Departing Tops More Than Ready Mile

Fresh off an impressive group I triumph at Royal Ascot, Undrafted tops the 10-horse field entered in the $300,000 More Than Ready Mile Stakes on the opening-day card at Kentucky Downs Sept. 5.



The More Than Ready Mile, for 3-year-olds and up, is one of three $300,000 stakes on the 10-race card offering more than $1.5 million in purses. With the lucrative purses infused by revenues from the popular historical racing electronic gaming, 140 horses were entered for the 10 races on the card.



Trained by Wesley Ward, Undrafted accelerated down the far side of the course to narrowly win the six-furlong Diamond  Jubilee (Eng-I) in June at Royal Ascot in England. Welker, a former wide receiver for the Denver Broncos and a free agent following his release at the end of the 2014-15 season, owns Undrafted with Sol Kumin.



Undrafted, who will have the services of Joel Rosario as he breaks from the 4 post.



Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider's homebred multiple graded stakes winner Departing, who shoulders co-topweight of 122 pounds, will be ridden from the 6 post by Robby Albarado for trainer Al Stall, Jr.



A son of Claiborne stallion War Front  , Departing squeezed through a hole along the rail to upset Sky Flight in the Firecracker Stakes (gr. IIT) at Churchill Downs June 27. The Firecracker marked the second career start on grass for the 5-year-old gelding who won the West Virginia Derby and Super Derby, both grade II, and Illinois Derby (gr. III) in 2013.



Also expected to be factors are multiple grade II winner Skyring and Canadian grade I winner Regally Ready.



Trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas for Brad Kelley's Calumet Farm, Skyring is unplaced in six starts this year, all in graded stakes company. The English Channel   horse is winless since taking the Mervin H. Muniz Memorial (gr. IIT) in March 2014.



Regally Ready, the $1.69 million earner trained by Steve Asmussen for Vinery Stables, is the defending More Than Ready Mile winner who was sired by the race's namesake. The 8-year-old gelding won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IIT) and Nearctic Stakes (Can-IT) at Woodbine in 2011.



The two other stakes on the Kentucky Downs opener are the Calumet Farm Juvenile Stakes and Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Stakes, each worth $300,000.