Maryland Million: Ben's Cat cross-entered in Turf, dirt Sprint
Ben’s Cat seeks to become the first horse to win four Maryland Million races when he runs Saturday at Laurel Park. Whether he does it on dirt or grass, however, remains to be seen.
The 7-year-old Ben’s Cat, who has won 23 of 35 starts and $1.6 million, is the star attraction on the 28th Jim McKay Maryland Million program featuring 11 races worth a collective $1 million for the offspring of Maryland-based sires.
[Maryland Million: Get PPs, watch Saturday's card live]
Last year, Ben’s Cat won the Turf Sprint for the third consecutive year. But because that race has been eliminated this fall, owner-trainer King Leatherbury cross-entered his first millionaire in the Turf, which has been shortened from 1 1/8 miles to a flat mile, and the six-furlong Sprint on the main track. Ben’s Cat owns 15 stakes victories on grass, included three graded wins.
With a purse of $125,000 the Turf is worth $25,000 more than the Sprint.
If he goes in the Turf, Ben’s Cat will carry top weight of 126 pounds and face 10 opponents, including defending champion Roadhog, who comes off a stakes win over Pennsylvania-breds at Parx; Change of Command, beaten less than two lengths as the third-place finisher in the $250,000 PTHA President’s Cup last time out; and Saintly Love, who put together a six-race winning streak earlier this season before losing his last two starts.
Ben’s Cat would face just five foes if he runs in the Sprint as the 124-pound highweight. That group includes defending champion Action Andy and Ribo Bobo, who has won eight straight races since January. Ribo Bobo is cross-entered in a one-mile starter handicap worth $50,000 on Saturday’s card.
The richest race on the program, the $150,000 Classic, is topped by Eighttofasttocatch, a 7-year-old who won the race in 2011, but finished fifth as the favorite in last year’s running. He has raced just once, and not at all since early August, following a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special in mid-May.
Eighttofasttocatch’s six rivals include Romancing the Gold, claimed out of a winning performance for $25,000 at Saratoga, and the Parx-based 3-year-old Seventeenohsix, who was third in the Private Terms in his only previous visit to Laurel.
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