LAUREL, MD– DARRS Inc.’s Proforma is scheduled to make his 2019 debut in Saturday’s $100,000 King T. Leatherbury Stakes at Laurel Park, where the gelded son of Munnings will hold the distinction of being the only horse in the field to have a graded-stakes victory on his resume.
 
The inaugural running of the Leatherbury, named in honor of Maryland’s own Hall of Fame training legend, is scheduled to be run over the Dahlia turf course at the 5 ½-furlong distance. The Leatherbury is one of seven stakes worth $750,000 in purses on an 11-race Spring Stakes Spectacular program, highlighted by the $125,000 Xpressbet Federico Tesio, which serves as a ‘Win and In’ event for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the 144thPreakness Stakes (G1) May 18 at legendary Pimlico Race Course.
 
Scratched from the April 6 Commonwealth (G3) at Keeneland, Proforma is scheduled to make the first start of his 5-year-old season in the Leatherbury.   
 
“He’s training very well. We’ve had him ready for a while. He was entered here [at Keeneland] in the Commonwealth and he flared a little temperature that didn’t amount to anything, but it was enough to scratch him from that race,” trainer Michael Stidham said. “He’s worked well since then and he’s doing well.”
 
Proforma was a multiple-stakes winner on dirt, scoring in the Super Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds during his 2-year-old season and in the Jersey Shore at Monmouth during his 3-year-old campaign, before earning his first stakes win during his 4-year-old year in the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint (G3).
 
“When we got him started he worked well on both synthetic and dirt, so we kind of had an idea that he would handle both surfaces,” said Stidham, who saddled Proforma for a second-place finish on dirt in his 2018 finale in the Thanksgiving Day Handicap at Fair Grounds. “He’s been a very versatile horse who’s just a runner. I think he’ll run on anything.”
 
Proforma scored his graded stakes success while rallying from off the pace in the 6 ½-furlong Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint.
 
“He’s run really good numbers on both surfaces. The question mark with him is: Is 5 ½ a touch short for him?” Stidham said.  “It may be a touch short, but I think he’s a good enough horse to overcome that, hopefully.”
 
Although lone main-track-only entrant Bavaro, a graded stakes-placed sprinter on dirt, has been installed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite, Proforma was assigned the lowest odds of the 14 horses entered for turf at 4-1.
 
Laurel’s leading rider, Trevor McCarthy, has been named to ride Proforma for the first time Saturday.
 
Like Proforma, Tricks to Doo, who is rated second among the turf entrants at 5-1, has also demonstrated talent over both turf and dirt.
 
Lael Stable’s 4-year-old son of Into Mischief competed exclusively on dirt in his first five career starts, breaking his maiden at Laurel by 5 ¾ lengths and winning the Inaugural at Tampa Bay Downs by 7 ¼ lengths to conclude his 2-year-old campaign. The Kentucky-bred colt finished fourth in the Swale (G3) and third in the Hutcheson (G3) at Gulfstream early in his 3-year-old campaign before going on an eight-month hiatus.
 
“He wasn’t training very well, so we sent him for a check-up. He had the typical bone bruising horses get when they run hard. We had to give him plenty of time for the bone bruising,” Trainer Arnaud Delacour said. “When he came back, I had always had in the back of my mind to try turf anyway. He has a very good family for turf.”
 
Tricks to Doo returned to action on turf in December, finishing second behind veteran stakes performer Vision Perfect in the Turf Dash at Tampa Bay Downs.
 
“I was really happy with that, so we kept him on the turf,” said Delacour, who saddled Tricks to Doo for a 3 ¼-length triumph in an optional claiming allowance on turf in his subsequent start.
 
Tricks to Doo returned to dirt in his most recent start, finishing fourth in the Pelican at Tampa Bay Downs.

“There wasn’t much in the program for the turf, so we decided to take a shot with him on dirt. I’m not sure it set up for him very well. They went pretty quick. It was a good bunch of horses, and it didn’t work out, but he came out of the race really well,” Delacour said. “I’m looking forward to running him Saturday.
 
Rain or Shine, Tricks to Doo is likely to be in action Saturday.
 
“I wouldn’t exclude running him on dirt if it comes off. I’d have to take a look at the race. I’m a little confident running at Laurel because he broke his maiden there,” Delacour said. “I know he handles the track well. I’d probably take a short if it comes off the turf.”
 
Daniel Centeno has the return mount aboard Tricks to Doo.
 
Dale Capuano is another trainer who likely wouldn’t mind if the Leatherbury is moved to the main track, but he still would like to find out if Eastern Bay, a horse he claimed for $35,000 out of his most recent start for Mopo Racing, may have a future on turf.
 
“I just claimed him a couple weeks ago. I want to try him on the grass again,” Capuano said. “He’s run well on it before and he seems to be a better horse now, so I want to give it a try and see what he can do.”
 
Eastern Bay showed promise in his only turf start during his 19-race career, finishing second in a photo finish in an optional claiming allowance at Laurel in October 2017.
 
Eastern Bay’s five career victories have all come over wet tracks.
 
“There was just a couple things about him I liked, so we went ahead and took him. He’s run well at Laurel and he runs good in the mud, so if it were to come off the turf he might have a shot, as well,” Capuano said. “We’ll just play it by ear and see what happens.”
 
Tic Stables’ New York’s Finest enters the Leatherbury with a record of six wins in seven starts at the 5 ½-furlong distance on turf. The Linda Rice-trained 5-year-old New York-bred gelding will be making his stakes debut in his first starts since Sept. 3 Saturday with Junior Alvarado up.
 
Raj Jagnanan’s American Sailor, a veteran turf-sprint stakes performer with 10 career wins; Pewter Stable’s Dubini, who finished a close second in the Laurel Dash last fall; Waldorf Racing Stables LLC’s Fielder, a stakes winner who finished third in the Laurel Dash; and Tom O’Grady’s Dirty, who placed twice in turf stakes in New York and owns a win over the Laurel turf; are among the most prominent names in the large field.
 
Rounding out the field are Clever Triad, Completed Pass, Robey’s Boy, Shane’s Jewel, Triple Burner, and Colonel Sharp.