ITALIAN TRAINERS
Gianluca Bietolini with his Classic-placed colt Dicton
winner Glory of Dancer, that gave him his first taste of French racing when relocating to Lyon with his family at the end of the last decade. “It is thanks to him that I experienced French racing and the opportunities,” Brogi says. “I perhaps wouldn’t have had the courage otherwise, or maybe I would have moved later. “Obviously it was an incredibly difficult decision for my father to move to France with his family, not like when you are young. He stayed for two years and went back. He doesn’t train anymore, so perhaps it was the wrong decision, but that is life. I then started to look for a pupil assistant’s position, and ended up with Jean-Claude Rouget. We hit it off straight away, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without him,” Brogi adds. The 30-year-old took the decision to carry on the family tradition after dropping out of his veterinary science degree just a year into the program. Now with one season under his belt, Brogi will have 60 horses in training by the end of 2016, for owners such as Al Shaqab Racing; Gerard AugustinNormand; and Lady Bamford, a contact he had made when he spent six months with John Gosden. With 24 winners so far this year and over half a million euros won in prize money, it has been a successful one for Brogi. The highlight of his season has without doubt been the relatively unfancied Prix de Diane-fourth Azaelia,
who also finished second in the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux. Growing up in Rome, Brogi didn’t come into contact much with Alessandro Botti, who was based principally in Milan and a little older, but the two have now become firm friends and see each other whenever possible. The latter’s family is one that doesn’t need much introduction, including in England where Alessandro Botti’s cousin Marco is a Group 1-calibre trainer. Perhaps the most well-known family in Italian racing, Alessandro’s father Giuseppe and uncle Alduino took over the family business in 1969 following the death of his grandfather, Edmondo. Together Giuseppe and Alduino Botti led the trainers’ championship for over 35 years, while more recently the family
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Historically racing in Italy was very strong, but now it seems that the government has just abandoned us. It’s very sad
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Simone Brogi
operation has expanded to Botti’s two-time champion jockey brother Endo and first cousin Stefano, the leading trainer in Italy for the last seven seasons. Like many in the family, Botti started out as a jockey in his native Italy, winning 25 races as a teenager. He quickly became too tall and subsequently turned his hand to training. “Before moving to France, I looked after the stables in Milan, while my cousin Stefano oversaw things in Tuscany. Marco had left to go to England some time before, but it became clear that there were too many of us. We had to look for other opportunities, so my father and I decided to open a satellite yard in Chantilly. “Within 15 days of me moving there, I realised that this is where I wanted to spend the rest of my training career. French life is quite similar to the Italian one, and we have everything here that you could possibly need for training.” During his second year with a licence, Botti started to make his mark in his adopted homeland. In November 2010, he sent out Bubble Chic to finish second in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. As a three-year-old, the colt notably finished second in the Prix du Jockey-Club and Prix Greffulhe before subsequently being sold to Hong Kong. “We’re beginning to forget him now, but he really put me on the map here,” Botti says. This year, with over 70 horses in training, the Italian has won nearly ¤1.2 million in ISSUE 55 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM
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