Leatherbury

Gretchen Jackson was just about to go out and help trim the hooves on some of her cows at Lael Farm yesterday afternoon when the telephone rang. It was the Kennett Square Florist saying it was about to deliver 178 Easter baskets to the New Bolton Center, where her late Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro, had lived the last eight months of his life. "All those gifts are from Barbaro fans," said Jackson, who owned Barbaro with her husband, Roy. "The florist wanted me to come over, but I just can't.

Ah Day, with jockey Mario Pino up, had a great day in the six-furlong, $100,000 Fire Plug Stakes at Laurel Park yesterday, roaring down the stretch for a come-from-behind, 3 3/4 -length victory over favorite Crafty Schemer. Gold Cluster was third, another 1 1/2 lengths back. "He hadn't been out in two months, which he needed, and he was freshened up," trainer King Leatherbury said. "He was appropriately placed in this race, but I didn't expect him to win it. He hadn't had any lightning workouts or anything, but this was a very, very impressive race."

Joe De Francis, the Maryland Jockey Club's chief executive officer, was all smiles at the Preakness Stakes draw yesterday, not at all put off by suggestions made during the ESPN broadcast that poor sportsmanship was being shown by the majority of trainers who chose not to bring their Kentucky Derby horses to the Preakness. "I think the problem was that Barbaro was so dominant trainers didn't want to face him again," De Francis said. "It's always a mixed blessing - or a double-edged sword - for a horse to win the Derby as easily as he did. The positive is that it generates excitement and enthusiasm for the Triple Crown among a lot of average spectators and the negative is it's very much tougher to convince the 19 trainers behind him to take him on in the Preakness.

Trainer Bob Baffert told Preakness officials yesterday that neither Maryland-bred Point Determined nor Bob and John will run in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown on Saturday. That leaves the Preakness field holding at six entries: Barbaro, Sweetnorthernsaint, Brother Derek, Like Now, Bernardini and Hemingway's Key. Ah Day, the Tesio Stakes winner, is still a possibility, said trainer and part owner King Leatherbury, after he worked Ah Day yesterday morning. Ah Day traveled five furlongs in 59 seconds at Laurel Park.

Ah Day came flying out of the fog yesterday evening, spraying mud and not holding back. It was a sight trainer King Leatherbury wasn't expecting but was happy to see. "I wasn't that confident today," Leatherbury said after Ah Day had won by 5 1/2 lengths over Vegas Play in the $150,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. "He was coming off a big effort 10 days ago, running in the mud and going a mile and an eighth for the first time. I was criticizing myself for running him in that allowance race [April 12]

It's a frigid day at Laurel Park, and inside the Kelso Club, King T. Leatherbury is just finishing a hot bowl of vegetable soup. Racing charts and programs are spread around the table in front of him and the simulcasting televisions are busy on the wall ahead. King T. Leatherbury. What a great name for a horse trainer. He smiles as his visitor runs down a list of famous kings - Sky King, the star of a 1950s television show; Elvis, the king of rock 'n' roll; Richard Petty, the king of stock car racing; and King Syrup, a honey-colored table syrup that came in a can. "Yeah," he deadpanned, "and people name their dogs King, too."

The owner is in his early 90s, in faltering health and is receiving the chance of a lifetime in a race he won't be able to attend. The trainer is 72 and a Maryland legend whose career has been resuscitated after a lengthy slump. The jockey quit riding for nearly four years, ballooned to 150 pounds, required eight months to shed the necessary weight to resume his career and now is back among the best in the state's colony. The horse, who won the Federico Tesio Stakes in April, is an offspring of one of the most productive recent sires, Malibu Moon, and is an honest type who always seems to provide a maximum effort.

Malibu Moonshine may have run his way into the Preakness yesterday. Aided by a slow pace and a compact field, the chestnut colt proved he could handle 1 1/8 miles, overtaking front-runner Hello Jerry in deep stretch to capture the $150,000 Federico Tesio Stakes, the feature on the Spring Festival of Racing at Pimlico Race Course, by three-quarters of a length. The performance could be a steppingstone into the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, although trainer King Leatherbury is not committing just yet. "We'll evaluate this effort and then decide later," said Leatherbury, 72 years old and third on the all-time list with 6,070 wins.

The Federico Tesio Stakes traditionally has been a springboard for talented local runners aiming for a chance to enter the Preakness. Since the $150,000 stakes for 3-year-olds began 24 years ago, 13 Tesio champions - and three others who finished in the money - have advanced to the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, including 1983 Preakness winner Deputed Testamony and two notable Preakness runners-up, Oliver's Twist (1995) and Magic Weisner (2002). Today, when Pimlico Race Course offers five six-figure stakes on the first weekend card of the new meeting, Malibu Moonshine moves onto the same proving ground.

The real Malibu Moonshine showed up yesterday at Laurel Park, driving to a narrow victory in the $50,000 Private Terms Stakes. The chestnut son of Malibu Moon had created a flurry of interest when he won Laurel Park's Miracle Wood in February, but raised doubt when he ran fourth in the Battaglia Memorial March 5 at Kentucky's Turfway Park. Yesterday, the newest star of trainer King Leatherbury's stable reinforced his credentials as one of the leading 3-year-olds in Maryland as he won by a neck in completing the race in 1 minute, 40.04 seconds for a mile.