Undrafted, Something Extra square off at Kentucky Downs

Jaipur winner Undrafted looks to give NFL star Wes Welker another big win as an owner (Jamie Newell/Adam Coglianese Photography) Kentucky Downs, the all-turf track in Franklin, near the Tennessee border, concludes a successful five-day meeting on Wednesday with a trio of stakes, headlined by the $200,000 Kentucky Downs Turf Dash over 6 1/2 furlongs. A potential prep for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita, the Turf Dash features Undrafted, NFL football star Wes Welker’s Grade 3-winning gelding. Trained by Wesley Ward, Undrafted scored a 1 1/2-length victory in the Jaipur at Belmont Park in early June, and then ran a solid fourth against several of Europe’s top sprinters in the July Cup at Newmarket the following month. The 5-2 morning line favorite is Something Extra, a multiple Grade 2 winner in Canada, where the Indian Charlie gelding has won the past two editions of the Connaught Cup and the July 6 Highlander, all over the Woodbine turf.

Another with strong Canadian form is Dimension, who landed the 2013 Play the
King, a Grade 2 event going seven furlongs on turf. Based at the Skylight
Training Center in Kentucky, the six-year-old was most recently third when
defending his title in the Play the King on August 10.

Others of note are the filly To My Valentine, winner of the Kentucky Downs
Ladies Sprint last season; Stormy Going, runner-up in the More Than Ready Mile
at Kentucky Downs September 13; multiple allowance winner Banzai Charge, who
makes his stakes debut here; and Catalactic and Todge, both winners earlier this
month over the Kentucky Downs course.

The $200,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon, contested over 1 5/16 miles,
attracted 23 fillies and mares and was split into two divisions. The
first
division features Cat’s Claw, heroine of the $100,000 Waya at Saratoga in
early August. Most recently, the Jonathan Sheppard trainee finished sixth in the
Glens Falls when caught behind a slow pace.

Customer Base looks to snap a five-race losing streak for trainer Tom
Procter. A Grade 3 scorer in the Robert J. Frankel at Santa Anita last December,
the five-year-old mare was most recently a half-length behind returning rival
Ann of the Dance in the CTT & TOC Handicap at Del Mar over 1 3/8 miles.

Other potential contenders are Street of Gold, third by a neck in the Modesty
Handicap two back and seventh in the Beverly D. last time; the Mark
Casse-trained Sky High Lady, an allowance winner over this course last season;
and Angegreen, twice Grade 3-placed since her importation from Italy.

The

second division of the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon includes Grade 3 queen
Angel Terrace, who ran third in the race last year behind Mystical Star and
Preferential. Grade 3-placed Tabreed, who makes her third start of the season in
this race, appears to be rounding into form at the right time, while the Neil
Drysdale-trained Topic looks to rebound off a poor try against males in the Del
Mar Handicap.

Auld Alliance and I O Ireland also figure to draw support.

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