No shortage of intrigue in Ben Ali

No shortage of intrigue in Ben

Ali

An evenly matched, versatile field of 12 is set for Thursday's $150,000 Ben

Ali S. (G3), a 1 1/8-mile test at Keeneland. Sharing the co-top weight of 119

pounds are ECCENTRIC (GB) (Most Welcome [GB]), who captured the Fayette S. (G3)

at this track and trip last October; Hal's Hope H. (G3) hero CHATAIN (Forest

Wildcat), who will be trying Polytrack for the first time; and SAINT STEPHEN

(Saint Ballado), whose biggest career victory came in the Native Diver H. (G3)

over Hollywood Park's Cushion Track in December.

The well-traveled Eccentric began his career in England, capturing the 2005

Winter Hill S. (Eng-G3) on the turf and Winter Derby on the all-weather at Lingfield. After spending the winter of 2006 in Dubai, where his best result was

a third in the Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (UAE-G3) on the dirt, the chestnut was

transferred to the barn of Roger Attfield. In his second start for his new

trainer, Eccentric overcame trouble to get up by three-quarters of a length in

the Fayette. He signed off for the year with a third in the Woodbine Slots Cup

S. (Can-G3). The six-year-old gelding has been training sharply for his seasonal

reappearance, and Edgar Prado picks up the mount. Eccentric will break from post

2.

Chatain has raced exclusively on dirt so far. Making just his fourth career

start in the Hal's Hope at Gulfstream Park in January, he fought bravely to

score by a head. Next time out, the Angel Penna Jr. charge stretched out to nine

furlongs in the Donn H. (G1). Although he took command in the stretch, he tired

to finish fourth, beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Horse of the Year Invasor (Arg) (Candy

Stripes). Regular rider Cornelio Velasquez will be back aboard Chatain as he

takes another crack at the distance from post 4.

The Christophe Clement-trained Saint Stephen landed the grassy Henry Clark S.

at Pimlico last April and was then shelved until December, when he returned to

take the Native Diver in deep-closing fashion. The full brother to dual champion

and $3.9 million-earner Ashado unsuccessfully reverted to the grass in his last

two outings. Garrett Gomez, who piloted Saint Stephen in the Native Diver, will

reunite with him here. The bay has drawn post 11.

STREAM CAT (Black Minnaloushe) is another versatile performer whose resume

includes victories in the 2006 American Turf S. (G3) and 2005 Kentucky Cup

Juvenile (G3) on Turfway's Polytrack. The Patrick Biancone pupil found

Keeneland's main track agreeable when racking up an effortless allowance win in

his 2007 bow.

Among the other entrants with Polytrack experience are the Graham

Motion-trained JADE'S REVENGE (Quiet American), winner of the Tejano Run S. at

Turfway last time out, and RATHOR (Ire) (Machiavellian), exiting a smart victory

at this venue for Bobby Frankel.

Contenders making their Polytrack debuts include Canadian champion PALLADIO (Lycius),

Eccentric's uncoupled stablemate, and MUSTANFAR (Unbridled), a multiple Grade 3

winner on the grass.

WELCOME AGAIN (Awesome Again), another Frankel runner, will break from the

rail with Javier Castellano. To his outside will come Eccentric; GREELEY'S

LEGACY (Mr. Greeley), Corey Nakatani; Chatain; Palladio, Mark Guidry; MINISTER'S

JOY (Deputy Minister), John Velazquez; BETTER THAN BONDS (Sweetsouthernsaint),

Robby Albarado; Mustanfar, Fernando Jara; Jade's Revenge, Kent Desormeaux;

Stream Cat, Julien Leparoux; Saint Stephen; and Rathor, Rafael Bejarano.

Except for co-highweights Eccentric, Chatain and Saint Stephen, the rest

will carry 117 pounds.