Maryland icon Ben’s Cat seeks fourth Jim McKay title

Nine-year-old Ben’s Cat has become a legend, just like his breeder/owner/trainer King Leatherbury (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club) Multiple stakes-winning Maryland-bred star Ben’s Cat (Parker’s Storm Cat) will have plenty of company when he goes after his third consecutive victory, and fourth overall, in the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint Friday at Pimlico. The 10th running of the McKay is the third of seven stakes worth $1.15 million on a 14-race Black-Eyed Susan Day program that includes the Ultimate Girls Day Out, a celebration of the spirit and strength of women. First race post is noon (EDT). Also on the card are the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2), $300,000 Pimlico Special (G3), $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3), $150,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff (G3), $100,000 Hilltop and $100,000 Skipat. Bred, owned and trained by legendary Mid-Atlantic horseman and Hall of Famer-elect King Leatherbury, Ben’s Cat is a three-time winner of the McKay, having captured his first in 2011. All told, the ageless nine-year-old gelding owns 23 stakes victories from 28 wins in 46 lifetime starts, four of them in Grade 3 company, for purses of more than $2.3 million.

“He has been
an absolutely remarkable horse. I can’t wait for the race,” Leatherbury, 82,
said. “We’re very much looking forward to it. It’s a big day with national
interest in that day, so it’s extra special. We’re going to go over there and
hopefully knock it off.”

Ben’s Cat
capped his eight-year-old season winning the Fabulous Strike H. November 29 at
Penn National, but was upset as the favorite in a five-furlong turf allowance
April 17 at Pimlico. Two of the four horses he faced that day, winner Bold
Thunder (Bold N’ Flashy) and Grateful Nation (Great Notion), who was just a neck back in third, return in the
McKay.

“It was a situation last time where you had one lone speed in the race and we
had to go after him,” Leatherbury said. “We had to make our early run which is not his
style, and he just wasn’t as sharp as he’s been for whatever reason. I expect
him to be right on Friday.”

Regular rider
Julien Pimentel will be back aboard Ben’s Cat from post 3. All 10 horses will
carry 118 pounds.

Andrew
Sulley’s Bold Thunder is a multiple stakes winner, taking the Turf Dash January
10 at Tampa Bay Downs and the 2014 Silks Run at Gulfstream Park. The
five-year-old finished behind Ben’s Cat in the Parx Dash (G3) and Turf
Monster (G3) handicaps last summer, but ran second a neck ahead of Ben’s Cat in
the Laurel Dash in September.

Pierre
Hernandez-Ortega, up in the recent allowance win, gets the return call from post
7.

Previously
trained by the late Dickie Small, Grateful Nation was also making his season
debut in the Pimlico allowance last month. Now with Dylan Smith, he was a solid
fifth in the Laurel Dash and sixth in the John McSorley Stakes, beaten 3 1/2
lengths in both, in his recent stakes attempts.

Two-time
defending Eclipse Award-winning jockey Javier Castellano has the mount from post
1.

Car-Den
Racing Stable’s Golden Emperor (Holy Roman Emperor) takes a three-race win streak into the McKay, all
in five-furlong turf sprints for trainer Mike Rogers over the winter at
Gulfstream Park.

“He’s just
matured and he’s really turned out to be a nice horse,” Rogers said. “He beat
some really nice horses in his last start, and the horse is doing good. He does
everything to perfection.”

Golden
Emperor, a five-year-old gelding, tuned up for the McKay with a five-furlong
breeze in 1:00 3/5 last Friday at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in
Palm Beach County. Jockey Gabe Saez will be in town to ride from post 4.

A winner of
five of his last six starts, Golden Emperor is unbeaten since returning February 16
from an injury-forced seven-month layoff. He is making his Pimlico debut but
owns wins at Golden Gate Fields and Presque Isle Downs.

“He doesn’t
look like the same horse. He really looks good. He’s put on weight and he
matured,” Rogers said. “We gave him the time and brought him back and he’s come
back even better. That was actually a good thing that he got the time. He’s
good.”

