Professor Remo Chiodi

It doesn't take too deep a dive into the pedigree of Northern Dancer to understand the Italian influence in so many racehorses in training these days. Italy's significance in the annals of racing and breeding history reaches beyond Nearco of course, but in recent years there has been a very real fear that the country is losing its place in the Thoroughbred world order.  Indeed, its black-type races have been gradually downgraded. The Derby Italiano and Oaks d'Italia lost Group 1 status in 2009 and 2007 respectively, and Italy lost...