Undrafted takes down Group 1 Diamond Jubilee

Wesley Ward did it again, taking down his biggest Royal Ascot prize yet as Undrafted won the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes on the closing-day card of the 2015 meeting.

The Diamond Jubilee was worth almost $473,000 but glory ran a close second to the money. Ward, who somewhat out of the blue brazenly began sending 2-year-olds to the Royal Ascot meeting in 2009, had won juvenile races of some consequence there, and No Nay Never had captured the Group 1 Prix Morny in France, but this was his first truly major win at the Royal Ascot meeting.

Ridden by Frankie Dettori, Undrafted – who had finished third shipping to England last summer for the Group 1 July Cup – waited near the tail of the field until about half the six-furlong race had been run, at which point he commenced a steady move on the outside of the course. Meanwhile, the favored Australian shipper Brazen Beau had been sent by jockey Craig Williams on a solo mission, racing away from the rest of the pack while nearest the stands’ side rail. These two, separated by some distance across the course, slugged it out to the finish, with Undrafted proving a half-length better.

Undrafted, a 5-year-old by Purim owned by Wes Welker and Sol Kumin, won for the fifth time in 20 starts, scoring easily the most important victory of his career. He was timed in 1:12.69 for the six furlongs on Ascot’s good to firm, undulating straight course.

Ward sent 10 horses to Ascot this year but only ran nine, since Finnegan had to be scratched opening day. There were several disappointments, including Hootenanny on Friday in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, but Ward wound up with two more winners at the meeting, the 2-year-old filly Acapulco having captured the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes on Wednesday.

Ryan Moore was blanked on closing day but still brought home a Royal Ascot meet-record nine winners during the course of the five-day, 30-race meeting. Solow got the meet off to a rousing start winning the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, and French horses took a backseat during the week only to Irish runners. Trainer Aidan O’Brien had an excellent week, topped by Gleneagles’s impressive victory Tuesday in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes.

California Chrome had to be scratched Monday from his intended start Wednesday in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes after suffering an abscessed hoof. Free Eagle wound up holding on to win that race over an unlucky The Grey Gatsby.