(FOX40.COM) — A beloved horse statue went missing in Sacramento, and it’s not the first time an animal-shaped landmark has been stolen in the region.
A statue of Ben Ali — California’s first-ever Kentucky Derby winner — was reported missing from its home on Del Paso Boulevard across from the Sacramento Youth Center on Wednesday, the Sacramento Police Department said.
The horse that the life-size bronze statue commemorates is named after its owner: James Ben Ali Haggin. A 1946 article from a horse-breeding publication described Haggin as “far and away the most successful as well as the most colorful breeder and racing man of his day.”
Haggin created a thoroughbred breeding center on Rancho del Paso near Sacramento in 1873, hence the statue of his Triple Crown-winning horse on Del Paso Boulevard, according to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame…