Hall of Fame trainer King T. Leatherbury passes away at age 92

Maryland native King T. Leatherbury, a winner of 6,508 races who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 2015, passed away at his home the morning of February 10 at age 92.

Born in Shady Side, Md., in 1933, Leatherbury got his trainer’s license in 1958 and won his first race the following year with Mister L at Sunshine Park in Florida. By the time he retired in 2023, his runners had earned almost $64.7 million.

Leatherbury, known throughout most of his career as a sharp claiming trainer, captured 52 training titles in Maryland, 26 each at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, and four meet championships at Delaware Park. He led all North American trainers in wins in 1977 and 1978, and won 300 or more races each year from 1975 to 1978.

At his Hall of Fame induction, Leatherbury, known to have a sense of humor, said: “I am the third-oldest person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I’m proud about this, to be the third and not the winner.”

Raised on a farm in Anne Arundel County, Leatherbury graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Business Administration. He had a reputation has a sharp handicapper and a trainer who spotted his horses very well.

Leatherbury, who was stabled in Barn 1 at the top of the Laurel homestretch, won multiple graded stakes including a pair of Grade I events: the Philip H. Iselin Handicap with Taking Risks and the Hempstead Handicap with Catatonic. His biggest money earner was the popular turf sprinter Ben’s Cat, who broke his maiden for a $20,000 tag in his debut on the dirt at Pimlico in May 2010 and went on to win 32 of 68 starts for earnings of more than $2.6 million. Ben’s Cat died in 2017 of complications from colic surgery.

"I was devastated,” Leatherbury said at the time. “We thought he was going to be all right. I thought he'd pull through, being Ben's Cat. He’s used to winning, you know? To get that call saying he had gotten worse and they had to put him down, it broke my heart. I thought he would do it. It was a tragic ending to a magnificent horse. Many times in a race I didn't think he'd win and then he got up. I thought he was going to pull another one off.”

Leatherbury is survived by his wife of 62 years, Linda Marie Heavener Leatherbury, 82; twin sons, Taylor and Todd, 58; and grandson Heavener, 18.

“He’s one of a kind,” Taylor Leatherbury told The Maryland Jockey Club. “There’s never been a man more appropriately named than my father.”

Services are pending.

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