King Leatherbury, a Hall of Fame trainer known as “King of the Claimers” for his ability to turn cheaper horses in lower-level claiming races into winners for more than six decades, died Tuesday. He was 92.He died at his home, according to the Maryland Jockey Club, which was informed by his son Taylor Leatherbury. No cause of death was provided.Leatherbury retired in 2023 as the third trainer in history, behind Dale Baird and Jack Van Berg, to win at least 6,000 races. His final total was 6,508 to go with purse earnings of $64,693,537, according to Equibase. He won 52 training titles in Maryland — 26 each at Pimlico and Laurel — and four at Delaware Park.“He’s one of a kind,” Taylor Leatherbury told Laurel Park. ”There’s never been a man more appropriately named than my father.”Leatherbury, along with fellow Hall of Famer Bud Delp, Richard Dutrow Sr., and John Tammaro Jr., were known as the Big Four of Maryland racing. They dominated the state in the 1960s and ’70s and helped modernize training of thoroughbreds for speed and stamina.“I really enjoyed the days of the Big Four,” Leatherbury told Laurel Park in 2013. “It was fun trying to compete with them and it made us all better trainers.” …
