Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury taking winter off

Hall of Fame horseman King Leatherbury won’t be training this winter and Laurel Park has named an April stakes in his honor – but don’t assume he is retiring.

“I’ve heard the rumors, but there’s nothing official,” Leatherbury said. “I won’t make any decisions until the spring.”

Leatherbury, 85, has been racing horses since 1958 and is the fifth-winningest trainer of all time in North America, with 6,501 victories. He was the nation’s leading trainer by wins in 1976 and 1977 and won at least 200 races for 11 years in a row from 1974 to 1984.

But Leatherbury’s business has slowed, and he hasn’t won 50 races in a year since 2013. This year he is 9 for 80.

“My horses have kind of fizzled, and a trainer without horses really isn’t a trainer,” he said.

Leatherbury explained he was down to four horses and then an owner left him, leaving him with a pair of 2-year-olds. Auld Lange Syne finished seventh at Laurel on Wednesday in a maiden race. He plans to run the other one more time and then put them both away for the winter.

While his stable isn’t doing well, Leatherbury is blessed with good health and it is premature to count him out.

“I’m very fortunate,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with me. My mind’s not too bad and I’ve always said, first you lose your mind, then your money, then your friends.”

Leatherbury is the lone survivor of the “Big Four,” who dominated Maryland racing in the 1970s. Bud Delp died in December 2006. Dick Dutrow and John Tammaro went before him.

Leatherbury had a career renaissance this decade with Ben’s Cat, whom he bred, owned, and trained.

Ben’s Cat won 32 of 63 starts and earned more than $2.6 million between 2010 and the summer of 2017, becoming a Mid-Atlantic legend along the way and cementing Leatherbury’s place in the Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2015.