The Valdimontone contrada won the
\nPalio di Siena Saturday night with veteran jockey Giuseppe Zedde
\naka Gingillo leading form start to finish of the famed medieval
\nbareback horse race aboard bay gelding Anda e Bola.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tIt was Valdimontone’s first win in 13 years, while Gingillo had
\nbeen without a victory for seven years.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tIt was, as tradition dictates, the second Palio of the year and
\nmarked the August 15 Feast of the Assumption of the Madonna into
\nHeaven.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tUS pop star Madonna was among the spectators, cheering on the
\nwinner from a hotel window overlooking the square.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tThe Oca (Goose) contrada won the first Palio at the start of
\nlast month.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tVeteran jockey Giovanni Atzeni aka Tittia, on board the chetnut
\ndebutant Diodoro, led from start to finish of the race, a
\n90-minute rush of excitement cheered on by baying partisan
\nlocals and many Italian and foreign tourists, three times around
\nthe central Piazza del Campo.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tIt was Tittia’s 11th win, his last being in July 2023, out of 40
\nPalios raced.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tHe is getting ever closer to the all-time record of
\n14 triumphs held by local hero Andrea de Gortes aka Aceto, the
\nking of 20th century Siena competitions.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tThe race was postponed from July 2, the feast of the Madonna di
\nProvenzano to whom it is dedicated, because of a heavy rainstorm
\nthat made the tuff track impassable.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tThe Palio, meaning “banner”, dating back to the 13th century, is
\none of Italy’s most colourful tourist attractions although many
\nnewcomers to the event are shocked at how violent it can be and
\nhow much deep-rooted intra-urban enmity it arouses, as well as
\nat the shameless haggling and negotiating that happens between
\njockeys as the race gears to spring into life.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tThis year’s first Palio looked set for trouble amid pre-race
\njostling that forced the ‘mossiere’, or starter, to call back
\nthe mounts four times.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tBut Tittia’s sweeping ride to leave all but one of the field
\nstraggling rather than bumping and grinding avoided major
\nincident.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tSiena’s trademark race, which formed the backdrop to the opening
\nchase sequence of the 2007 James Bond film Quantum of Solace,
\ntakes place each year on July 2 and August 16, the Feast of the
\nAssumption of Mary, although some years have an extra one at the
\nbeginning of September.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tJockeys from ten of Siena’s 17 ‘contrade’ or neighbourhoods
\ncompete for the silk prize in the one and a half minute hurtle
\naround the Piazza del Campo.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tThe only rule in the competition is that the jockeys, or
\nfantini, mustn’t grab the reins of their adversaries. That means
\nwhipping a rival’s horse or even knocking a jockey off his steed
\nis allowed.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tVictory goes to the first horse to complete three laps of the
\nsquare, even if it arrives at the finishing post without a
\nrider,or ‘scosso’.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tThe chaotic race in Siena’s main square attracts thousands of
\nvisitors each year who are mostly oblivious to the punishment
\nthe horses take.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tBut animal rights activists have long campaigned to get the
\nevent banned, saying it is cruel, has little to do with sporting
\nskill and is dangerous for the horses, jockeys and spectators.
\n
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\n\t\t\t\tMore than 50 horses have died on the course since 1970.
\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED \u00a9 Copyright ANSA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Valdimontone contrada won the Palio di Siena Saturday night with veteran jockey Giuseppe Zedde aka Gingillo leading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-75832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}