Sofia Ricci and the future of breeding

Harness racing breeding in Italy certainly has its future despite the fact that Italian horse racing has been suffering for years from some technical and financial management problems.

One of the young names for the future of the sector is that of Sofia Ricci, a young girl breeder, who carries on a real family tradition. In fact, her family’s farm is not just any farm, but it is the oldest farm in Italy of all farms operating in the peninsula.

It is therefore right and deserving to give voice and space to a young promise of the Italian trot but, we take the liberty of adding, also international and we will soon find out why.

Sofia, where does your passion for horses come from?

“I practically grew up on bread, horses and genealogies,” explained Ricci. “My family’s stud farm was founded by my great-grandfather Felice Aggio in Boara Pisani, a small town in the province of Padua. Subsequently the tradition continued with Gianfranco Aggio until it was carried on by my father who is Gianfranco’s nephew.

“My father inherited the farm in 2013,” Ricci said. “What does it mean for a young woman to carry on an activity in a mainly male sector? I would not see this situation from the point of view of the male or female gender, although this is a predominantly male world. I would rather try to broaden my gaze by focusing on different themes.

“I have been in this sector since I was a child,” Ricci added. “Ever since I was a child with my uncle, in the family home there was a very large room full of notes and genealogical data sheets relating to Italian and also American trot.

“Returning to the original question,” Ricci said. “As regards the gender of man or woman, I do not think there are substantial differences: rather I believe that for Italian horse racing the involvement of young people, of any sex or age, would be of fundamental importance. In this regard, my father often reminds me of when, still a student, he organized small trips with his schoolmates to go to the racecourse.

“As far as I’m concerned,” Ricci said. “Even in recent years I have often tried to bring some of my student colleagues to the racetrack, but I haven’t noticed a real interest in them, and I think this is also due to the racetracks which very often do not offer adequate services to attract a new audience.”

How are the facilities in your center organized?

“We have 30 hectares of land, as well as another plot of land of the same size which belongs to a cousin of mine” Ricci explained. “We have created a stable for mares, even though our policy is to leave the horses out in the paddock day and night, and then we have created a stable for racehorses with an 800m round track and a 1km straight one as well as a route of 1,400 meters”.

Your father, Kenya and horses. A mix to tell…

“My father has always had a pretty close connection with Kenya for professional reasons,” Ricci said. “For this reason, at a certain point in his life he abandoned horses even if never completely, until as we have already explained, he inherited the family farm. My sister and I also lived the first years of our lives in Kenya until we moved here to Italy permanently to start school.

“As far as I’m concerned,” Ricci said. “I had a real stroke of lightning with a horse bred by us: Oreste.”

Oreste has an important meaning for your company, tell me about him…

“It is a son of Supergill and Defilé (Ganymede),” Ricci explained. “A horse that gave me and my family great emotions first in racing and then also with his activity as a stallion. During his racing career interrupted too soon due to an injury, he gave us all our family the great satisfaction of finishing second in the Gran Premio Delle Aste in Milan at the age of two.

“The race was won by Owens Gar (Windsong’s Legacy) with Mario Minopoli and he finished in second place with the guide of Edoardo Baldi,” Ricci added. “He has an excellent bloodline in which we believed right away so much so that he became a private stallion, obtaining good results right from the start: I am thinking, for example, of Baldur, a horse who arrived very close to the first category, and of Calenita, above all a classic winner in the junior season of 3 years. Subsequently, Oreste became a public stallion and there is much interest in him from breeders. In fact, this year we have received over 60 requests.”

Speaking of Baldur, he’s back from a second place in Paris, right?

“Exactly, on Friday 16 June he finished in second place in Vincennes on the occasion of the Prix Lomia, a Race D over the distance of 2700 metres,” Ricci explained. “He covered the long distance in 3’17 ”1 (1.13 the average per kilometre), making everyone happy, even his coach Vitale Ciotola and the driver Francois Lagadeuc.”

Not only a breeder, you also like driving on the track…

“Yes, I’m not a professional,” Ricci laughed. “I ride with amateurs. I enjoy it, even if I only play horses from our stables suitable for amateur racing. During my still short track experience, I had the great satisfaction of also racing in the United States, more precisely at Yonkers and Monticello.

“It was an “exchange” between us and the American amateurs who will come to Italy in July of this year and we are working to welcome them as best as possible,” Ricci said. “Obviously, the track races that will take place in the Padua and Cesena racetracks will be the protagonists.”

We have little space, we must conclude. As a breeder, I ask you which stallions have you used this year…

“For our mares we have diversified the choice of stallions, obviously focusing on our Orestes but also on international stallions such as Maharajah and Volstead,” Ricci said.

One last line: tell me about the home champion, Clarissa. You recently won in Norway with Alessandro Gocciadoro…

“She is a daughter of Exploit Caf who,” Ricci explained. “Despite her rather imposing physique, knows how to behave well on a large track and also on a small one, giving us the happiness of having also won some important big prizes.

“Her mother Nikelia was the last daughter of Lemon Dra,” Ricci said. “And we decided to use Exploit Caf (Toss Out) for her, as she had some difficulties in getting pregnant and we had to resort to fresh sperm. In those years, in Italy we followed the athletic exploits of Tamure Roc and Uma Francis, both daughters of Exploit Caf.”

… and that’s it!

by Filippo Lago, for Harnesslink