The shadow of “Doubt” on the Palio: one of Pusceddu’s horses seized by the Foresters

A “Doubt” fell like a shingle on the Palio of Ferrara, in particular on one of the eight districts, San Luca. In fact, doubt is the name of one of the two horses of Valter Pusceddu, the jockey from San Luca, which the Carabinieri of the Siena Forestry Group have seized. Pusceddu’s second horse, Arraju, is instead ‘under observation’ and it is still not clear whether he will be able to run the Palio this evening in Piazza Ariostea.

The ‘blitz’ by the Siena Foresters, assisted by their colleagues from Ferrara, according to more than reliable sources, took place on Friday morning, when the men of the Army showed up at the Ferrara racecourse – which also hosts the headquarters of San Luca – where the two horses of the well-known jockey, native of Genoa but resident in Siena, are hospitalized. Before arriving in Ferrara, the Foresters themselves appear to have obtained authorization for a house search carried out in the jockey’s home, in which documents relating to the horses deemed worthy of attention by the investigators were found. In particular, the magnifying glass of the Carabinieri investigators would focus on the quality of half-breeds and thoroughbreds. It should be noted that in the Italian Palios, including the one in Ferrara, only half-breeds race, generally more robust and less performing and faster than thoroughbreds. The latter, if made to compete, would have a significant if not decisive advantage over the former.

A suspicion of ‘substitution’ which for one of the horses presented here in Ferrara by Pusceddu, Doubt indeed, seems to have turned into certainty for the Foresters of Siena. No doubt about Dubbio, to use a play on words, which would probably not be the horse declared by Pusceddu. For Arraju, the second ‘Berber’ brought to Ferrara by Pusceddu, the suspicions will instead have to be confirmed. In fact, during the blitz by the Sienese military, a sample was taken of the horse (coincidentally the only one that carried out the mandatory tests in Piazza Ariostea, while strangely Dubbio was not even tested). It would be useful to carry out a DNA test and understand his true nature as a half-blood or pure-blood.

update of May 27, 7 pm: the jockey and co-owner of the horse intervened on the issue, providing their version of the facts. here is the related article

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