| Sunday, September 14, 2014 Lubash bests King Kreesa in Ashley T. Cole By Jon Forbes ELMONT, N.Y. - Lubash turned the tables on King Kreesa by closing from last to win the $125,000 Ashley T. Cole, a turf race for New York-breds 3-years-old and up on Sunday at Belmont Park. Second by a head to King Kreesa in West Point presented by Trusctco Bank on August 24 at Saratoga Race Course in his most recent start, Lubash raced in fifth as his longtime rival set fractions of 24.39 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 48.14 for the half while being shadowed by Kharafa. Lubash commenced his charge with five sixteenths to travel, entering the stretch in third as King Kreesa opened up on Kharafa. Following brief resistance from King Kreesa, Lubash poked his head in front with a sixteenth remaining before going on to prevail by a neck. Backed as the 2-1 second choice, Lubash returned $6.10 for a $2 win wager. The final time for 1 1/8 miles over "good" turf was 1:47.83. King Kreesa finished 3 ¾ lengths ahead of 2013 Ashley T. Cole winner Kharafa, who held third by a neck over Front. Notacatbutallama completed the order of finish. "[Lubash is] such a good horse," said winning jockey Junior Alvarado. "He might not win every time, but he always shows up. When I turned for home and saw it was [King Kreesa] ahead of me, I thought, 'Oh, no, I have to catch that one?' But he tried his best like always and came through." The Ashley T. Cole was Lubash's second win over King Kreesa, with the first coming in the 2013 Grade 3 Fort Marcy at Belmont. Since then, King Kreesa had beaten Lubash in the 2013 Kingston, Grade 3 Poker, and Mohawk in addition to the 2014 West Point. "He's a sound horse and he tries very hard," said Christophe Clement, who trains the homebred for Aliyu B. J Stable. "Junior has a good relationship with the horse; he knows him inside out. This is fun. This is a very good group of New York-bred turf horses. King Kreesa and Kharafa are always tough." Clement added that Lubash will now target the $200,000 Mohawk on October 18, Empire Showcase Day at Belmont Park. Lubash, a 7-year-old son of Freud, is 11-8-4 in 37 starts with $911,079 in earnings. His Ashley T. Cole win was worth $75,000. Main-track-only entrants Effinex and Spa City Fever were scratched. -30- | 
