Lubash Looks for Ashley T. Cole Stakes Repeat

With one of his familiar rivals looking to play spoiler, Lubash will try to win the $125,000 Ashley T. Cole Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds and older a second straight year and third time overall Sept. 20 on the inner turf at Belmont Park.

A two-time grade III winner, Lubash carries a three-race win streak into Sunday’s 1 1/8-mile turf race, but one of his familiar rivals awaits in five-time stakes winner Kharafa, who finished third to Lubash in last year’s Ashley T. Cole after defeating him by a head in the race's 2013 edition.

Ben Aliyu Stables' Lubash enters off a one-length victory over King Kreesa, another frequent New York-bred rival who is sitting out Sunday’s race, in the Aug. 28 West Point Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Lubash started his three-race win streak with a one-length decision over Kharafa in the Kingston Stakes May 25 on the Belmont turf.

"He's a really, really, really fun horse," said Lubash's trainer Christophe Clement. "He's gotten into a rhythm now, which is probably the best he has ever been. He's sound, and he tries hard more than ever. He got loose on me right before Saratoga and I didn't think he was going to make it back to the races, but thank God I was wrong and he came back and ran a good race [in the West Point] at Saratoga.

"All the credit goes to the owner [Leonard Pivnick], who has been really patient," he added. "He was a good horse when I got him; it [just] takes me a while to get it right."

With more than $1.2 million in earnings and 10 total stakes wins, 8-year-old Lubash is the leading earner and stakes winner for his sire Freud  . He has won four of his past five starts on the Belmont turf courses.

After his runner-up Kingston performance, Paul Braveman and Timothy Pinch’s Kharafa enters Sunday’s race off a pair of starts on the Monmouth Park turf course. The 6-year-old son of Kitalpha won the Elkwood Stakes July 4 at Monmouth and enters off a seventh in the Aug. 2 Oceanport Stakes (gr. IIIT), where the five-time stakes winner faltered as the 6-5 favorite.

Also Sunday at Belmont, New York-bred fillies and mares will try the inner course in the $125,000 John Hettinger Stakes, where Kendel Standlee’s The Tea Cups will try to replicate the late-running magic that carried her to victory in the Yaddo Stakes Aug. 28 on the Saratoga turf.

In the Yaddo, The Tea Cups rallied from 10th early to register a one-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile race. The 5-year-old daughter of Hard Spun   will face some familiar rivals Sunday, as Yaddo runner-up Old Harbor, third-place finisher Selenite, and also-rans Chrysolite, Unbelievable Dream, and Invading Humor will try her again in Sunday’s 1 1/8-mile test.

The field also features Freudie Anne, who has won all three of her turf starts, including the Aug. 13 New York Stallion Series Stakes on the Saratoga turf.