King Leatherbury, a Hall of Fame horse trainer renowned as the 'King of the Claimers,' has died at age 92. He passed away at his home on Tuesday, leaving behind a legacy of 6,508 career victories over more than six decades. Leatherbury's success came from transforming inexpensive claiming horses into winners, particularly in Maryland racing.
King Leatherbury, born on March 26, 1933, in Shady Side, Maryland, began his training career after earning a business administration degree from the University of Maryland. He obtained his trainer's license in 1958 and secured his first victory the following year at Sunshine Park, now known as Tampa Bay Downs, aboard Mister L.
Leatherbury built his reputation in Maryland, where he formed part of the 'Big Four' alongside trainers Bud Delp, Richard Dutrow Sr., and John Tammaro Jr. This group dominated the state's racing scene in the 1960s, 1970s, and into the 1980s, modernizing thoroughbred training for speed and stamina. He specialized in claiming races, buying horses at set prices and improving their performance through analysis of race charts and past statistics. 'Back in those days, the early '60s, no one claimed horses,' Leatherbury told The Washington Post in 2005. 'Those were the days people started managing horses in a business-like way.'
His achievements include leading North American trainers in wins in 1977 with 322 victories and 1978 with 304, along with 300 or more wins annually from 1975 to 1978. Leatherbury captured 52 training titles in Maryland—26 each at Pimlico and Laurel—and four at Delaware Park. He retired in 2023 as the third trainer in history, behind Dale Baird and Jack Van Berg, to reach 6,000 wins, finishing with 6,508 victories and $64,693,537 in purse earnings, per Equibase.
Notable horses under his care included Ben's Cat, whom he bred, owned, and trained to 32 wins—26 in stakes races—and over $2.6 million in earnings from 2010 to 2017. Ben's Cat, a four-time Maryland-bred Horse of the Year from 2011 to 2014, helped secure Leatherbury's induction into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 2015. Other standout performers were Grade 1 winners Catatonic, victor in the 1994 Hempstead Handicap, and Taking Risks, who took the 1994 Iselin Handicap. He also claimed Port Conway Lane three times; the horse won 52 of 242 starts from 1971 to 1983.
Leatherbury entered the Kentucky Derby once, with I Am the Game finishing 13th in 1985; that horse placed fourth in the Preakness Stakes that year, one of his four Triple Crown starters. 'I really enjoyed the days of the Big Four,' he said in 2013. 'It was fun trying to compete with them and it made us all better trainers.' Fellow trainer Bud Delp praised him in 1993: 'King Leatherbury can train any racehorse that ever lived, and train him to perfection.'
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Linda Marie Heavener Leatherbury; twin sons Taylor and Todd; and grandson Heavener. Taylor Leatherbury described his father as 'one of a kind' and said, 'There's never been a man more appropriately named than my father.' Laurel Park honors him annually with the King T. Leatherbury Stakes.