Dreamsgonewild (Freud) ran his win streak to three with a victory in the 2014
Laurel Dash. He’s entered to make his first start since finishing off the board in the Nearctic (Can-G2) at Woodbine in October for owner-trainer Bruce Alexander.

Ashburton
Grove (E Dubai), Xmas Sky (Sky Classic), Amelia’s Wild Ride (D’wildcat), Brewing
(Maimonides) and Super Chunky (Put It Back) round out the
field.

Lady Sabelia is a rebound candidate in the Skipat (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club) Mrs. Frank P. Wright’s Lady Sabelia (Majestic Warrior), who had a four-race win streak snapped after setting the pace in the Madison (G1) last time out, looks to return to the winner’s circle in the $100,000 Skipat for female sprinters three and up on the main track. Trained by Robin Graham, the five-year-old mare strung together four consecutive wins from October to February, capped by a 1 1/2-length score in the Barbara Fritchie (G2) February 14 at Laurel Park. She cuts back to six furlongs in the Skipat, owning five wins from nine lifetime starts at the distance. Both Lady Sabelia and Triple R Stable’s Galiana (Stonesider) have won their lone starts at Pimlico. While Lady Sabelia’s victory came in an allowance last spring, Galiana was a 2 3/4-length winner of the six-furlong Primonetta April 18. Like Lady Sabelia, the five-year-old is also proven at the distance with eight of her 12 career wins coming in a dozen tries at six panels.

Richard
Golden’s Who’s in Town (Speightstown), trained by Michael Matz, is entered to make her
four-year-old debut having capped 2014 with back-to-back victories. First past
the post in
the 2013 Adirondack (G2) before being demoted to fourth, she hasn’t raced since taking the
Safely Kept November 15 at Laurel by three-quarters of a length.

She’s
Ordained (Ministers Wild Cat), second to Galiana in the Primonetta; Taketheodds
(Street Sense) and Flattering Bea (Flatter),
who ran one-two, respectively, in the Sugar Maple April 18 at Charles Town; Distaff
(G2) runner-up Frivolity (Corinthian); Aix En Provence (Rock Slide) and Printasticat
(Fantasticat) complete the
field.

Hilltop contender Miss Temple City (far left) was most recently runner-up to Lady Eli at Keeneland (Coady Photography) Each exiting graded stakes competition, Miss Temple City (Temple City) and Lady Zuzu (Dynaformer) will get some class relief in the $100,000 Hilltop for sophomore fillies at 1 1/16 miles on the turf, the first of eight stakes on the Black-Eyed Susan Day program. Based with trainer Graham Motion at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland, Miss Temple City won both her starts at two and lost her only two tries this year by a combined 3 1/2 lengths. She was third by a length to Consumer Credit (More Than Ready) and subsequent Grade 3 winner Quality Rocks (Rock Hard Ten) in the Sweetest Chant (G3) January 24 at Gulfstream Park, and second to 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) winner Lady Eli (Divine Park) in the Appalachian (G3) April 12 at Keeneland. Three Chimneys Farm’s Lady Zuzu exits a third-place finish behind Feathered (Indian Charlie) and Quality Rocks in the Edgewood (G3) May 1 at Churchill Downs. Her lone win came in a one-mile maiden special weight on turf last fall at Keeneland for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Copper Penny Stable’s Spotted Heart (Lion Hearted), winner of the 2014 Maryland Juvenile Sprint Championship on the dirt at Laurel Park in December, stretches out for her second turf start in the Hilltop. Trained by Mark Shuman, she was fifth in the Stormy Blues April 18 at Pimlico. Ayaady (Tapit), Inside Out (Colonel John), C’Est Moi (Eskendereya), Kawfee Fa Marfa (Hard Spun), Gypsy Judy (Kitalpha), All in Fun (Tapit) and Intrepid Alex, by 2005 Preakness (G1) and Belmont (G1) winner Afleet Alex, are also entered.

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