As a result, there could be no greater
praise for Sassicaia than to describe it as
the Ribot of Italian wine.
Yes, Ribot himself was here in his youth:
the most accomplished Italian racehorse
in history, unbeaten in 16 races including
consecutive runnings of the Prix de l'Arc
de Triomphe in the 1950s. On his only oth-
er excursion outside Italy, he won the King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at
Ascot by five lengths.
Ribot was the posthumous masterpiece
of the great Federico Tesio, who died
shortly before his debut in 1954. As such,
Ribot was also a fitting monument to the
breed-shaping, 22-year partnership be-
tween Tesio and Don Mario Incisa della
Rocchetta—which had also produced one
of the most influential stallions in the his-
tory of the breed, in Nearco.
Tesio tended not to venture abroad
with his champions, but Nearco's adver-
tisement of his genetic wares to an inter-
national audience in the 1938 Grand Prix
de Paris must be counted even more sig-
nificant than the successes of Ribot in the
French capital. Nearco was subsequently
exported to England for his stud career,
and his son Nearctic sired Northern Danc-
er himself in Canada.
Tesio had turned to Don Mario, another
Piedmontese ex-cavalry officer, in 1932
to help the fightback of his one-man, bou-
tique Dormello Stud on Lake Maggiore
