Recruiting Ready returned from a 6 1/2-month layoff in a big way Sunday at Aqueduct, leading all the way and holding off Skyler’s Scramjet to win the $101,100 Gravesend Stakes by a head. Recruiting Ready ($19.40), was making his first start for trainer Stanley Hough, having made his first 15 starts for Horatio DePaz, and was racing for the first time since fading to fifth in the Grade 2 True North last June at Belmont Park. He had been training sharply for his return at Palm Meadows, including a pair of bullet five-furlong works earlier this month. Ridden on Sunday for the first time by Eric Cancel, Recruiting Ready was quickest out of the gate and led his five rivals through a quarter-mile in 22.20 seconds and a half-mile in 45.49, with 3-4 favorite Gold for the King and Skyler’s Scramjet stalking him 1 1/2 lengths back. Recruiting Ready eased out into the 3 path around the turn, with Gold for the King slipping up the rail to challenge him and Skyler’s Scramjet bearing down outside of him. Skyler’s Scramjet steadily ate into Recruiting Ready’s lead but could not get there in time, as the winner stopped the clock in 1:10.52 for six furlongs on a fast track. "To be honest, the trip went very nice and easy," Cancel told track publicity. "The plan was to let him break and try to get the lead comfortably without doing too much with him, and that's the way it worked out. I let him on the lead, put my hands down, and when he was ready to run, I asked him, and he was still grinding it out." Jockey Dylan Davis said he was pleased with the effort from Skyler's Scramjet, who won the Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct in March and most recently raced last June. "He ran a great race coming off a layoff of six or seven months," said Davis. "I know he gave his heart out, and I wish I could have got it done, but he was just one jump short. I know he'll improve and win a couple of stakes next year." Gold for the King finished third, three-quarters of a length behind Skyler’s Scramjet, and was followed by Life in Shambles, Always Sunshine, and Runaway Lute. Life in Shambles was second to Do Share in the 2017 Gravesend. Recruiting Ready, a 4-year-old son of Algorithms owned by Sagamore Farm LLC, has won six of 16 starts and earned $489,685. He has placed in four graded stakes and owns stakes victories in the Chick Lang at Pimlico in May 2017 and the Bachelor at Oaklawn Park one month prior. :: Want to get the latest news with your past performances? Try DRF’s new digital PPs