TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1021151
of their districts to match the banners hanging from walls above, are on the march, flags atwirl, drums banging. In formal horseracing only the walk- over for the Kentucky Derby can come anywhere close to this clamour which the horses endure, mostly unperturbed, in the countdown to post time. But the benedic- tion is only the beginning of the formal proceedings, and before the Palio runners line up at the start at 7.45pm, a full medi- eval pageant lasting several hours takes place around the piazza, the centre, or in- field, of which is now filled with around 40,000 spectators under a fierce after- noon sun. Thousands more line the pe- rimeter on temporary lean-to bleachers in front of shops and restaurants, while the luckier few are on the balconies of sur- rounding apartments. No window around the square is devoid of faces. Having been paraded once more, led in-hand while drummers from a rival con- trada strike up in their wake, the stagger- ingly phlegmatic Palio horses finally re- appear, riders up, on the cleared track of sand packed so hard that their hooves can be heard to rattle as an anticipatory hush descends on the square. That quiet tran- spires to be of an enduring, if frustrated, nature as only the disembodied voice of the starter, camouflaged among a throng of his fellow townsfolk, can be heard call- ing the order. There are myriad extraordinary facets of the Palio but none more so than the start of the race. "It's like a game of chess being played on a multitude of layers," Piet Ramzan had advised earlier of the Palio itself. No- where is this more apparent than when nine of the runners have been called for- ward into the roped starting area. The race cannot begin until the final horse,