GUIDO BERARDELLI: THE REVIVAL OF ITALIAN GALLOP NEEDS THE USE OF QUALITY STALLIONS

It is well known that the revival of gallop racing, among many other things, can also come from breeding, just as it is well known that in order to obtain good prospects, in addition to the quality of the mares, it is necessary to be able to count on important stallions. 
The age-old problem of galloping is well known, and is due to the fact that natural insemination is not allowed for thoroughbreds, and that only natural mating is used. This means that breeders, or at least the owners of mares, often have to send their horses abroad to be able to use a famous, important stallion.
For some seasons now, an operation has been tried that allows Italian breeders to have some top-level stallions available on national territory. The protagonists of this operation were Marco Bozzi, Guido Berardelli and Mattia Cadrobbi, president of the FIA (Italian Breeding Fund).
First they tried to rent stallions abroad and make them available to Italian breeders. For some seasons now, however, they have bought them directly, perhaps reselling them later.

A leap in quality directly witnessed by Guido Berardelli...
"With Mattia Cadrobbi and Marco Bozzi, who is the main creator of the project, we have put a lot of effort into this sector and also made a very important investment because we bought two top-level stallions. The proof is that Inns Of Court is in first place in the world for the number of winners bred from stallions in their third year of activity and Kessar is also giving very important results. among other things he is the sire of Melfi, the last winner of the Parioli Prize at Capannelle. And I must say that Italian breeders have greatly appreciated our initiative considering that more or less half of the thoroughbreds that will be born in Italy in 2026 will be the offspring of these two stallions. This year we already have 94 mares in foal to El Kabeir, who was our choice last year and went very well. From a commercial point of view, in recent months we have sold El Kabeir abroad and we have purchased Inns Of Court and Kessaar."

In the past you preferred to rent your stallions, why the change of approach?
‘First of all it was a question of seeing if we had the potential to undertake such an operation, which involves a significant financial commitment. So we decided to rent them, but then we realised that we were too tied to the will of the actual owners and so we changed our approach. In a sense we gambled on the quality of our idea.’

Where do the two stallions operate?
‘Also with a view to facilitating the movement of mares from all over Italy, we have chosen to position them in the centre. Inns Of Court operates at the Razza dell'Orso stud farm in Umbria, while Kessar is located near Tivoli by Alessandro Antonini.’

But apart from everything, why did you launch into this type of operation?
"We want to relaunch the project, also supported by Masaf, to increase the production of 100% made in Italy horses. Now we are trying to involve other stallion owners through the Fia (Italian National Studbook) to further expand the offer. We have divided the tasks. Cadrobbi, for example, is in charge of all social media management. We also have the support of Franco Castelfranchi, who is a high-level manager and who, in my opinion, should be listened to a little more by the gallop racing community.‘

In recent days, it was precisely from Castelfranchi that what we might call the classic “stone in the pond” arrived.
’Franco and I often discuss these issues and we absolutely agree on many things. I am the president of a technical commission that collaborates with Masaf and I also think that we should arrive at a further reduction in the number of flat races with the same prize money, obviously, to increase the average prize money per race, this is also a very important element to relaunch Italian flat racing, something we all care about."