Ben's Cat to be Rested; Back in 2016

Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury reported Dec. 10 that his 9-year-old multiple graded stakes winner Ben's Cat will get the winter off following his seventh-place finish Nov. 24 in the Fabulous Strike Handicap at Penn National Race Course.

"He came out OK, but not good enough to run back again this year," said Leatherbury of the popular homebred gelding who has won 30 of 53 starts and earned more than $2.49 million. "I don't want to waste his rest time, because if I run him one more time  he'll come back later in the spring."



Leatherbury sent Ben's Cat to Stephanie Nixon's farm in Virginia, where he was greeted with a "welcome back" sign. "I thought that was pretty neat," Leatherbury said.



Leatherbury was noncommittal about when Ben's Cat would return to the races, but when informed of the inaugural running of the Ben's Cat Stakes for Maryland-breds on March 19 at Laurel Park, Leatherbury replied, "Wow, I didn't know about that. Maybe I'll have to crank him back up a little earlier to get ready for that."



Ben's Cat kicked off his 2015 season by winning the Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes in May on Black-Eyed Susan Day and being welcomed back to the winner's circle with a standing ovation. The gelding won the Mister Diz for the sixth consecutive year at Laurel and lost the Maryland Million Sprint by a nose before finishing seventh in the Fabulous Strike.