King Leatherbury

Birth Date: March 26, 1933
Birth Place: Baltimore, Maryland

STATISTICS: STARTS 1st 2nd 3rd MONEY
2014 239 32 30 19 $1,062,406
CAREER 35,933 6,446 5,250 4,587 $62,732,744

2014 SEASON: ranked 12th in the local standings with 24 victories…star runner Ben’s Cat won four stakes races in eight starts, including the Mister Diz Stakes for the fifth consecutive year...the son of Parker’s Storm Cat also had repeat victories in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint on Preakness weekend, the Parx Dash Handicap (G3) and Fabulous Strike Handicap…The Cat just missed earning $500,000 for the fourth straight year…tied and passed Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg for fourth on the all-time win list with a pair of victories at Laurel Park on January 18.
 
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: became the third trainer in history to win 6,000 races when Cherokee Sunrise won at Timonium on August 23, 2003…has 52 Maryland training titles at Pimlico and Laurel Park on his resume…from 1981 to 1996 won or shared 24 of 28 meets at Laurel Park…from 1974 to 1997 won or shared 26 of 35 meets at Old Hilltop…in his heyday, Leatherbury was one of the “Big Four” of Maryland racing -- Leatherbury, Bud Delp, Dick Dutrow and John Tammaro--men who dominated the mid-Atlantic circuits during the 1970’s…in the mid 1970’s, the King had four consecutive 300-win campaigns and was the nation’s leading conditioner in 1977 and 1978…finished in the top three for six straight years (1975-1980)…has won five races in one day four times, six races in a day once…has saddled four Preakness starters: Indigo Star (fifth-1978), Thirty Eight Paces (fourth-1981) and I Am The Game (fourth-1985) and Malibu Moonshine (eighth-2005)…Catatonic won the Hempstead (G1) at Belmont Park in 1987...Ah Day won six stakes races in 2006, including the Tesio, finished in the money in three graded races the next year and won the Toboggan Stakes (G3) in 2009…conditioned Taking Risks to five stakes wins in 1994, including the Iselin Handicap (G1) at Monmouth, three graded races in Maryland (William Donald Schaefer, Baltimore Breeders’ Cup & Jennings Handicap) and the Maryland Million Classic…won the John B. Campbell Handicap (G3) with multiple stakes winner Ameri Valay in 1994 and won a pair of Laurel Turf Cups (G3) with Learned Jake (1991) & Dynamic Trick (2000)…Ben’s Cat won eight-of-nine races as a 4-year-old in 2010, including three turf stakes races at Laurel Park, captured the Maryland Million Turf Sprint three consecutive years (2010-2011-2012) and became the barn’s first millionaire with a victory Turf Monster Handicap (G3) at Parx Racing in 2012…first victory was with Mister L in 1959 at Sunshine Park…celebrated his 5,000th career victory on May 21, 1993.
 
PERSONAL: received a lifetime achievement award from the Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 and is a member of the Anne Arundel County Hall of Fame.