Something Awesome breezes for Charles Town Classic

Something Awesome breezed a half-mile at Laurel Park last Saturday and is gearing up for the Grade 2, $1 million Charles Town Classic on April 20. The breeze was the first for Something Awesome since he finished 10th a month earlier in the Grade 3 General George.

Something Awesome, 8, won both the General George and Charles Town Classic for trainer Jose Corrales a year ago but has started only three times since bleeding and being eased as the favorite last May in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special. He closed with a late burst to finish second in a seven-furlong no-conditions allowance at Laurel in November and then was 10th in both the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park and the General George.

“He’s doing well, but he’s an old horse, and I didn’t want to rush him back from his last race,” Corrales said.

Corrales is uncertain if Something Awesome will race prior to the Charles Town Classic.

“Maybe I can get an allowance race for him; otherwise, I will just point him for the race,” he said.

Leatherbury back in business

Hall of Fame horseman King Leatherbury, who took the winter off from training after running out of horses at the end of the last turf season, has reopened his Laurel Park stable.

Leatherbury, 85, is the fifth-winningest trainer in history with 6,501 victories, but his business has slowed in recent years, and he won only nine races in 2018. He has six horses at Laurel.

“We’ll have something to run pretty soon,” Leatherbury said. “We’re not going to be raising any hell, but we’ll be trying to exist as long as we can, that’s all.”

William Wolfendale III dies

Trainer William H. Wolfendale III, a winner of 1,670 races, died Monday at age 74.

Wolfendale, who started out in West Virginia in the 1960s, moved his stable to Maryland in the 1970s. He retired from training in 1994 but started back up in 1999 and has kept a small stable over the years. His final starter, Uncle Paul, finished sixth March 1.