and downs. You got to them out ’em.”
One of the contending horses Van Dyke eclipsed was ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. It simply enriched the tale all the more.
Smith has won 27 Breeders’ Cup races, more than anyone who has slung a leg over a horse. When a young Van Dyke needed shelter from storm, the veteran became his roommate.
They talked horse racing. They talked life.
When Van Dyke hunted guidance and an anchor, a sport’s icon provided it.
“He’s like a father to me,” Van Dyke said. “When I lost my dad, he kind of took over that role for me. I love him to death. I’ll do anything for that man.”
When the horses down-shifted to a gallop after the race, Smith hollered congratulations to Van Dyke.
If Smith couldn’t find the line first, there was no doubt who he hoped would do the winning.
“After it’s all said and done, I’m very happy for him,” Smith said. “When he started out, I kind of took him under my wing. We’re very close, like family. I’m proud of him.”
Smith, 59, has done it all in the sport. He became a hall of famer when Van Dyke was 9. He has 28,936 more starts, 4,909 more wins and nearly $300 million more in earnings.
There was so much to share.
On Saturday, they shared something only those with relationships like theirs can understand.
“I’m grateful to have that kind of mentor in my corner,” Van Dyke said.
The roommates part? That offered the lasting glue.
“He’d holler at me when I touched the thermostat, but other than that, he was great,” said Van Dyke with a laugh.
The $1 million race was a chance to show that true healing has begun and each step forward can come with a bit more bounce. Success steadies things.
The lessons along the way — “He got my faith in God closer than anyone ever has,” Van Dyke said — helped level out the bumpiest patches of road.
Now, he needs 25 more Breeders’ Cup wins to catch a mentor.
“Hopefully sooner than later,” Van Dyke joked.
Sometimes, a race is more than a race.