CAPANNELLE Racecourse sits on the outskirts of Rome beside Ciampino Airport. It’s the track that staged Italy’s final Group 1 race – the Premio Lyida Tesio in 2018. Italy is synonymous with horses and racing dating back to the Roman era but is at one of its lowest ever points.

Capannelle Racecourse was first built in 1881, before being rebuilt in 1926, but the cracks are starting to show. The paint on the sand-coloured stand is beginning to fade.

The passion for the sport is still clear to see though with people in the industry still smiling and putting on a brave face in what can only be described as challenging times.

Federico Tesio was one of the most influential people in the history of horse racing. He has been recognised by some as “the greatest single figure in the history of Italian horse racing”. He was known as ‘the wizard of Dormello’ and established a stud farm in northern Italy. His breeding operation dominated the Italian scene for well over 50 years and was highly thought of throughout Europe.

He employed nobody to help him with the matings as he alone made every decision for his mares and fillies.

He has a race named after him at Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore, USA. He married a woman named Lydia who had Italy’s last Group 1 race named after her.

In February 2019, Italian horse racing received its biggest blow when the Lydia Tesio, a race for three-year-old fillies held in November each year, was downgraded to Group 2 level. Italy was also stripped of its full membership of the European Pattern Committee (EPC) and is now only recognised as an ‘associate’ member.

Angelo Robiati, Goffs Italian agent, said: “The people are disappointed because Italy had a good tradition of horse racing. The Government aren’t helping at all.”

One of the main reasons as to the downgrading of Italy’s Group 1 races was due to the slow payment of prize money. Marco Oppo, secretary of Capannelle Racecourse said: “For racing in Italy, the country must have at least one Group 1 race and we don’t have any Group 1 races now.

“The problem begins with the payment of prize money which is slow, unlike other countries. It can take up to seven months, provided everything is okay. However, if there is a problem, with say the IBAN code, it can take up to one year.

“In Italy, at the moment, we are in a period where the ministry is trying to do better with the payment of the prize money and the making of the rules. There is a promise from the Minister for Finance that they will try to pay the prize money after two to three months but it’s difficult because the money isn’t coming from the agricultural sector but rather the whole government pot. We are under two ministries – the Minister for Agriculture for the rules and the Minister for Finance for the money. It’s very difficult.”

Proud tradition

Italy has a proud tradition of horse racing and has produced some of the finest horsemen in recent times, jockeys such as Frankie Dettori, Cristian Demuro and Andrea Atzeni as well as trainers such as Marco Botti and Luca Cumani. All these top-class sportsmen have to leave Italy to make a name for themselves in the industry.

The need to leave Italy to train top-class thoroughbreds can also be due to the state and quality of the racecourses. Horses are trained on the racecourse in Italy, similar to Australia and America, but the feeling in the industry is that the tracks aren’t maintained well enough, forcing trainers to go abroad to take advantage of better facilities. There used to be over 1,000 horses trained at Capannelle several years ago but, nowadays, there are a mere 350 being trained there.

Capannelle Racecourse has encountered a lot of problems in recent times, most notably at the start of 2019 when the racecourse had to delay its opening by weeks due to disagreements between the Hippo Group, who own the racecourse, and the local Rome municipal council ,over the fee that the Hippo Group must pay to the council.

It is not just a problem at Capannelle Racecourse, however, as Oppo went on to say: “We have had a lot of problems in the last year with the local council because we have to pay a fee on an old contract. In the opinion of the county, the fee is one number and, in our opinion, and our lawyer’s opinion, it is another number.

For nine months, our lawyer has constantly been working on the matter. From January 1st, the racecourse was closed because the Hippo Group told us we cannot open if we don’t know how much we must pay for the fee. However, we now have a good relationship with the county because we know how much we need to pay. For the future, I don’t think it will be a problem as long as we pay the fee on time every year.”

The problems don’t end there though. Oppo explained that there is no contract between the racecourse and the ministry over how much funding Capannelle will receive, making it near on impossible to organise future races, investments and simple things such as paying the 100 workers that Capannelle Racecourse employs. Once again, it is a problem associated with every racecourse in Italy and not just Capannelle.

Foreign runners

Another challenge facing the racing community is its attempt to regain its status as a full member of the European Pattern Committee. The problems start with the lack of foreign runners now coming to Italy because of the length of time it will take to get their share of the prize money. Oppo believes that Italy needs help from the rest of Europe through foreign trainers sending horses to Italy to run in their better races.

“We need help from Europe because if good horses don’t come to race in Italy, we won’t have high enough ratings to maintain our group races. If there are only Italian horses in our races, the ratings are low. If we have good horses from Ireland, France, Germany, England etc, it’s a different story.”

On the flip side, Italian horses could go abroad to boost their ratings, but it would be foolish for trainers and owners alike to do that with the prize money on offer in Italy being so good.

Oppo explained to me that a conditions’ race at Capannelle could offer €5,500 to the winner and you will only need a bargain basement colt or filly costing €1,000 to take the prize, whereas in Newmarket or the Curragh, the prize money might be similar or slightly less and you’ll probably need a Galileo that could cost over €1,000,000.

The Derby Italiano is now a Group 2 race, but it carries a purse of €700,000 which is massive compared to other European nations. Italy obviously has the money to spend but the problem, once again, goes back to the payment of prize money.

Claudio Alessi, who works for the Minister for Agriculture in Italy, said: “The payment used to only take one month maximum. I would like to see one big organisation run all the racecourses in Italy. It’s better to be privately run than publicly run especially, because in Italy, there is a lack of competence regarding horse racing. The people who decide important things don’t know the horses, don’t know this sport.

“Like in Ireland, if you go into the offices of Weatherbys, the people are competent, experienced and passionate for the sport. In my office, I am the only competent one who has any idea about horses.”

Breeding suffering

The breeding industry is also suffering and the lack of stallions in Italy means that they are mostly getting the lower class of horse from sales in Ireland, Britain and France. The top sire who currently resides in Italy is Arcano who stands for €5,000 at Societa Agricola di Besnate – a stud farm near Varese in northern Italy.

The same current problems in Italian racing, happened in France around 20 years ago. Competence and determination got them through it. There is a good level of racing in France currently with some top Italian trainers now training in France, most notably Giuseppe Botti.

One positive is that the enthusiasm and the passion for racing in Italy is still there. The main aim are to regain their Group 1 races and re-establish themselves as a full member of the European Pattern Committee, with Alessi saying: “We hope to return to being a full member of the European Pattern within five years but it’s difficult. The Italian government simply isn’t interested.

“We must get a group of experts who help the government and I feel that this is possible. We must do something to change the way that the industry works because it’s such a beautiful, natural, elegant sport and it supports so many people in their work and life.”