Next generation in racing, Italy’s Filippo Lago

Filippo Lago is 30 years old and lives in Galliera Veneta, near Padova, Italy. His full-time job is in a clothing store near his home. His passion is harness racing, trying to breed the next international winner.

When not working in the clothing store, Filippo spends most of his time studying pedigrees, shopping online for possible broodmares for their family’s stable and matching the best stallions to their broodmare band.

“It all started with my father, Giovanni,” Lago explained. “He started the trotting breeding business about 40 years ago. But not as a profession, just as a hobby. It has now grown into a big business for us. My father started with just three broodmares and now we have just three broodmares, two with foals.

“My grandfather,” Lago said. “His name was Luigi, and he had a mare called Pina, but she was not for racing, but means of transport back in the day.

“It was my father from whom I inherited my passion for horses,” Lago explained. “My mother, Cinzia and younger sister Maria Beatrice have not that much interest in the horses, it is mainly my father and I.”

In addition to studying pedigrees and arranging with breeders to book their mares to the hopefully right stallions, Lago is also a journalist, writing about foreign trotting for the http://www.Vendopuledri.it website.

“I will soon start a collaboration with Offspring International AB for selling frozen semen in Europe from the best American stallions. Let’s say that although it’s not my main job, horses are part of my everyday life.” Lago said.

“We don’t keep horses on the track. We breed for sale,” Lago said.

And Giovanni and Filippo have made many great connections over the years to help with their buying, breeding and selling of their broodmares and foals.

In recent years the Lago Family have had an excellent relationship with international driving champion Lorenzo Baldi, who has become more and more of a friend to the family.

They have sold many of their horses to him in recent years. Last year they also sold one of their yearlings to Tiberio Cecere, a great trainer especially of young horses. The horse is named Filippo Il Grande and is the son of Wishing Stone and Popstar (Varenne), will he debut in the summer.

“My friendship with Lorenzo Baldi in recent years has allowed me to learn more about his great history,” Lago explained. “But in Italy we have many good horsemen. I don’t follow the races for idols intended as people, I follow the races focusing on the pedigrees of the horses.

“For example, if I’m interested in some stallions,” Lago added. “I follow the offspring in the races, even all over the world. The new collaboration with Offspring International AB in this sense fills me with pride and satisfaction, I want to be prepared. So, every day I follow the races all over the world, from the United States and Canada, passing through Northern Europe, France and even New Zealand and Australia. Obviously also Italy.

“If there’s a time zone, I take the phone to my room and follow the races even at night or I wake up very early in the morning,” Lago said.

“I would like to try some breeding experience abroad with one or more of my mares,” Lago said. “When we talk about big racing, the dream of winning the Hambletonian or the Prix d’Amerique is obviously shared by all breeders. I have had some television experiences as a correspondent for some important breeding farms for a program that dealt with breeding entitled “Passione Puledri”, while now I deal also with foreign trotting.

“Right now, my whole family and I are excited about Popstar,” Lago said. “Because she is pregnant with a stallion that I consider really important: Calgary Games.

“Up to now, Popstar has given us great satisfaction as among its foals,” Lago explained. “We have bred: Compilation, a daughter of Napoleon, Dom Perignon, a son of Oropuro Bar and Excelsior, a son of Wishing Stone, all horses that are in Italy at the moment and they are coached by Lorenzo Baldi.”

“We also own Appia too,” Lago said. “She too is one of our mares’ daughters of Varenne and Giberna Del Rio. Appia’s mom, she is the sister of classic winners Pace Del Rio and Lana Del Rio. Appia is pregnant with Nad Al Sheba (Windsong’s Legacy).

“Just the other day,” Lago said. “We concluded the negotiations for the purchase of Ducan. This is a 4-year-old mare by Varenne from the mare Uganda Luis (Cantab Hall). Ducan made her final race on Thursday in Bologna finishing in fourth place. Her purchase is the result of a well thought out investment with my whole family. With Varenne being the sire, we really like the women’s line of Ducan.

“Her dam is a daughter of Cantab Hall,” Lago explained. “And her grandmother, who is Mandragola PL, as well as having attended the classic circuit with good results, is a daughter of Supergill. Ducan’s third dam is called Silea Dra and is a daughter of Indro Park, a true pillar of Italian breeding.

“I also want to thank Ingrid Dalle Ave,” Lago added. “She is the owner of the Allevamento BIGI, a very important stud farm that has seen the birth of many important horses, the latest in chronological order Cash Bank BIGI. Our horses are born in our small stud farm in Galliera Veneta and, when they turn one year old, we send them to the BIGI stud farm to complete their growth. A perfect place, with excellent soils and climate.”

And what does Filippo do when not at work in the clothing store or with his broodmare band and studying races and pedigrees?

“My entertainment is in the evening,” Lago said. “When I concentrate on the horse-racing activity by writing articles about the foreign trots. Time for fun in the true sense of the term is almost never there.”

One could say that Filippo Lago has more than a passion for harness racing, nearly an obsession, but a positive one that shows there are still many younger people in the industry that we can hope will help generate more young people to get involved in racing.

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink