PALIO JULY 3rd 2025 – by Mark Damazer

It is a great honour and a pleasure to present an article, written for thepalio.eu, by Mark Damazer.

The highlight this time was not the race – but the posse of horses and jockeys trotting side by side with Montone and Gingillo after Montone had been announced as the Rincorsa. The fact that Montone was the last name intoned by the Mossiere – and thus , of course, the Rincorsa – simplified everything that happened thereafter – and , truth be told, took away some of the drama and entertainment .

Montone’s horse , Comancio , had been the one consistently jumpy performer throughout the trials – and the other fantini had decided to treat it as if it were uranium – heading their horses off in any direction that took them away from Montone, to avoid their own horse being kicked .

So Montone as RIncorsa couldn’t kick anyone . And the other factor that promised much tension – the presence of two pairs of enemies – Tartuca and Chiocciola , and Lupa and Istrice , also didn’t quite materialise because they were not drawn near each other for the race.

So we were left wondering what on earth they were all trying to persuade Gingillo (on Montone ) to do . In a fantasy world the fantini would all be mic’d up and we could hear what inducements were being offered to Gingillo. I noticed that Tittia on Oca was aloof – and seemed to be minding his own, considerable , business.

The commentator on Siena TV ( an admirable institution by the way ) thought that Gingillo was quite possibly very interested in winning the race himself from Rincorsa and several times during the half hour ballet being performed by the other 9 between the ropes – Gingillo had a huge space on the outside to exploit – had he chosen to start. But he chose not to start despite the unusually tidy alignment of the other 9.
Though I could see clearly that Tartuca , for all the hype about Zio Frac, was way too skittish.

Bruco with Viso Angelo ( Bartoletti as the fantino ) – my hope for this Palio – seemed almost Zen-like. Possibly too Zen like.

Then the race and why did ever think any other outcome was possible ? Tittia is a colossus and once he’d decided that his own horse was up to it – that was probably that. I did notice in the Piazza on June 29 th – for the Assegnazione – the goose crowd were enthusiastic . The hubbub was largely about the fact that Chiocciola and Tartuca ( enemies ) had each drawn an apparently excellent horse. But softly, softly – in was obvious that Oca was happy.

The race ? Well – Selva had one tiny chance coming into the first turn but Tittia was way too strong and then it became a procession. Bruco – having had a poor start – made a decent fist of it but nobody looked as if they were ever in contention . So yet again – Oca. And spare a thought for Torre – still disqualified , and they will be again next month – having to watch another Oca triumph. I am a Torre fan ( long story ) so this is not good. But it is hard not to admire Tittia – and to hope that he breaks all the records.

And now on to August 16 th .

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Mark Damazer studied history at Cambridge University and later also at Harvard University. He joined the BBC in 1981, became assistant director of BBC News in 1999 and deputy director in 2001, controller of Radio4 and BBC7 in 2004.

From 2010 to 2019 he was Master of St Peter’s College at Oxford University. From 2012 to 2019 he was on the board of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In 2020 he became chair of the Booker Prize Foundation, with the Booker Prize, the most important literary prize in the Anglo-saxon world for fiction written in English, and the International Booker Prize fort he best works of fiction from around the world, translated in English.

In 2026 he will become chair of the Churchill Fellowship. In 2011 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

He writes for several newspapers and magazines all over the world. He is very interested in every aspect of the Palio, and a fanatic but also very critical supporter of Tottenham Hotspurs.