They began showing together last summer in the Small Junior Hunter Division and placed in both the Lake Placid and Vermont competitions. Stella and Bada Bing, or “Otto” as he is called in the barn, had a rough start but after a lot of hard work and frequent training, they turned out to be a great pair. It was Leslie and Joe who found Stella her current horse, a beautiful Dutch Warmblood called Bada-Bing, named by Bracco, of course, after that infamous club in The Sopranos. She explains, “Joe and Leslie have not only been my trainers and friends, but have also been my inspiration to never give up.”
When she got to ride some of the movie horses, it was love at first stride and she has been riding ever since! Stella now competes at the national level and trains at Top of the Line Stables in Chestnut Ridge, NY/Montvale, NJ with head trainers Leslie and Joe Sorce, with whom she has grown extremely close. When Stella was five, she accompanied her mother on the set of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. With celebrity parents Lorraine Bracco and Harvey Keitel, Stella has found her own limelight on the back of a horse. Seventeen-year-old Stella Keitel is one of these girls. Many teens with celebrity parents have been using equestrian to make their own mark in the world. The sport of equestrian has been growing in popularity among teenage girls, especially the young elite. These are the girls who never get tired of watching Velvet Brown ride to victory in the Grand National and always secretly wish they could ride the black stallion on that deserted island. For others, however, this passion for horses only gets stronger with age. For some, this dream fades as they grow up. Every little girl, at some point in her childhood, has dreamt of having her own pony.