Piet Ramzan, a partner at Rossdales
Equine Hospital in Newmarket, has been
a regular at the Palio since 2003, first as
a visitor and now in a formal capacity as
vet to the Drago contrada, which won the
July Palio of 2018 with the 8-year-old Roc-
co Nice. Each contrada has its own vet and
farrier while a separate veterinary com-
mission works for the city of Siena to deal
with any incidents on the track during tri-
als and the Palio itself.
"I think it's fair to say that previously
it was a dangerous race, when it was run
with Thoroughbreds and there were pret-
ty much no rules with regard to medica-
tion," he says.
As visually spectacular as it is, the tight bends to
the Palio track around the Piazza del Campo can
lead to falls and, over the years, the race has been
closely scrutinised by animal rights protestors.
