Offering Plan poised to dethrone usual trio of suspects in Mohawk Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – There are four traditional turf stakes for New York-bred males on this circuit, and Lubash, King Kreesa, and Kharafa have combined to win 13 of the last 15 runnings of those races.

On Saturday, those three are back in the entries again for the $200,000 Mohawk Stakes at Belmont Park, but, blasphemous as it may sound, it may be someone else’s turn to win one of these statebred turf stakes.

Offering Plan recently joined that highly decorated trio, running a good third behind King Kreesa and Kharafa in the West Point at Saratoga and most recently finishing second to Kharafa in the Ashley T. Cole.

Offering Plan may have been compromised by slow paces in both races even though in the Ashley T. Cole, Latigo Trail was entered as a rabbit for Tapitation but failed to set a fast early pace.

Latigo Trail is back in the entries again Saturday, and one would expect that Eric Cancel would be instructed by trainer Ralph Nicks to go at a faster clip. Nicks is also the trainer of the late-running Tapitation.

“The horse is improving. He’s had some challenging trips in his last two races,” trainer Chad Brown said of Offering Plan. “He fits with these. He’d appreciate some pace up front.”

King Kreesa is one of the horses who figures to set the pace. King Kreesa, who won this race in 2013, is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Ashley T. Cole. Trainer David Donk said he believes the soft course condition and the nine-furlong distance conspired to foil King Kreesa.

“Back to a mile and a sixteenth, more of a one-turn race, that should help,” Donk said.

Lubash, 9, won this race last year but hadn’t won this year until taking an allowance race here Sept. 17.

“It was nice for him to win a race this year, and he could not be training any better, and he could not look any better,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “I always felt he was a bit better on firmer turf than softer turf, but there’s not much I can do with that.”

Kharafa, who won this race in 2014, does move up with cut in the ground. Remarkably, he has never won back-to-back races in the same year. The only time he won two in a row was when he won the Mohawk in October 2014 and an allowance race at Keeneland in the spring of 2015.

Tapitation beat Kharafa, King Kreesa, and Lubash in the Kingston Stakes here in May. He is winless in three starts against these horses since.

◗ When Fourstar Crook won the Yaddo Stakes at Saratoga, she had to overcome the outside post in a 10-horse field. On Saturday, when Fourstar Crook seeks her seventh consecutive victory in the $200,000 Ticonderoga Stakes, she will have to contend with the outside post in an 11-horse field.

Twelve were entered, but Tahoe Tigress was entered to run only run if the race is transferred to the main track.

Chad Brown, the trainer of Fourstar Crook, called the outside post “very challenging.”

“She’s a very talented horse, but she has to give away weight and start from that post,” he said. “She’ll have a good test.”

Fourstar Crook is the 123-pound co-highweight along with The Tea Cups, who drew post 10.

Fourstar Crook’s streak began last October when she won a maiden race at Belmont and an allowance race at Aqueduct. After a break, she came in a “totally different horse at age 4,” according to Brown.

“She’s a big, strong, good-looking filly, and she’s even exceeded my expectations about what her ceiling was,” Brown said. “I’m extremely impressed with her.”

Fourstar Crook is 3 for 4 at Belmont and 4 for 5 at the 1 1/16-mile distance.

The Tea Cups finished second to Fourstar Crook in the John Hettinger last out. Trainer Jeremiah Englehart said he didn’t know what to expect from his 6-year-old The Tea Cups that day considering that she had missed a breeze leading up to that race due to illness.

“She definitely surprised me in her last start,” Englehart said. “I just think she’s an older mare, she knows the game, she’s a very smart horse. She’s training great going into this race. I would be surprised if she didn’t run her race.”

Invading Humor upset this field last year at odds of 29-1. She is winless in six starts since. Trainer Bruce Levine said he would prefer to run Invading Humor over firm ground and hopes the forecasted rain Friday doesn’t come or is minimal.

C d’Cat, coming off a third in the River Cities Stakes at Louisiana Downs, makes her first start in New York-bred stakes company for trainer Joe Sharp.

Selenite, Flipcup, Hold Harbor, and Feeling Bossy are others in here with a chance.