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Dash, the eight-year-old not only three-peated in the Philadelphia stakes – after finishing second by a head in his first appearance in 2011 – he pushed his career earnings to more than $2 million. “He is remarkable,” Leatherbury said, whose K.T. Leatherbury Assoc. Inc. bred The Jim Stable-owned gelding in Maryland. So is his trainer, who has won more than 50 training titles and led the country in victories twice. Neither Ben’s Cat nor Leatherbury have received much national attention for their accomplishments. Ben’s Cat suffered a broken pelvis when he was two years old. Rather than discard him, Leatherbury gave him enough time to recover, which is why Ben’s Cat didn’t make his debut until he was four in a maiden $20,000 claimer at Pimlico on May 8th, 2010. Leatherbury said he wasn’t worried another horseman would claim his first-time starter. “He did nothing to raise eyebrows,” Leatherbury said. After Ben’s Cat won by a length and threequarters, Leatherbury entered him in a $25,000 claimer. “That was a little foolish,” Leatherbury said. “A first-time starter who won
his debut. I could have lost him, but I got away with it.” That’s because Leatherbury is one of the most astute claiming trainers to grace the backside. Not many trainers think they can claim a horse from him and improve the horse. Still, Ben’s Cat never ran for a tag again. Ben’s Cat stayed in Leatherbury’s barn and tacked on six more victories, including three stakes, to begin his career eight-for-eight. “He just kept rolling,” Leatherbury said. “We said, ‘Boy, what do we have here?’” They have a horse now who has won four of his last five starts and is 27-for-41 lifetime with four seconds, three thirds, and just over $2.1 million in earnings. Maybe Ben’s Cat will get Leatherbury into the Hall of Fame. “If it happens, so be it,” Leatherbury said. “I’ve got more awards than a man could get in a lifetime.” He could have had a much different life. Born on a farm where his father raised horses, Leatherbury – whose first name is the maiden name of his mom – graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in business administration. Yet he happily dove into horseracing. “I knew what I was getting
into,” he said. “I was single. No responsibilities.” He won his first race at Florida’s Sunshine Park in 1959 with Mister L and hasn’t stopped, finishing as the leading trainer at Delaware Park four times before shifting his attention to Maryland, where he has been the leading trainer at Pimlico 26 times and at Laurel 24 times. He led the nation in victories in 1976 and 1977 and became known as one of the Big Four of Mid-Atlantic racing with Buddy Delp, Dick Dutrow, and John Tammaro. That doesn’t mean he never struggled. “At one point, I was down to about 12 horses and I owned a lot of them myself,” he said. “What happened was my people died off, all my owners. Now I have 18, 19 [horses]. At one point, I had 60.” He has no intention of retiring. “It’ll be a sad day when I have to give it up,” Leatherbury said. “I got in it because I loved it, never thinking I’d be that successful. I used to say, ‘As long as I have a Cadillac convertible and $100 in my pocket, I’d be happy.’” He’s yet to buy that Cadillac. Maybe Ben’s Cat will get that for him, too. “I’m still having fun.” n
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