Given the great exploit that a superb filly like Giovaz has had, it was only right to interview the driver who bought her and chose her in his own image for her ability to interpret racing situations with ‘killer instinct’. And you will understand this through his words.
Antonio Di Nardo, a talented Neapolitan driver with an established mastery of driving horses, tells us about his professional year and the extreme trust placed in a mare that could give him so much satisfaction.
Antonio is coming to the end of 2024 and it’s time to take stock. What’s yours?
It went well, but I hope it gets better and better. I’m not the type to be satisfied.
What was the high point of this year and what is missing from your trophy cabinet?
Almost everything was won. I wouldn’t know.
What if I tell you the Lottery?
That was the icing on the cake. My father, who passed away a few days before the race, would have been happy if I had also won it after celebrating my brother Gaetano’s success.
Now you live in Tuscany: how are you getting on?
I live in Viareggio and I’m happy to have made this choice. Living by the sea is the best thing to do. The sea is everything.
Up to this point, our Neapolitan driver has been rather hermetic in his answers, but when we started talking about a beautiful female, he dissolved in a mixed flicker of pride and amazement.
Antonio, yours has been a year full of satisfaction, but everything is amplified because you have drawn a joker.Who has the name of a female: Giovaz?
She is a beautiful chestnut. I love blondes, like my wife. I liked her as soon as I saw her. She is a mare that has all the qualities. From a morphological point of view, a regal and convincing pedigree. When you look at foals you have to take into account so many elements, the structure, the stance, the movement. And I chose her.
How did it happen?
I bought her at the Anact Auctions two years ago at Capannelle. As soon as they presented the lot, my attention was immediately captured. Daughter of Maharajah and Todinaz, bred by Zenzalino. I was with my brother Ciro, as soon as she appeared we looked at each other and compared notes. We were almost at the end of the auction day. In the hall many people were probably tired and distracted. Ciro, my mentor, told me it would go to 25,000 euro but I offered 15,000 and no one evidently paid attention and did not raise. It was done. Thanks to my intuition.
Giovaz has already won two ‘Group 1s’, the Grand Prix Anact and the Masaf 2024 females, she is now the queen of the generation: what kind of mare is she?
She has a head that only great champions can have. She is a computer. Despite being very young, she already knows what to do in the race. She is incredible. Cold mare from the taming. Where she can go is unknown because we don’t know her limits. When we work her she doesn’t let us know anything. Even when we’re on the straight track she seems distracted, listless, she works less hard than other pupils and then when she’s running she transforms. She doesn’t make me understand anything either, as I’m always in close contact with her.
What do you think about the possibility of removing the whip or reducing its use?
The whip should not be removed, especially with young horses because it keeps them in awe. But it must be used in the correct way. Whipping horses does nothing to make them go faster, in fact it has the opposite effect. The more you hit them, the less they go fast.
What is your professional dream?
I can’t complain I feel I’ve done enough. At 40, there are always many dreams and I don’t want to block them. I would like to win more abroad as a protagonist because in my nature I compete to win and not to be an extra.
In Italy you are second in the rankings, for a competitive guy like you is there a position to climb?
This year I give the golden whip to Gocciadoro. The awards are symbolic, the victories remain. Me with the success in the Derby, the Lottery and two Group 1s with my filly Giovaz I am already accomplished like this.
