King Kreesa's West Point Win brings Donk Fond Memories

When trainer David Donk stepped into the winner's circle following King Kreesa's victory this past Friday in the $150,000 West Point on New York Showcase Day, thoughts of his old boss Woody Stephens filled his head.

Donk, 56, ran his fleet turf star in the West Point to a nose victory just six days after the 7-year-old son of King Cugat had run a gritty fourth in the Grade 1 Fourstardave at the Spa.

Donk worked for Stephens as an assistant from 1984 to 1991 and knew well the story of how the trainer had won the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap with Conquistador Cielo on May 31, 1982 and five days later sent the colt back out to take the1 ½-mile Belmont Stakes, the first of an untouchable five straight wins for Stephens in the "Test of the Champion."

Conquistador Cielo wound up champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year, and Stephens landed in racing's Hall of Fame. So when asked about the quick turnaround for King Kreesa, Donk summoned the ghost of his old boss, who died at 84 in 1998.

"I'm going to be honest: When [jockey] Irad [Ortiz] jumped off him after the Fourstardave, he was adamant that I should run him back, and he really got me thinking about it," Donk said. "On my way back to the barn, I ran into some old friends from when I worked for Woody. One person I ran into was Vonnie, the girl that galloped Conquistador Cielo, and she told me all they did with him in between those races was walk him.

"I said, 'This is karma,' and it really had me thinking. [King Kreesa] was good on Sunday and good on Monday when we entered. I told the clients, 'We have 45 minutes to post time to scratch him if we want to.'"

They ran in West Point off the short rest and King Kreesa was sent right to the front by jockey Jose Ortiz and held off his old rival Kharafa to improve his lifetime record to 11 wins from 34 starts with earnings of $1,371,704.