"After the race, my main concern is getting
the horse out of the square, and however
many people there are they do part for a
horse, so we were out of the square and
back to the stable pretty quickly after the
race," he says.
"If an injury happens it's remarkable
how quickly the team can get a horse off
the track to an area to be treated. There
are other equine disciplines which make
me feel far more uncomfortable. They
have a great passion for the horse in Si-
ena. There's only a relatively small num-
ber but they are looked after incredibly
well and they can go on for years. There
have been 12- or 13-year-olds running in
the Palio, which tells its own story. They
are loved and when they are retired they
get well looked after. The mares go off
for breeding and the city has a retirement
farm for old Palio horses that don't find
another home."