King T. Leatherbury, veteran Maryland trainer, dies Feb. 10, 2026

King T. Leatherbury, the Hall of Fame trainer long regarded as the "King of the Claimers," died at his home on Feb. 10, 2026. He was 92. The Maryland Jockey Club mourns the passing of a figure whose stablecraft and eye for inexpensive talent produced 6,508 career wins and more than $64.6 million in purse earnings, reshaping claiming-room strategy across Mid-Atlantic racing.

Leatherbury's record reads like a clinic in maximizing value from lower-level stock. His barns accumulated 52 training titles in Maryland - 26 at Pimlico and 26 at Laurel - plus four meet championships at Delaware Park. He led all North American trainers by wins in 1977 and 1978 after seasons that included 300 or more victories each year from 1975 through 1978, proof of a machine-like operation that could sustain high-volume success.

A native of Shady Side, Maryland, Leatherbury was born March 26, 1933, and earned a business administration degree from the University of Maryland before taking out his trainer's license in 1958 and recording his first winner in 1959. That long apprenticeship turned into an eight-decade presence on the backstretch in some accounts and more than six decades of steady winners in others, but the milestones are undisputed: he saddled a Kentucky Derby starter - I Am the Game finished 13th in the 1985 Derby and fourth in the Preakness - and campaigned multiple Grade 1 winners including Catatonic, winner of the 1987 Hempstead Stakes, and Taking Risks, winner of the 1994 Philip H. Iselin Handicap.

His homebred Ben's Cat became a regional phenomenon, winning 25 stakes and earning more than $2.6 million while endearing Leatherbury to racing fans who valued durability, consistency, and a knack for claiming-room alchemy. Laurel Park honors his impact with the King T. Leatherbury Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf test for 3-year-olds and up that cements his name on local racing calendars.

Honors followed achievement. Leatherbury was a first-ballot inductee into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 2015 and received a lifetime achievement award from the Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. He also served in leadership roles for Maryland Horse Breeders' Association and Maryland Million Ltd., and on the Timonium board, shaping policy and opportunity across the state circuit.

Family members will carry the personal loss. He is survived by his wife, Linda Marie Heavener Leatherbury, his twin sons Taylor and Todd, and a grandson, Heavener. "He's one of a kind," Taylor Leatherbury said. "There's never been a man more appropriately named than my father." The Maryland Jockey Club noted the family notified the club of his passing.

Leatherbury's longevity was part stubbornness and part craft. He celebrated the 62nd consecutive year with at least one winner in 2020 and quipped then, "I'm 87 years old, for God's sake. Nobody is going to give me horses." That wry resilience and deep knowledge of the claiming ranks changed how trainers and owners thought about developing horses on limited budgets.

No cause of death has been released. For Maryland racing, the immediate aftermath will be a recollection of races won and small-scale purchases turned into regional stars. For the industry, Leatherbury's career stands as a blueprint for sustainable training models and a reminder that influence can be exerted not only in Grade 1 splashes but in the daily calculus of claiming slips and conditioner decisions. The next chapters will focus on tributes at Pimlico and Laurel, the future of the King T. Leatherbury Stakes, and how local horsemen carry forward a craft he helped define.