Stars and Stripes Breaks Through in Ben Ali Stakes Victory at Keeneland

Stars and Stripes graduated into a new class at Keeneland, and he did it with the kind of late punch that suggests there may be more ahead. The 4-year-old Not This Time colt won the $350,000 Ben Ali Stakes (G3) on April 18 in his stakes debut, answering the biggest question in his young career by proving he could finish over 1 3/16 miles against graded company.

Luis Saez gave him a patient, ground-saving trip while Batten Down set the tempo in front, carving out fractions of :23.93, :48.78 and 1:13.09. When the field turned for home, Saez swung Stars and Stripes four wide and asked for run at the top of the stretch. The colt responded immediately, reeling in Batten Down near the sixteenth pole and drawing away to win in 1:58.34 over a fast track. He returned $5.30 as the favorite and finished with a length on Batten Down, while San Siro was another length back in third. Awesome Aaron, Rattle N Roll, British Isles, Tennessee Lamb and Guns and Glory completed the order.

The win mattered because it confirmed more than raw talent. Stars and Stripes had been perfect in three starts at 1 1/8 miles before trying a longer route, and he handled the added distance without losing his finish. That mattered for Bill Mott, whose patient approach has long been about letting a horse reveal his ceiling on the right day. It also mattered for Saez, who was aboard Stars and Stripes for only the second time and notched his second Ben Ali victory, after winning the race previously on Kingsbarns in 2024. Afterward, Saez said Stars and Stripes “showed that he had a lot of talent” and called him a “fighter.”

Stars and Stripes, a Kentucky-bred colt out of Pearl River by Quality Road, was purchased for $100,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and now owns a record of 7-4-1-1 with earnings of $429,533. The Ben Ali, first run in 1917, was revived at Keeneland in 1937 and is named for breeder and financier James Ben Ali Haggin. For Mott, the race also fit a bigger day: Sovereignty was entered in the Oaklawn Handicap, putting the barn in the middle of another high-profile Saturday on two tracks.