•Hayden Panettiere as Channing "Chan" Walsh, who is Nolan's beautiful free-spirited 16-year-old daughter who is determined and willing to ride on horseback on Stripes, and despite her lack of opportunity, she has a natural talent for it exactly like her late mother, Carolyn, who died in a horse racing accident at Turfway Park when she was 10 six years ago.

•Bruce Greenwood as Nolan "The Chief" Walsh, who is Channing's widowed father, a veteran Kentucky corn farmer, and a retired racehorse trainer who has not been able to bear training horses, let alone Stripes the prized zebra, ever since his late wife, Carolyn, was killed when her racehorse stumbled six years ago when his daughter, Channing, was only 10 years old. Fearing that Channing will hurt herself if she ever rides Stripes, he refuses to let her anywhere near a saddle or the Turfway Park racetrack until at almost the end of the movie, where he finally wants to help Channing and Stripes for the big race, the Kentucky Open (an implied spoof of the Kentucky Derby), and finally encourages them to enter in it and win, which they do in the end.

•M. Emmet Walsh as Sheriff Woodzie, who is an old, wide racetrack gambler and a good friend to the Walsh family. He sympathizes with Channing, especially since he sees the same gift in her that was present in her late mother, Carolyn.

•Wendie Malick as Clara Dalrymple, who is Nolan's former employer, Channing's boss, and, while beautiful, the film's main villain. She admires Trenton's Pride and Ruffshodd and only sees the Kentucky Open competition as a means of business and money and is not concerned for the well-being of her horses, especially not Stripes.

•Gary Bullock as John Cooper, who is one of the racehorse trainers for the Kentucky Open thoroughbred sweepstakes. He doesn't share his boss, Dalrymple's views on pushing her horses past their limits, but continues to follow her instructions in order to get his paychecks, which are important for his work.

•Caspar Poyck as The Mailman, who Stripes is beaten by every morning after they race around the block.



•Frankie Muniz as Stripes, a foundling zebra who desires to compete in the Kentucky Open race, which leads to bullying from the local horses with the sole exception of Sandy, whom he has a crush on. His younger self was voiced by Jansen Panettiere, Hayden Panettiere's brother.

•Dustin Hoffman as Tucker, a Shetland pony who used to help Nolan train racehorses, including Sir Trenton. He presents himself with a grumpy demeanor after years of training ungrateful horses before retiring. But then helps Stripes by teaching him to race, Stripes was the only one who was really grateful to him for his help.

•Whoopi Goldberg as Franny, an elderly Saanen goat who constantly encourages Stripes to pursue his dream and gives him many words of advice. She seems to be the only animal on the farm aware of how upset Tucker is about his retirement.

•Mandy Moore as Sandy, a professional jumper Arabian filly. She is the only horse who supports Stripes' dream to become a racehorse. She and Stripes have romantic feelings for each other, which become mutual by the end of the film. After Stripes wins, she ends up living at the farm as part of Nolan and Dalrymple's bet.

•Steve Harvey and David Spade as Buzz and Scuzz, a pair of horsefly brothers who serve as the film's comic relief and are good friends with Tucker. Buzz is larger and has blue eyes and combed hair, while Scuzz is scrawnier and has red eyes and messed-up hair. The brothers have a different taste in music: Scuzz is a rap fan while Buzz favors classical music.

•Jeff Foxworthy as Reggie, the Walsh farm's rooster, who means well, but is not very bright. He serves as the news announcer for the rest of the farm animals.

•Joe Pantoliano as Goose, a New York-accented American white pelican from the big city. He states that he moved to the farm in order to escape several other birds who have placed a hit on him, and that he was a "hit bird". It is presumably his experiences that render him afraid of loud noises.

•Snoop Dogg as Lightning, the family's lazy Bloodhound who talks while asleep.

•Fred Thompson as Sir Trenton, an arrogant black Thoroughbred horse who sees his son, Trenton's Pride, as having no purpose other than to carry on the Trenton legacy. He also seems to view the Kentucky Open competition as his property, which leads to his antagonistic nature towards Stripes, whom he believes might ruin it. He is also one of Tucker's former racehorses-in-training before Nolan and Tucker retired from training.

•Joshua Jackson as Trenton's Pride, Sir Trenton's son, who is a bully and picks on Stripes every chance he gets but still believes in winning a race the fair and honest way unlike his father and other horses. However, by the end of the film, he makes up and becomes friends with Stripes, having become impressed with his racing ability. His younger self was voiced by Kyle Alcazar.

•Michael Rosenbaum as Ruffshodd, Pride's friend and lackey. At first, it seems that he bullies Stripes with Pride merely out of sycophancy for the latter and fear of Pride's father, but in reality, he is a worse bully by far, proving quite eager to help Sir Trenton in threatening Sandy in order to keep Stripes from racing in the Kentucky Open. This is further evidenced when he and his rider persistently try to sabotage Stripes during the Kentucky Open competition. His younger self was voiced by Frankie Ryan Manriquez.

•Michael Clarke Duncan as Clydesdale, a Clydesdale horse who oversees the Bluemoon races.