Ben Ali Stakes Presents Opportunity for San Siro

San Siro has never raced at Keeneland in his 10-race career, but if he takes after his sire, Classic Empire, who won his only Keeneland start, the Brendan Walsh-trained gelding could be successful there April 19 in the $350,000 Ben Ali Stakes (G3). He faces six rivals, only two of which are stakes winners: Duke of Love and Uno Mas Bourbon. Classic Empire captured the 2016 Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland before winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita Park during a championship 2-year-old campaign that year. Classic Empire now stands in Korea after beginning his stud career in Kentucky. San Siro, a winner of three of 10 starts and recently fourth in the March 22 New Orleans Classic Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, romped in an allowance optional claimer Feb. 1 at Fair Grounds in the first of his two outings this year. He then made his stakes debut in the New Orleans Classic, finishing 13 lengths behind victorious Touchuponastar. Edgar Morales rides the rail-drawn San Siro in the 1 3/16-mile Ben Ali for owners Andrew Farm, Mountmellick Farm, Ocean Reef Racing, White Mountain Stables, and Stonecrest Farm. Duke of Love, a close fifth in an allowance optional claimer March 1 at Gulfstream Park in his first start in 18 months, and Uno Mas Bourbon, third in his 2025 return at Gulfstream, may improve in their second races of 2025. MyRacehorse's Duke of Love, who won the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown in 2022 when he captured the Prince of Wales Stakes on a muddy track at Fort Erie, became a graded stakes winner in 2023 when he took the West Virginia Governor's Stakes (G3) at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort. He was also a respectable fifth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course later that year. But then came a setback that sent him to the sidelines. "He had a terrible infection, and he was in a clinic for three weeks before the abscess broke," trainer Josie Carroll said. "It took him a long time to come back." She felt the Cupid 6-year-old ran well in his Gulfstream return to lose by three lengths to the stakes-placed Caramel Chip. "That was a good comeback race with a solid group of horses and a genuinely tough race," Carroll said. "He's an honest horse who shows up every time, and that race showed he was back at a good level." Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez has the mount in the Ben Ali. "I was looking at an allowance race for him here, but those races usually have bigger fields and are just as strong as the stakes," Carroll said.