Undrafted gives Ward, Dettori the perfect Royal Ascot ending in Diamond Jubilee

Undrafted gutted out the win in the Diamond Jubilee to wrap up Wesley Ward’s 2015 Royal Ascot trip (Photo courtesy of GBI Racing via Twitter)

Trainer Wesley Ward was full of praise for jockey Frankie
Dettori after he and five-year-old Undrafted (Purim) got up near the post to win
Saturday’s Golden Jubilee S. (Eng-G1), the feature event on the final day at
Royal Ascot 2015. A crowd of 71,276 was in attendance, easily surpassing last
year’s 69,783 and bringing the five-day Royal Ascot total to 293,303.

“The horse has been training unbelievably well and every
week has been firing bullets at Keeneland, but I’ll tell you what, Frankie is
superb. You can have a Porsche against Porsches, but you still gotta have the
right guy (at the wheel) and this is a magical guy. He’s just a cool sitter and
a go-getter as they say,” Ward commended the champion rider. “It would have been so easy to lay up with this horse, but
Frankie just sat back there, got him wide and came home with the rest. It was
fantastic.”

“Wesley is a very, very good friend of mine and a big
supporter of mine. Nothing gave me more pleasure than winning this race for
him,” Dettori said.

“(Undrafted) jumped out of the gates like an American horse but I
took a pull as I didn’t want to get there too early. I was trying to save a bit
for the end. I kept an eye on the Australian horse and we kicked on, I knew it
would take a good one to get by him. When you sit on a sprinter like that you
get a great feeling.

“I didn’t want to kick too soon because I was going so
well. I kept an eye on the yellow colors but, every time this horse runs, he
finishes strong so I saved the last bit for the end and it proved me right. I
knew that I had won.”

Undrafted, a 14-1 shot who scored by a half-length over the Australian runner and 7-2 joint-favorite
Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible), became Ward’s fifth Royal Ascot winner
but his first by a horse older than two. Undrafted carried the colors of
NFL star Wes Welker, who was unable to travel to Britain and was
represented by his racing manager, Gatewood Bell.

“Gatewood Bell, a wonderful bloodstock agent, picked the
horse out as a yearling and I broke him in,” Ward remarked. “Wes has been a dream owner and a
fantastic guy to train for — it was like I owned the horse because I could do
anything with him from the time he came to me. One of the reasons for the
success is that if I want to give the horse a winter off like I did last year
he’s happy for that. It’s a shame he’s not here today.”

Jockey Frankie Dettori entertained racegoers with his trademark “flying leap” from Undrafted’s saddle following the Diamond Jubilee (Photo courtesy of Ascot Racecourse via Twitter)

“I am just elated,” he added. “This is the biggest race I’ve won — I’ve
won Breeders’ Cups and races here in the past, but to come here and be presented
with a Group 1 trophy by the Queen was such a fantastic experience.

Undrafted entered the Diamond Jubilee off a pair of placings to start the
year in Kentucky. The chestnut gelding was third in the Shakertown S. (G3) at
Keeneland on April 4 before just missing when second by three parts of a length
in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint S. (G3) at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks Day,
May1. Prior to Saturday, his biggest score had come as a win in last year’s
Jaipur Invitational (G3) at Belmont Park and he also posted a half-length third in the
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) to close out his 2014 campaign.

“He’s a tremendous horse at the top of his game,” Ward said. “I’ve been
on the phone to Frankie for weeks and weeks, telling him how good the horse is.
I felt that given the right ride over the right trip we could get the job done
and we did.

“We’re going to sit down and talk about the July Cup (at Newmarket),
but no decision has been made.”

Undrafted is now 6-1 from 14-1 for the July 11 July Cup (Eng-G1), a race he
ran fourth in last year, with Betfred and Paddy Power. Brazen Beau is Paddy Power’s 4-1 favorite.