Stars and Stripes powers past stablemate Batten Down for Ben Ali victory

Stars and Stripes continued his climb up the class ladder winning the Ben Ali Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.

A second-level allowance race winner in his most recent start, Stars and Stripes had finished sixth in his lone stakes try, the Dwyer last fall at Aqueduct. Stars and Stripes didn’t bring his A game that day, but he did in the Grade 3, $350,000 Ben Ali, wearing down his Bill Mott-trained stable-mate, pacesetting Batten Down, to win by a half-length.

It did not come easily. Breaking from the rail under Luis Saez, Stars and Stripes endured a claustrophobic trip for the first mile of this 1 3/16-mile dirt race. Stuck down on the fence during the early stages, Saez managed to get off the rail going down the backstretch, but that only led to Stars and Stripes getting blocked by pace-tracking Awesome Aaron while hemmed in by rivals to his inside and outside.

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Stars and Stripes does not take his jockey places without encouragement, and going past the three-furlong marker toward the end of the far turn, Saez pumped his arms to keep his mount in the game while desperately hunting for a spot. Finally, turning into the homestretch, a hole opened outside Batten Down, and Saez took it. Stars and Stripes, even while being ridden, had plenty of gas in the tank, and leapt forward to tackle Batten Down, who’d gone his first half-mile in a tepid 48.78 and three-quarters in 1:13.09. Batten Down did not back down, and Flavien Prat steered him outside to confront Stars and Stripes. The two horses have worked together in the past. Stars and Stripes is a rising, lightly raced 4-year-old, Batten Down a more battle hardened 5-year-old. The younger legs did the better work.

“He’s a fighter,” Saez said. “I came to the top of the stretch, and he did everything I asked. I was pretty confident.”

San Siro rallied from last of eight to nab third, one length behind Batten Down and one length in front of fourth-place Awesome Aaron. Rattle N Roll, who made a mid-race move before flattening out, finished fifth, followed by Santa Anita Handicap winner British Isles, Tennessee Lamb, and Guns and Glory. Honor Marie was an early scratch. Stars and Stripes clocked 1:58.34 over a fast track and paid $5.30.

Mott trains Stars and Stripes, now 7-4-1-1 in his career, for Frassetto Stables. Stars and Stripes, bred by Pam and Martin Wygod, is by Not This Time out of Pearl River, by Quality Road. Quietly, he the horse put together a good 3-year-old year. He’s still getting better.

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