Siena, 1 July 2024 – Compared to the July Palio last year, decided after the first Contrada drawn by the mayor Nicoletta Fabio on her debut on the assignment stage (Selva with Violenta da Clodia), this time the captains of the Contrade would have recovered some room for maneuver. A little more weight in the plots of this Palio di Provenzano, in the strategies that led to the definition of the pairings, in the choices first of the horses and then of the jockeys. A modest amount of power, better not to overdo it. Because, in the first crucial moment, those hours in the Entrane to vote on the 10 horses that will have to race, the captains’ choices were first limited by the veterinarians (12 horses excluded out of 35, no one can doubt the legitimacy of the health decisions); and then from the vetoes of the big jockeys, who removed from the lot the usual Remorex and Anda and Bola, who finds himself among the strong horses, without ever having finished a Palio.
The Palio is approaching
With a lot that makes no sense to define ‘leveled down’, simply because there are always horses who are faster and more suitable than the others, and in case you discover them later, among the six debutants, the second crucial moment is the definition of the mounts. If Viso d’Angelo hadn’t ended up in Pantera’s lot, Tittia could have also ridden him, because she knows him well. But the relationship between Atzeni and L’Aquila took the option away from the Campo. And for Tittia it was a question of deciding whether to ride Tabacco nell’Onda or Veranu nell’Oca. Brigante has returned to Tabacco, as in August 2022, Tittia preferred Veranu, immediately making him the favourite horse.
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Palio, Nicchio wins the first test. At the Canape there are six debuting horses and two debuting jockeys
More or less the same script acted by Disruption. He could have gone to the Pantera, on Viso d’angelo. But Bartoletti chose Ungaros and Valdimontone, to duel with his rival with more chances. Even if the presence of the Nicchio in Piazza, who chose Turbine to ride Akida, a newcomer with good hocks, is certainly an additional obstacle.
You know the pairings , there is no need to repeat them. The power of the jockeys, of Tittia in particular, too. And therefore having placed ‘friendly’ and ‘allied’ jockeys in three or four other Contrade, could facilitate his objective of the eleventh victory. Because, to the rhetorical question of who really commands in the Palio, variable answers must be given. But starting from the consideration that from Aceto to Pesse, from Trecciolino to Tittia, there has been an increasingly stronger takeover of the jockeys in the Piazza. Aceto and Pesse had strong rivals, Trecciolino and Tittia had and have less insidious competitors. The only jockey who wasn’t interested in the role of director, wanting to put all the pieces in place to find a mosaic in the square that would see him raise the backbone of the flag, was Andrea Mari, the unforgettable Brio.
A cruel fate has removed him from the scene, like in the movies where one of the protagonists dies too soon. And he leaves a void that the rest of the cast fills with extreme difficulty. Where is that little bit of extra power taken back by the captains in this July Palio? Nicchio and Pantera have focused on jockeys who want to redeem themselves, Turbine and Bellocchio. Bruco and Giraffa chose two debutants on two horses at their first time: Chiavassa for Brivido Sardo (he didn’t go to the Lupa where his Zenios is in the stable) and Puligheddu on Ardeglina, a pairing that makes the tongue twist when you pronounce it . Everyone wants to do their own race, that’s the secret of the Palio. Carved from the lapidary phrase of the immortal Vinegar: “In Siena there is this strange habit where if you don’t win the Palio, you lose it.”
