Letter To The Editor: A New Era For Italian Racing

[Wandering Eyes]

There have been many good signs lately for Italian racing.

Last month, a new government took over and the new Italian Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Gian Marco Centinaio, is a big fan of horse racing. He phoned jockey Luca Maniezzi to congratulate him on his 2,000th win last week, and is very keen to revamp the Italian racing and breeding industries.

In January, the European Pattern Commission downgraded only two Italian listed races, and the 2-year-old Criterium di Varese, previously run as an allowance race, was upgraded to listed status.

Italian form is doing well in America. The filly Plein Air (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}), previously with Stefano Botti in Cenaia, Tuscany, won a stake at Santa Anita first time out for Bob Baffert, and La Force (Ger) (Power {GB}), previously in training in Pisa, Italy, with Marco Gasparini, was second in the GI Beholder Mile and had previously been third in the GII La Canada S. prior to winning an allowance race.

More importantly than everything else, however, is that at the end of 2017 the previous Italian government approved a better tax law for Italian horse racing bettors which will be effective this fall and should dramatically increase the betting and consequently the purses. Purses are now being paid more regularly; however they are still behind because of the giant bureaucracy that the new government wants to reduce.

Among all this good news, myself and my family have decided to revamp a historic set of silks that will hopefully stimulate other old and prestigious Italian stables to get back into the Sport of Kings. The red and blue silks belonged to Scuderia Tirrenia, owned in the 1950s to 70s by the distinguished Italian trainer Luigi Regoli Jr., my grandfather and one of the three sons of Luigi Regoli Sr. a trainer himself and best friend of Federico Tesio.

Luigi Regoli Jr. grew up in Tesio’s stable and was an exercise rider for the Ribot and Nearco outfit when very young. He became a jockey and then, when he couldn’t make weight, a successful trainer. Regoli Jr. won four Italian Derbies, many Italian group races including both Guineas’ several times, the Gran Premio di Milano and even some prestigious steeplechase races.

Among many other famous colours in his stable, like Nobile Giuseppe De Montel, Scuderia Aterno, Count Neni Da Zara and Centurini, were Regoli’s own blue and red silks of Scuderia Tirrenia, named after a cozy Tuscan fisherman village, halfway between Pisa and Leghorn. Scuderia Tirrenia had some good winners during the 1960s and 70s, but the colours were retired after Luigi Regoli Jr. died in 1975.

The Italian Jockey Club relicensed the original silks with their red body and blue sleeves. But we have improved upon the original design by partnering with internationally renowed haute couture fashion designer Renato Balestra from Rome. Mr. Balestra offered to taylor the new Scuderia Tirrenia silks in his Rome autelier and to let us use his copyrighted blue color, known worldwide as the Blue Balestra.

Scuderia Tirrenia now owns three horses in training at the Capannelle racetrack in Rome with the very skillful Sicilian trainer Agostino Affe. In 2017, Affe was ranked fourth among Italian trainers, with much fewer horses than the powerhouses Botti and Grizzetti. The Scuderia Tirrenia flagship horse is Crupi The Best (GB), a 4-year-old colt by Authorized (Ire) that has won three times. He is named after Italian-American, Ocala-based horseman Jimmy Crupi. Also set to race for Scuderia Tirrenia are two 2-year-olds bought as yearlings at OBS in Ocala.

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