Skippylongstocking victorious in the Challenger (G3) March 11 (SV Photography)
Keeneland Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky.— Daniel Alonso’s three-time Grade 3 winner Skippylongstocking arrived at Keeneland Monday from Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida for a start in Saturday’s 92nd running of the $300,000 Ben Ali (G3) going 1 3/16 miles on the main track.
“He’s a good traveler,” said Beau Chapman, assistant to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “This race kind of lined up well with the date.”
Keeneland will mark the ninth track at which Skippylongstocking has run with his most recent stop being a victory at Tampa Bay Downs on March 11 in the Michelob Ultra Challenger (G3).
“He came out of the Challenger well and gave us the confidence to put him in here,” Chapman said of Skippylongstocking, who finished fifth in the Preakness (G1) and third in the Belmont (G1) last year.
Chapman, 26, has been with the Joseph barn for a year and a half and has watched Skippylongstocking progress.
“He has improved with age,” Chapman said of the Keeneland sales graduate. “He is a big, lanky horse and he has grown into himself and really developed.”
