Mister Diz, Jameela Stakes Nominations Close Aug. 12
Mister Diz, Jameela Stakes Nominations Close Aug. 12
Ben’s Cat Attempting to Win Mister Diz for Seventh Straight Year
LAUREL, MD – Nominations close Friday, Aug. 12 for the $75,000 Mister Diz Stakes and $75,000 Jameela Stakes, to be run on Maryland Pride Day, Aug. 20, the final Saturday of Laurel Park’s 24-day summer meet.
The 33rd running of the Mister Diz for 3-year-olds and up and the 29th running of the Jameela for fillies and mares 3 and older, each restricted to Maryland-bred/Maryland-sired horses, will be contested at six furlongs on the grass. Entries will be taken Wednesday, Aug. 17.
Bred, owned and trained by Hall of Fame horseman King Leatherbury, 10-year-old Ben’s Cat will be aiming for his seventh straight victory in the Mister Diz. Since 2010, the multiple Grade 3-winning multimillionaire has won the race at both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course with four different riders at three different distances on turf and dirt.
Charles J. Reed’s Monster Sleeping, second to two-time winner Madame Giry in 2014, is the defending champion in the Jameela. The Dale Capuano trainee was most recently fourth in the All Brandy Stakes June 25 at Pimlico.
A homebred by former Pimlico vice president Nathan Cohen, Mister Diz was named a Maryland-bred champion four consecutive years (1968-71) and earned $327,015 over eight seasons, winning 23 of 90 starts. Named for racetrack character Frank Rosenfeld, he won eight stakes and placed in 16 others, and set track records at both Laurel and Monmouth Park.
Jameela, whose name means ‘beautiful’ in Arabic, was the first Maryland-bred to go over $1 million in purse earnings. A two-time Maryland-bred Horse of the Year (1981-82), she finished fourth or better in 52 of 58 career starts with 27 wins, 16 of them in stakes, including Grade 1 victories in the 1981 Maskette Stakes, 1981 Ladies Handicap and 1982 Delaware Handicap.
