SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KOVR/NEWSOURCE/WKRC) — An $80,000 statue honoring a Kentucky Derby winner has been reported stolen in Sacramento.
The 7-foot statue of Ben Ali, the winner of the 1886 Kentucky Derby, was taken from the North Sacramento neighborhood where it had stood for decades, according to KOVR.
Mina Perez, vice chair of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, said the statue was an important piece of the community’s history.
“To have something as significant as this, it’s just over the top, and it gives us that pride of wonderful. And we have a piece of history that is just beautiful, and now it’s just gone, so what do we do?”
Perez said the city does not currently have the funding needed to replace the statue.
“They don’t have the funding to do this. I don’t know if they’ll ever have the money.”
The Sacramento Police Department is investigating the theft and asking anyone who may have information to contact authorities.