King Kreesa taking shot in Shadwell Mile

ELMONT, N.Y. – Lubash and Kharafa have combined to win the last three runnings of the Ashley T. Cole Stakes for New York-breds, and both are expected to be in the starting gate when that race is run for the 40th time next Sunday at Belmont Park.

One horse who won’t be in the gate with them is King Kreesa, who is eschewing the New York-bred turf scene to take a Grade 1 swing in the $750,000 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 3.

“We’ll give him the opportunity to see where we’re at,” trainer David Donk said Friday.

King Kreesa won the Grade 3 Poker and the listed Forbidden Apple Stakes at Belmont this summer. He raced twice at Saratoga, finishing fourth, beaten just one length by Grand Arch, in the Grade 2 Fourstardave and then two weeks later finishing second, beaten a length by Lubash, in the West Point Stakes.

Notacatbutallama was sent to the lead by jockey John Velazquez in the West Point, forcing King Kreesa to chase him. Donk said King Kreesa was a little bit rank in the West Point, and Lubash was the beneficiary of the contested pace.

“I wheeled him back in 13 days and didn’t get his best number because of it,” Donk said. “He was compromised by tactics last time with [Notacatbutallama].”

The Shadwell Turf Mile is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Should King Kreesa fail to race well enough to move on to the Breeders’ Cup, he could always wheel back in three weeks and run in the $200,000 Mohawk for New York-breds on Oct. 24, when he most likely will find his friends Lubash and Kharafa waiting for him.