ROME. We’re almost there, turf friends, the Derby day is around the corner, Sunday 19 May is about to arrive with all the charm of a race and an unmissable conference in the beautiful Capannelle racecourse. The Italian Derby in a Rome that never ceases to amaze you, with its intact beauty. There are many stories, statistics and curiosities that the approach to the big day gives us.
Two and a half centuries have now passed since the day Mr Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby with the essential help of his wife Lady Hamilton and the precious Lord Bumbury, they put on the track the protagonists of the first edition of the mother of all races: the Derby which took its name from one of the creators who also donated the lands that are now in history. The plain of Epsom in Surrey just a short distance from London.
A century later, approximately, at Capannelle in the spring of 1884 Andreina he won the first Italian Derby with the same rules of engagement as the English one which for a long time were universal in every part of the globe: 2400 meters of distance and only three-year-old horses on the track.
The real magic was precisely this: you can only run the Derby once and never again. The great tests of absolute selection are given by intergenerational comparisons but the Derby is unique and for this reason it is absolutely at the top of the desire of every horse racing operator.
The Senator, whose seventieth anniversary of death has just occurred, won it 21 times to show how Tesio held the Derby in consideration even though throughout his life the Wizard of Dormello chased the dream of building the champion for the Gold Cup at Ascot.
Let’s scroll through the roll of honor in search of great horses that have won the Derby. Archidamia, the female of superior class and temperament won in the 1936. Following the successes of two other champions, Donatello (1937)then narrowly beaten in Paris, and Nearchuswinner of the Nastro Azzurro of 1938.
Moving forward we find two more Tesian heart aces, Tender, derbywinner in 1947 and, seven years later, Botticelli, triumphant of 1954 before confirming itself at absolute levels also in England.
The awaited challenge since the winter was memorable, fueling the imagination of the fans among them Gay Lussac And Tierceron protagonists of a thrilling arrival in the Derby 1972. Gay Lussac, ridden by Sergio Fancera, won with the jacket of the Cieffedì team, beating the Dormellian.
Who won the Derby fifty years ago, the one in 1974? A historic jacket, that of Aurora stable, thanks to Suffolk which, mounted by Mario Cipolloni, in the end he prevailed over Wohlgemuth and Veio.
A show of exceptional visual impression was that of the blond Sirladwith the colors of the La Tesa race, Tonino Di Nardo in the saddle, leading the group, with Capo Bon, a graduate of Parioli, taking second place.
Among the jockeys there are five successes achieved by Cristian Demurotwice the Nastro Azzurro ended up on the whip Dario Vargiuonce, just twelve months ago, the Pisan raised his arms on the most beautiful race of the year Dario Di Tocco, the yellow and beige of Goldenas standing out in the center of the track for the targeted training of Cristiana Brivio and Endo Botti, the beautiful Pisa who gallops.
Do the times and the barriers say anything among all the available data that the archive of a race so rich in history offers? Of course yes, and we will also add the key to understanding the ratings. In the last thirty-one editions, the horse with the highest rating among the winners of the Italian Derby is White Muzzle124 the value achieved by the son of Dancing Brave in the red jacket with yellow star.
The second rating is that of the 2011 winner Cracker Jack King, 122. In recent editions the value expressed in the race by the Italian Derby graduate has dropped, the German Arkadanwho in the color photo that accompanies this article you see beating the Dormellian Tempesti, two years ago he won with 119, while twelve months ago in Goldenas it was enough to gallop on a still flattering 115.
And after winning the Derby, what is the program? The most frequent answer is: “we go to Milan in June”: in the last 11 years the Derbywinner has graced the San Siro stage four times on his next outing, always finishing. These are horses in a rating range between 107-11, Biz The Nurse won the Milano (2013), Summer Festival was second the following year, Keep On Fly came third in 2019 while Goldenas was the runner up of the edition 2023 of the Milan Grand Prix.
The last note for the fences. What is the ideal number to get out of the cages of the Derby delle Capannelle with a good chance of fighting the race? Fence 5 seems like a good launching pad, given that three times in the last 10 editions the Derby has been won by the horse emerging from that stall. Among the wide fences, good options are 10 and 13, while among the internal ones the most favorable are three and 4. You can also get home by starting from more central cages such as seven and eight. Since the 2200 meters have been run, the best time was recorded in the 2008 edition by Cima De Triomphe, the Grizzettian who won in 2.14.60.
