A bronze statue of Ben Ali stands among flowers in the 1800 block of Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento in 2008. The horse trained at Rancho Del Paso before winning the Kentucky Derby in 1886. Sacramento police said the statue was stolen.
Sacramento Bee file
Sacramento police have arrested two Sacramento men in connection with the theft of the bronze sculpture depicting Ben Ali, California’s first Kentucky Derby winner, in Old North Sacramento.
But the whereabouts of the missing Del Paso Boulevard landmark remain unknown, police officials said Thursday at department headquarters.
Police said Thursday that they arrested Joshua Hughes, 38, on Oct. 14 and Aushajuan Hardy, 48, on Wednesday on charges linked to the missing thoroughbred.
But Sgt. Justin Boyd, a department spokesman, said investigators have not yet recovered the stolen statue. As investigators continue following up on leads, Boyd called again for the public’s help in tracking down the missing sculpture.
The sculpture honoring the celebrated 1886 Derby champion was suspected stolen from its spot on the boulevard on Sept. 30, yanked away from its mounting in front the Sacramento Youth Center in the 1900 block of Del Paso Boulevard.
A desperate search for the sculpture ensued. Sacramento police confirmed the theft, canvassed neighborhoods and tracked leads as Old North Sacramento grieved its loss.
Ben Ali was the prized mount of James Ben Ali Haggin, who owned of most of Rancho Del Paso in northern Sacramento County. Haggin developed a successful horse breeding farm on the sprawling expanse and at one time owned as many as 1,000 thoroughbreds.
Haggin’s thoroughbred namesake was trained at Rancho Del Paso en route to becoming the Golden State’s first to win the Kentucky Derby.
More than a century later, Ben Ali received an overdue ovation, his bronze likeness unveiled along the boulevard in May 2008 — the month of the Kentucky Derby.
The statue stood for more than a decade becoming a proud symbol of Del Paso Boulevard and the surrounding Old North Sacramento neighborhood before its theft in September.
Anyone with information leading to its whereabouts can contact Sacramento police dispatchers at 916-808-5471.
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The Sacramento Bee
Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.