Ben’s Cat Puts in Final Work Saturday for Maryland Million
Ben’s Cat Puts in Final Work Saturday for Maryland Million
26-Time Stakes Winner Nominated to Both Sprint and Turf Oct. 22
LAUREL, MD – The Jim Stable’s Ben’s Cat, whose 26 lifetime stakes victories include three in the Maryland Million, had his final work Saturday morning for the 31st edition of ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’ set for Saturday, Oct. 22 at Laurel Park.
Under regular rider Trevor McCarthy, the 10-year-old gelding bred, owned and trained by Hall of Fame horseman King Leatherbury was clocked in 1:05 for five furlongs over Laurel’s main track.
“We didn’t want to do too much with him since the race is right around the corner,” McCarthy said. “He felt great. He did everything smooth. He galloped out real well and he came back great, so we’re ready for Maryland Million.”
Training was restricted to between 5 and 7 a.m. due to Saturday’s running of the third annual Maryland Million 5K, making conditions dark and causing some confusion with the timing of the work, Leatherbury said.
“Nobody knows the actual time on it, but [McCarthy] said he went very, very good. He said he felt good and went good and was tickled with it, so we were very satisfied with it. That’s the final work until he runs,” Leatherbury said. “Everything’s done. It’s what we wanted and it’s what we got.”
Ben’s Cat won the 5 ½-furlong Maryland Million Turf Sprint from 2010-2012 before the race was discontinued. He finished second in the one-mile Turf in 2013 and 2014 as well as the six-furlong Sprint in 2015, beaten less than a length combined.
Leatherbury nominated Ben’s Cat to both the Sprint and Turf this year and will take a look at both before making a final decision where to run. Ben’s Cat will tie multiple stakes winner In the Curl for the most Maryland Million starts with his seventh and could match La Reine’s Terms (2005 Turf) as the event’s oldest winner.
“We’re going to try to find out how those races come up and then we have to choose between one of them. In the past, the turf race has come up much weaker than the Sprint. However, he doesn’t want to go a mile,” Leatherbury said. “Every time I’ve run him [at a mile] he’s run right there on the pace, going easy, and then he just doesn’t hold on and one or two horses pass him.
“In the Sprint he doesn’t win, either, because it comes up extremely tough even though it’s restricted,” he added. “There are a lot of horses bred in Maryland and nominated to Maryland Million that are fast. There’s no spots on Maryland Million Day that are easy.”
