Gerald and Susan Kresa’s King Kreesa capitalized as the controlling speed in
Thursday’s Grade 3, $150,000
Poker
Stakes at Belmont Park, while 3-5 favorite Data Link could get no closer
than fourth. Trained by Jeremiah Englehart and well handled by Irad Ortiz Jr.,
King Kreesa got away with a comfortable early lead and quickened late to earn
his first graded victory.
The New York-bred gelding had just wired the June 1 Kingston over this same
mile circuit on the Widener turf. Once again looming as the likely pacesetter on
the Fourth of July, King Kreesa was sent off as the 9-2 second choice, and he
never saw a serious challenge. He carved out splits of :23 4/5, :47 and 1:10 3/5
on the firm course, tracked by Howe Great and Big Screen.
Data Link, the class of the field as a Grade 1 winner, was parked in midpack
on the outside. But when the odds-on favorite crept forward turning for home,
and tried to launch a bid down the stretch, he came up empty.
Meanwhile, King Kreesa was still going strong on the front end. Howe Great,
who chased in second throughout, couldn’t catch the longtime leader. Lubash made
ominous headway from off the pace, but neither could he bridge the gap, and he
ended up flattening out in the closing stages.
King Kreesa maintained a 1 1/2-length advantage over Howe Great, and stopped
the teletimer in 1:33 3/5. Rewarding his supporters with payouts of $11, $5.50
and $6.50, he advanced his scorecard to 14-5-3-2, $434,370.
“All the time my horse breaks out of there and he likes to be in front, so I
got the lead,” Ortiz recapped. “Not too easy — he was relaxed, but in the same
moment he was going a little fast. He was still running for me.
“The trainer (Englehart) did a really good job with that horse. He’s a New
York-bred winning in open company and I think they have a very good team all
together, the stable. Everybody worked hard with the horse, and he did much
better.
“Before he was a little nervous, and now he’s more relaxed. He gave me
everything that he had today. I had to let him run, because that’s what he
likes. He’s going to put you wherever he wants to go.”
“We were hoping for a repeat of the Kingston, with nice easy fractions, and
that’s what we got,” Gerald Kresa said. “We love Irad. It’s a thrill for (King
Kreesa) to get his first graded stakes win; he’d been close several times.”
Howe Great was himself 1 1/2 lengths clear in second. Big Screen, who was
passed by both Data Link and Lubash at different points, fought back gamely
along the inside to reclaim third by a head from Data Link, with Lubash another
neck away in fifth. Shkspeare Shaliyah and Upgrade completed the order of
finish, and the main-track-only Politicallycorrect stayed in the barn.
King Kreesa’s three prior stakes scores had also come at Belmont — last
year’s Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Stakes as well as the
London Company Stakes, and the aforementioned Kingston.
The son of King Cugat had come very close to wiring the Jamaica Handicap here
in October, only to be run down late by King David. King Kreesa’s other stakes
placings include a near-miss in the Cab Calloway division of the New York
Stallion Stakes at Saratoga and thirds in both the Appleton at Gulfstream Park
and the Fort Marcy at Belmont this spring. A fierce early pace in the Fort Marcy
set the table for Lubash, but King Kreesa gained revenge in their two ensuing
meetings.
Bred by Horse Partners in the Empire State, King Kreesa is out of the
stakes-placed Storm Creek mare Storm’s Advance.
Gerald Kresa indicated that the four-year-old will seek more graded glory at
Saratoga.
“We’ll probably look next at the Fourstardave (Grade 2 on August 10),” his
co-owner said. “We’ll see how he comes out of this one.”
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