From today, Monteleone has become "Varenne's Home." Numerous arrows indicate this from the highway exit to his new home, a veterinary clinic with a huge paddock dedicated to him.
Who is Varenne, the most successful trotter in world history?
Son of the American stallion Waikiki Beach and the Italian mare Ialmaz, nicknamed Il Capitano, Varenne owes his name to the street in Paris where the Italian embassy is located. Driven throughout his career by the Roman driver Giampaolo Minnucci (except for his debut race in 1998 and then twice in 2002, when Minnucci, unfit for action, was replaced by the Finnish driver Jorma Kontio), he has greatly impressed horse racing enthusiasts and experts by imposing himself with extraordinary authority in the most prestigious races on the Italian and international calendar. Varenne had a singular debut, when he was still owned by the French trainer and driver Jean Pierre Dubois, in Bologna, on 4 April 1998: although he was ultimately disqualified for breaking at the gallop, he made an extraordinary impression for the exceptional recovery he nevertheless made after having had to parade at the tail end, reaching the finishing line first. This performance induced a Neapolitan horse enthusiast and money changer, Enzo Giordano, to whom it had been reported, to purchase the promising colt from Dubois even though the asking price (150 million lire) was rather high, considering that he was a debutant. Varenne thus began his career as a trotter at the age of three, wearing the colours of Enzo Giordano's Scuderia Dany, who entrusted him to an equestrian centre located in Tor San Lorenzo, near Rome, where he would spend his entire competitive life, managed by a team led by the Finnish trainer Jori Turja and the driver Giampaolo Minnucci. He immediately put in a series of performances of great technical content that earned him the attention of horse racing enthusiasts and experts, culminating with the victory of the Derby del Trotto, the most important race for a native trotter, where he easily beat Viking Kronos, who at the time dominated the classics of the three-year-old generation. In the following season (1999), she won almost all the Grand Prix of the indigenous four-year-old circuit before making her debut on the international stage at the Gran Premio delle Nazioni in San Siro, where she defeated the very strong American trotter Moni Maker. He then finished the year undefeated, with a total run of fourteen victories in as many races contested. Since 2000 Varenne has begun to compete with the strongest trotters in the world. In the same year he ran eighteen times, winning thirteen times. In the first of the three editions of the Prix d'Amérique in which he took part, a highly contested start, repeated three times, conditioned his performance: stuck in the rear, Varenne was the protagonist of a sensational comeback, which led him to take the final bend in the lead, only to pay for the effort made to recover near the finish line, finishing third, after the French horses Général du Pommeau and Galopin du Ravary. However, already two weeks later, on the same track, at the Prix Louis Roederer, he was able to impose himself on Général du Pommeau. He subsequently won the Agnano Lottery and the 2000 Jubilee Grand Prix in Rome. In the 2001 season Varenne, still guided by Giampaolo Minnucci, established himself as the undisputed ruler of world trotting, first outclassing his opponents in all three events of the Grand Slam of European trotting (Amérique, Lotteria, Elitloppet), and then distancing everyone in the Breeders Crown, the most important race in the United States: no horse had ever shown such a clear superiority over his competitors. It was in the United States that he achieved a time of 1'51.1 on the Meadowlands track, which gave him his (then world) record for the mile with a time of 1'09.1″ per km, a limit only improved in August 2008 by Misterizi, winner of that year's edition of the Nat Ray in 1'51”. 2002 established him as the richest and fastest trotter of all time. Varenne repeated the Grand Slam, and concluded his career with a world tour in which he broke all the track records. His performances have earned him the attention of the media; in this regard, in addition to the countless articles in the press, even non-specialized, and even outside Italy, relating to Varenne's exploits, we can remember the cover dedicated to him by the weekly magazine of the Gazzetta dello Sport SportWeek. Varenne is the only horse in the history of world horse racing to have won the title of “Horse of the Year” in three different countries (Italy 2000, 2001, 2002; France 2001 and 2002; United States 2001), and is also the only trotter to have won the most important races in the world in the same year (2001).
The Welcome Party in Monteleone
Yesterday the Municipality wanted to organize a big welcome party attended by over 500 people. A very high number for a small town in the Lower Pavese area that has 1.400 inhabitants.
Yesterday it was crowded with enthusiasts and the curious who wanted to see the equestrian star up close. "Varenne is our most illustrious fellow citizen," said Mayor Andrea Lazzari, "who found the ideal environment to spend his retirement days at the Equicenter, a center of excellence and our pride. We thought it was appropriate to celebrate him because it is a joy for us to know that he is in town." The long day in honor of the great champion coincided by chance on a "historic" date: the 17th anniversary of the myth's retirement from competitions. For the occasion, well-known figures in the world of equestrianism arrived in Inverno and Monteleone, the owner of Varenne, Enzo Giordano, mounted police officers and other horses that have won important competitions and paraded for the adoring crowd.
But all eyes were on him, on the star. When Varenne arrived in Piazza Castello, he devoured a carrot and apple cake. Time to enjoy the “prize” and then it was all a flash and selfies with the “Captain”. «He is a histrionic – added the mayor – he likes to be among the people, who can also meet him at the Equicenter by making an appointment for a visit».
Varenne makes his debut in the third sector
And now Varenne will also become a testimonial for Horse Angels for the protection of equines.
Let us hope that Varenne, in his role as Captain of Equine Protection, will be able to achieve the wonderful goal of safeguarding his less famous and fortunate cousins.
It will also help the disabled of Enable, the association of the athlete Ferdinando Acerbi.
The two announcements on Varenne's commitment to the third sector were made yesterday morning, during the conference on horse welfare entitled Varenne Dixit, on the side of the horse, which the council chamber hosted, organized by Horse Angels, which was attended, in addition to the two aforementioned associations, by Dr. Giulio Predieri of Acme Drugs, who launched a specific food for elderly horses, Gerry, short for geriatric, to remind us that the world of the Italian horse is ready for the protection of career ends, with an ever-increasing demand for pharmaceutical and food products dedicated to the elderly equine, and Dr. Cesare Rognoni, Varenne's veterinarian and owner of the clinic where Varenne lives, who complained about how social media sometimes misrepresents, starting from ignorance, the issues of equine welfare and discomfort, with even instrumental campaigns, which are political, even before being animalist.
(N(in the photo, the delivery of the Horse Angels plaque to Varenne as Ambassador for the protection of equines)
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