Aqueduct: King Kreesa transferred to Donk barn

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - King Kreesa, who earned two New York-bred awards for his 2013 campaign when trained by Jeremiah Englehart, has been transferred by his owners to David Donk.

“We decided we wanted to make a change to a smaller barn,” owner Gerald Kresa said Friday. “David’s around all the time, his employees have been around for a number of years. Jeremiah has horses at Finger Lakes and goes back and forth a lot.”

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On Tuesday, King Kreesa was announced as the New York-bred champion older male and champion male turf horse for 2013. King Kreesa won 3 of 8 starts including the Grade 3 Poker and the Kingston and Mohawk, both restricted to New York-breds. Perhaps his biggest race came in the Grade 2 Fourstardave when he finished second to two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan.

On Thursday, King Kreesa worked four furlongs in 50.25 seconds at Belmont Park. King Kreesa had a trio of three-furlong breezes at J.J. Crupi’s Newcastle Farm in Ocala, Fla., before shipping up to New York.

Kresa said that King Kreesa could return to the races in early May at Belmont in either the Elusive Quality Stakes at seven furlongs on May 1 or the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy at 1 1/8 miles on May 3.

Races such as the Poker on May 26 at Belmont and the Fourstardave in August at Saratoga are also in the plans, according to Kresa.