FIRST OF MIND, SECOND DERBY IN ITS PALMARES

Can a trotter win two derbies in its career? At first glance the answer would be a definite ‘no’. In fact, in 1962 a horse won the derby twice but it was the same race twice. His name was Liri and he was ridden by William Casoli, who won the Tor di Valle Derby at night when, near the finish line, a fault caused the lights to go out and the floodlights to be switched off. So the race had to be repeated, but Liri also won the re-run...

Today, however, at Turin First Of Mind, after winning the Derby par excellence in October, also won the Turin four-year-old derby, giving Scuderia Comiantale a historic double success and Alessandro Gocciadoro another triumph. The son of Face Time Bourbon started cautiously, settling in fourth place, while his declared opponent, Fellow Wise As, galloped away. After the first 400 metres, the driver from Emilia moved to the outside to take the lead, but faced tough opposition from Fil Ek and Pietro Gubellini. So he had to wait for the passage in front of the stands to be able to take the lead, but on the last bend Funky Roc was getting dangerous. On the straight he even seemed to be able to prevail, but he hadn't reckoned with the reaction capacity of the double Derby winner, perhaps a little bit suffering in the bends, but certainly devastating once he entered the home straight. 1.12.4 was the winner's average speed per kilometre. Funky Roc was again second, with a brilliant Fil Ek in third.

‘He wasn't very precise,’ said Alessandro Gocciadoro after the race. ’If he's well, he's stronger than these; there's probably something to fix. Now he deserves a bit of rest: we might aim for the Triossi on 1st June, but we'll decide in the next few days.’