New York-bred millionaire King Kreesa retired to Old Friends

ELMONT, N.Y. – King Kreesa will be reunited with familiar New York-bred turf-stakes rival Lubash at Old Friends, a retirement facility in Kentucky.

King Kreesa, a winner of 11 of 43 starts, including 10 stakes, has been retired from racing at age 9 and will be sent to Old Friends in the coming days, trainer David Donk said Thursday.

Donk said that Michael Blowen, who heads Old Friends, came to him a while back and said that when Donk and owners Gerald and Susan Kresa were ready to retire King Kreesa, Old Friends would like to have him.

“He’ll be there with Lubash,” Donk said. “He was obviously a very, very good New York-bred, even won some open-company stakes. Those kind of horses don’t come around very often.”

Donk trained King Kreesa for 22 of the gelding’s 43 starts, including last month’s West Point, where he finished last. Jeremiah Englehart trained him for 18 starts, while Linda Rice had him for three races.

King Kreesa, by King Cugat, won the Grade 3 Poker twice – once for Donk, once for Englehart – the Forbidden Apple twice and the West Point twice. He earned $1,431,654.