Fernando Jovine, Neapolitan by birth, Roman by adoption, was a jockey of the 1990s known for his immense talent, and with a great idol in his heart, Sergio Fancera, velvet hands, who tried throughout his career to resemble him and in fact eventually came very close to the great jockey. Called the surgeon, because he operated on the run. His fans used to say.
Nando, everyone calls you that, are you son of the art?
Yes, I come from a family of equestrians. A great uncle, Ferdinando, a jockey at the Tagliabue Stable who raced in the 1950s. He also participated in numerous editions of the Palio di Siena. Dad Giovanni, also a decent jockey. I learnt to ride a horse sooner than to walk. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get on it. After the necessary apprenticeship in the stables, when I was 16 they gave me confidence and I started riding. Before, if you weren’t good, the trainers would let you walk. They were very demanding.
How was your first approach with the man who became your best work companion?
When you stand in front of this immense athlete, the horse, you either feel an unconditional love for it or you are overcome with fear and turn away. I opted for the first choice.
As a jockey, what are the characteristics that you recognise and are recognised by?
A great sense of gait, of being able to adapt to almost any horse, with a particular fondness for females. With the females I won everything. I had a special feeling. I hardly ever got the partials wrong and I had a sense of the finish line. What I was always recognised for was that I had very good hands. And when my opponents let me go in front, it was hard to catch me. It was hard for everyone. And he smiles.
Can you tell me an anecdote that crystallises this characteristic of yours?
In Milan, when I rode Edless hall, a Cumani horse. It was a pearl on a fantastic day where I won a Group 1 by going head to head.
So Edless hall, is he your favourite horse?
Definitely an animal I owe a lot to, but the horse I have in my heart is Micio, a very normal stable horse with whom I used to play hide and seek with my wife Cinzia. Bringing him watermelon, after we had eaten it at home, was like making him feel like one of the family.
A historical head-to-head?
In the Bereguardo, again at the San Siro in Milan, I still remember it, a thrilling head-to-head with Frankie Dettori. He was riding a horse that they had entrusted to me the previous time. I knew when he would give in and I mocked him. The Trot Sportsman newspaper headlined: Kierkegaard, the philosopher is Nando.
They tell me that you had a cold temperament when running, concentrated to the utmost, not indulging the public and unaccustomed to expansiveness, but is there an episode in which you really got excited?
When I wore the Aga Kan jacket of Sheik Obeida, the emerald green jacket with ruby red epaulettes, I still dream about it. It was a great pride for me to represent that historic stable in Milan and Rome. With Zomaradha, trained by Luca Cumani, I won the Lydia Tesio twice.
Besides a lucid madness, what must a jockey possess when racing?
Coolness, because he must impose his character on his opponents and have no reverential fear of others. Coolness, indeed, and that is a dowry that nobody passes on to you. Luck, when you get the chance to ride a horse that puts you on the map, and finally the talent that you have in your DNA.
Give yourself a grade as a professional on the ground and one on horseback.
On the ground 8, I was not very compliant and never compromised. I had a bad temper. I hardly took the blame when I didn’t have it. As a professional on horseback 9, the perfect jockey does not exist. I was cocky but I was happy with the character I had become. In the jockeys’ room I was getting respect.
Do you have a regret?
I wish my career, after Italy, could have exploded in England. I should have dared earlier. The UK was in my blood because nothing is left to chance. The rules are strict, but English racing has an irresistible charm. Just think, if for many the dream is to win the Arc de Triomphe, for me the ultimate would have been to win the King George. Real racing, hard and difficult. The elite of races in Europe. I would have walked to Lourdes to experience that emotion. But I consoled myself by visiting Our Lady of Divine Love before the big Italian events. It was three kilometres from my home.
Apart from Sergio Fancera who was stamping his opponents on the pole and they didn’t even notice, who did you admire?
First and foremost Frankie Dettori, the most English Italian of them all, who will leave an immense void when he quits. Just think that I worked with him in Dubai at Godolphin in 96, for six months, when there were great horses like Predappio, Vaine, Dailami. Also at international level I really appreciated the Texan jockey Cash Asmussen.
What do you want to say to your fans?
May they forgive me for those times they played me and didn’t go to the box.
The surgeon greets them fondly, cuts and closes.
