Determined Kingdom seeks return to last year's form in Ben's Cat
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Determined Kingdom has given trainer Mike Trombetta more headaches than triumphs so far this year, but the winner’s circle might not be so far away. The 6-year-old turf sprinter will be a wild card among hard-knocking rivals in the $100,000 Ben’s Cat Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park.
The Ben’s Cat, a six-furlong turf sprint, is restricted to horses bred or sired in Maryland or Virginia. It could be an ideal spot for Determined Kingdom, a Virginia-bred gelding waiting for Colonial Downs to open this summer.
“He’s trained well since his last race and this is a logical spot for him before Virginia starts,” Trombetta said.
In his 2024 campaign for trainer Phil Schoenthal, Determined Kingdom won 4 of 6 starts, including a restricted stakes and statebred handicap, and capped the year with the best performance of his career in a 2 1/2-length allowance victory at Keeneland.
The gelding returned with plenty of momentum in April, making his debut for Trombetta as the 4-5 favorite in the $100,000 King T. Leatherbury, but he didn’t fire, fading to sixth in one of his worst performances since entering stakes company as a juvenile. Puzzled but undaunted by the poor showing, Trombetta brought him to Pimlico to face a similar field in the $125,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint, where he improved to finish third behind runaway closer Witty.
“He ran a good race last time and I was pleased with that,” Trombetta said. “It was a little disappointing the first time, but it seems like he’s heading in the right direction.”
If Determined Kingdom was a sleeping giant in his first two races this year, he could quickly become a more immediate threat in the Ben’s Cat. The gelding has won 6 of 8 career starts in statebred or state-restricted races and has not lost in that company since September 2022.
Great Idea, a 7-year-old trained by Phil Capuano, finished third in the Ben’s Cat last year and is one of several returning contenders. The gelding went on to win two allowances and finished second in the $100,000 Maryland Million Turf Sprint in October.
Whenigettoheaven, winner of the 2024 Ben’s Cat and trained by Nolan Ramsey, has not won a race since, regressing slightly over the course of six starts. He also made his 2025 debut in the King T. Leatherbury, finishing third, before shipping to Presque Isle Downs and crossing the wire third in a conditioned allowance.
Jameela Stakes
Jockey Sheldon Russell and 5-year-old mare Bosserati were supposed to reunite in the $100,000 The Very One at Pimlico last month, but those plans had to change when Russell fell off a mount earlier on the card. The pair will finally race together again for the first time since October in the state-restricted $100,000 Jameela Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park.
“He knows how to sit on her,” trainer Brittany Russell said of her husband and first-call jockey. “She’s a bit free-running and you don’t want to take anything away from her, but I think it’s just that he knows her so well.”
Though her usual jockey may have been unavailable in her 2025 debut, Bosserati still proved capable under Irad Ortiz Jr., who guided the mare to a wire-to-wire victory in The Very One. It was the third stakes victory of her career.
In October, her last race with Russell aboard, Bosserati took on the boys and won the $100,000 Maryland Million Turf Sprint. Many of the rivals she beat that day will run in the Ben’s Cat earlier on the Saturday card, and she would have been a contender in that field if her trainer decided to go in that direction. The mare has unfinished business in the Jameela, however.
The top three finishers in the 2024 Jameela will all return for this year’s running. Alla Breve, a 5-year-old trained by Michael Matz, and Hollywood Walk, a 6-year-old trained by Trombetta, finished in order ahead of Bosserati in a three-way photo finish last year.
After winning the Jameela in July, Alla Breve took a short break and returned in October, winning a Laurel allowance before shipping to Fair Grounds and finishing fourth in the $100,000 Pan Zareta. She will make her 2025 debut Saturday.
Hollywood Walk leveraged her runner-up finish last year into a tidy 5-year-old campaign, winning a statebred handicap over Bosserati at Colonial Downs and finishing in the money in three open-company stakes. She returned last month and finished third in the $150,000 License Fee at Aqueduct.
“She’s sitting on a good race,” Trombetta said. “I’ve been very happy with how she’s trained [and am] looking forward to running her.”
Though Bosserati arguably has the most impressive résumé of the three contenders, both of her rivals have an unanswered victory over her in the past year. Turning the tables this time around would be an efficient way to set the record straight in a highly competitive statebred division.
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