Nolan Ramsey, less than 30 races into his training career, made his stakes debut Sunday at Laurel Park. Suffice to say, he’s batting 1.000.

“We’ll see if I can keep this streak going,” he said with a laugh afterwards.

The Ramsey-trained Whenigettoheaven wore down a game Tidewater in the stretch to post a neck victory in the $75,000 Ben’s Cat Stakes for Maryland-bred or -sired runners. Running time for the six furlongs on a firm turf course – during an absolutely sweltering Maryland summer day – was 1:08.26.

The win occasioned a quick call to Nolan’s grandfather Ken Ramsey, the ailing octogenarian who, near the end of a long career as an owner, is giving his grandson a leg up at the beginning of his. The elder Ramsey recently received a kidney transplant and is recovering at New York Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

“I spoke to him before the horse came back,” Nolan Ramsey said. “He was very happy. He’s still at the hospital in New York recovering. He’ll be there for the next couple of months. But everything’s gone well, knock on wood, and I’m sure he’s happy right now.”

Under an astute ride by jockey J. G. Torrealba, Whenigettoheaven broke alertly to the lead, but when Tidewater, under Sheldon Russell, showed speed of his own, Torrealba ceded the lead and steered his runner to Tidewater’s outside. Those two runners were one-two throughout, with Whenigettoheaven gradually wearing down his rival to earn the win.

Ken Ramsey had claimed Whenigettoheaven, a five-year-old Street Magician gelding bred by R. Larry Johnson, three starts back, in March, from Johnson and trainer Mike Trombetta for $62,500. He ran one race under the care of trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., before shifting into Nolan Ramsey’s barn.

Whenigettoheaven is now two-for-two for the younger Ramsey.

“He had been running some really good races and obviously had some back class,” Ramsey said of Whenigettoheaven, who now has five wins and over $280,000 in earnings from 21 starts. “I knew I was coming up this way, so I was keeping an eye out for some Maryland-breds, and him being Virginia registered, as well. So Colonial is always in the back of the mind, and they’ve got a great stakes program up here, so I thought there is plenty of opportunities to make your money back.”

Ramsey, 27, cut his teeth in the training world with Mike Maker before setting out on his own in April. He won with his fifth starter, Marshamarshamarsha, at Gulfstream Park May 10. The win today was his ninth from 29 starters to date.

Ramsey’s name started showing up in the entries in Maryland in late May. That, he said, was because he had had what he termed “an unbalanced barn.”

“I had a ton of grass horses, and a lot of them were conditioned claimers,” he said. “This was one place that I felt was pretty honest with their [condition] book. You could count on a race to go, and you had lots of opportunity. And then if a race didn’t go, or they came off the turf here, within a four- to six-hour ship, you could be at half a dozen different tracks.”

Off at 7-10, Whenigettoheaven returned just $3.40 to win. The exacta, with 5-1 Tidewater, with Sheldon Russell up for trainer T. J. Aguirre underneath, paid $6.50 on a one-dollar wager. Great Idea, ridden by Horacio Karamanos for Phil Capuano, finished third.

It’s early days, of course, but this training gig seems to be working out so far for Nolan Ramsey. And having horses in Maryland’s going well, too.

“I spent 10 years with Mike Maker, and we’ve shipped in and run a lot here,” Ramsey said. “I’ve always enjoyed coming here between here and Pimlico. It was kind of familiar, and I thought I knew the lay of the land. It fit good for us.”

NOTES The Ben’s Cat was one of three turf stakes on the Laurel Park card. In the $100,000 Forever Souper, trained by Mike Trombetta for Live Oak Plantation, fell into a good spot when the race scratched down to four, only one of whom — Forever Souper — had any early gas at all. He went on to post a front-running, 4 3/4 length score under jockey Mychel Sanchez… In the six-furlong Jameela, for Maryland-restricted fillies and mares, Alla Breve rallied late to nip Hollywood Walk at the wire. It was Alla Breve’s first stakes win; she’s trained by Michael Matz for Runnymoore Racing, and Horacio Karamanos was in the irons…

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