Whenigettoheaven seeks third straight Ben’s Cat Stakes victory

Whenigettoheaven went to Laurel Park with a chance to do something that is rare even in the compressed world of turf sprints, win the same stakes three years in a row. The 7-year-old Street Magician gelding, trained by Nolan Ramsey for Ken Ramsey, targeted the $100,000 Ben’s Cat Stakes as the clear focal point of Laurel’s Summerfest card, with a third straight victory set to strengthen his hold on one of the Mid-Atlantic’s most recognizable local-bred sprint prizes.

The race fit him in every practical way. The Ben’s Cat was a six-furlong turf dash restricted to Maryland-bred or -sired and Virginia-bred or -sired horses, and it shared the spotlight with the $100,000 Jameela Stakes for fillies and mares. That kind of setup rewards horses that can handle tight positioning and quick acceleration, because a sprint on grass leaves little room for error. Whenigettoheaven had already shown he could do exactly that at Laurel, making him more than a returning name on the program.

His record in the race gave the bid real weight. Whenigettoheaven first won the Ben’s Cat in 2024, a result that gave Nolan Ramsey his first career stakes victory. He came back in 2025 and defended the title by a half-length over Determined Kingdom under J. G. Torrealba, settling just off the pace before finishing the job. BloodHorse timed his 2024 victory in 1:08.26 for six furlongs on firm turf, a sharp clocking that underscored how well he fit the course and the race shape.

The gelding’s path also added to the story. Ken Ramsey claimed him for $62,500, then watched him become a stakes horse with a clear affinity for Laurel’s turf sprint configuration. That matters in a race named for Ben’s Cat, a Mid-Atlantic icon who won 32 races, 26 stakes, and more than $2.6 million, earned four Maryland-bred Horse of the Year honors, and died on July 18, 2017 at age 11. The stakes has long carried that emotional weight at Laurel, where the horse’s legacy remains part of the meet’s identity.

There was one wrinkle in the build-up: Nolan Ramsey said Whenigettoheaven had to go in off a short break after a prep was lost to rain. Even so, the horse entered the Ben’s Cat with the most important credential in the field, proven success in the exact race he was trying to own for a third straight year.