Looking towards the great race of Naples

The Agnano Lotteria Grand Prix will take place on Monday 1 May at the Naples racecourse in Italy.

It is one of the most important harness racing trotting races on the classic Italian calendar whose placement on the calendar has undergone a change in the last three years which has led it to take place in the month of October due to the serious international pandemic of Covid 19.

Now the Agnano Lotteria Grand Prix returns to its original location, i.e. the first week of the month of May. Before giving an overview of who will be the participants in the great Italian race in this year’s edition, it is useful to dwell on those who were the greatest protagonists able to stand out in Naples, which history has given to the horse racing like real champions.

Undoubtedly if the comparison of the Italian race is taken starting from 2000, the first relevant data is the importance that this race has had in the competitive consecration of Varenne.

In fact, the son of Waikiki Beach won the Agnano Lottery Grand Prix three times: in 2000, 2001 and 2002. In 2003, however, the great winner was the one who in some respects can be defined as the historic adversary of the glorious racing career of Varenne, namely Victory Tilly.

For obvious reasons of space, it is not possible to carry out an accurate examination horse by horse of the winners of the Agnano Lottery Grand Prix of the last twenty years, and proceeding faster, it can be stated that once the great era of Varenne and Victory Tilly was over, the classic of Naples has seen for three consecutive years as many foreign winners, to be exact an American (Legendary Lover K) and two Swedes (Digger Crown and Malabar Circle AS).

From that moment it was a real triumph for the Italian horses who had their point of reference in Mack Grace SM as the former pupil of Lucio Colletti played in the race by the world champion Roberto Andreghetti, took home the race for three consecutive years from 2012 to 2014 repeating in a certain way the version of Varenne capable of winning, as previously written, the great Italian trotting race for three consecutive years.

To find a champion, or rather in this case an Italian champion capable of bringing home the victory in this important race after the undisputed domination of Mack Grace SM, we have to return to Vincennes a pupil of Fabrice Souloy who won in 2015 with the guidance of Roberto Andreghetti giving the possibility and the honor to this great Italian professional, the possibility of winning the Grand Prize Lottery for four consecutive editions (three with Mack Grace SM and one with Vincennes).

The Swedish mare was followed by the victory again of an Italian horse even if it is almost possible to define him “the Swede” since he was purchased as a foal and brought to Sweden: Oasis Bi. With the guidance of Johnny Takter, he was able to win the 2016 edition, inaugurating a new season of Italian winners after the domination of Mack Grace SM was interrupted by Vincennes.

Oasis Bi’s victory was in fact the first of two other victories by Italian horses, namely Timone Ek in 2017 with Enrico Bellei in sulky and Urlo Dei Venti in 2018 once again with Enrico Bellei.

Subsequently in 2019 it was the turn of the French Bel Avis to win the Grand Prix Lottery with the guidance of Jean Michel Bazire who was also the trainer of the French horse and, wanting to remain pleasantly in the statistics of the Neapolitan race, this does not happen often since the winners are sometimes coached by a coach and played on the run by a catch driver.

2020 was the year of Zacon Gio: the son of Ruty Grif horse that the whole world has come to know above all for his important athletic feats in the world such as the victory in the International Trot, he stopped the clock on 1.10 .5 going close to the race record and, even closer to the race record went in 2021 the French Face Time Bourbon whose performance ended in 1.10.2.

The 2022 edition saw the new race record of 1.10.1 recorded by the winner Vernissage Grif with the increasingly international Alessandro Gocciadoro. In this regard, it is useful to open an extraordinary parenthesis relating to what will be the 2023 edition and which will see Vernissage Grif engaged.

Varenne’s son will want to repeat last year’s victorious performance and his team is preparing him in the best way to try this great feat. Indeed, in recent days, Alessandro Gocciadoro presented his own Vernissage Grif at the Bologna racecourse for public work accompanied by his training partner Dolce Viky, not just any horse since the latter is a son of Adrian Chip and is placed Italian trot derby.

In fact, the test left good impressions also from the chronometric point of view with Dolce Viky who led the whole way keeping behind him Vernissage Grif who moved in the last 400 meters for a chronometric roll which saw the time of 1.56 with 56.8 for the last 800 meters and 26.8 for the last 400 meters.

Returning to the 2023 edition of the Agnano Lottery Grand Prix, the list of horses invited to next Monday’s race was released just as this article is drawing to a close. The characteristic of this edition will be a high participation of Italian horses and as previously written, Vernissage Grif could raise its voice and, together with him, another guest possibly capable of doing well is Capital Mail.

The son of Nad Al Sheba shows up on a second place obtained just a few weeks ago in the Grand Prix of the French Riviera in Turin where he finished in second place behind Vivid Wise As another invitee to the Grand Prix Lottery, and Zacon Gio.

by Filippo Lago, for Harnesslink

(If you have any questions or story ideas for Filippo Lago, please email him at lagofilippo0@gmail.com)