Meet the young Italian who went from studying psychology in Milan to training a Classic hope in County Down
It’s a gloriously sunny autumn Saturday afternoon at Leopardstown racecourse and the unseasonal warmth is delighting a large gathering in the crowded parade ring. The field for the first race of the newly rebranded Irish Champions Festival is about go to post and many of the great and the good of international racing have found their way to County Dublin to join the fun.
The Listed Ballylinch Stud Irish EBF Ingabelle Stakes for two-year-old fillies is the least valuable contest of a lucrative card, but there’s a hundred grand in prize-money to be won, comparable with the best purse on offer at Ascot the same afternoon.
The ring is thronged with O’Briens, Bolgers and Harringtons along with the usual massed ranks of Coolmore-istas. All assembled in happy anticipation for a weekend of top-class sport.
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- Rob Hornby: 'It was a massively difficult year - it was hard to watch knowing I could have done the job just as well'
- 'I've never ridden a horse who accelerated like that' - meet the jockey well suited to the pressure of an Arc favourite
- 'I only went down to the yard in lockdown to earn a bit of money - to have achieved this much already is amazing'
- Joe Fanning: 'If I'm doing light I'd probably just miss breakfast - I feel sorry for the lads taking pounds off every day'
- Owen Burrows: 'I'll be forever grateful - it's just a shame it's taken me this long to pull my finger out'