A life-size bronze statue of California’s first Kentucky Derby winner was stolen last week from a road median in north Sacramento.
The statue of Ben Ali, a thoroughbred stallion who won the race at Churchill Downs in 1886, was reported stolen Wednesday, the Sacramento Police Department said in a press release.
The statue, dedicated in 2008, stood on a concrete slab between lanes of traffic outside the Sacramento Youth Center in the 1900 block of Del Paso Boulevard. The thieves left behind only a single bronze hoof.
The model for the statue once trained at Rancho Del Paso in northern Sacramento County.
The Del Paso Boulevard Business Assn. announced the theft last week in an Instagram post.
“Ben Ali Stolen!!!!” it read. “He must be returned!!!”
Police are looking for the thieves and the bronze racehorse.