Ben's Cat Seeks Fourth Fabulous Strike

Ben's Cat, the formidable iron horse who keeps on campaigning for Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury, could take home his fourth consecutive edition of the $200,000 Fabulous Strike Handicap Nov. 25 at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.

The 9-year-old son of Parker's Storm Cat has won every running of the six-furlong Fabulous Strike, a race inagurated in 2012, but has some tough competition this time. He comes off a tough beat by a nose in the Oct. 17 Maryland Million Sprint Handicap at Laurel Park to Jack's in the Deck, also entered here, and looks back to Aug. 22 in the Mister Diz Stakes at Laurel for his last win.

In 52 starts for Leatherbury's The Jim Stable, homebred Ben's Cat has a 30-9-4 record and earnings of $2,490,405. He will break from post 4 with regular rider Julian Pimentel in the irons while carrying 121 pounds.

Ben's Cat will face a serious rival in PJG Stable's Favorite Tale, the third-place finisher in the Oct. 31 TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) at Keeneland and 124-pound highweight here. Trained by Guadalupe Preciado, the 4-year-old Tale of the Cat   gelding has run a solid campaign this season at the upper levels, finishing third in the Aug. 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (gr. I) and winning the Smile Sprint (gr. II). Javier Castellano comes in to ride from post 5.

Woodford Stakes (gr. III) winner Amelia's Wild Ride will also make another trip on dirt after winning that Oct. 3 off-the-turf event at Keeneland. The 4-year-old.son of D'wildcat   switches things up for trainer Ramon Preciado after 10 straight runs on turf prior to that sloppy wire-to-wire Woodford win.

The Fabulous Strike is part of the Penn National Holiday Racing Festival and goes with an approximate post time of 7:22 p.m. ET.