When the “wrong” horse won on the debut

October 20, 1935 was a sunny late autumn day in Meran and the surrounding area. The air was mild, the ground was dry – the weather and turf conditions were ideal for hosting the first Meran Grand Prix.

The racetrack had been in excellent condition since August 30th, as both the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and the Prince of Piedmont had seen on site. Nothing stood in the way of a magnificent horse spectacle on the most modern and beautiful racecourse in Europe - this was also ensured by a decent amount of money, which the organizers promised the winner.

Best endowed race in Europe The Meran organizers had offered the incredible sum of one million lire as prize money, which was an astronomical amount of money at the time and underlined the importance of this race for the fascist regime. For comparison: At the “Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe”, the most important flat race in Europe in Paris, “only” 700.000 lire in prize money were paid out four years before the outbreak of the Second World War. So it's no wonder that it wasn't just the Italian racing teams that traveled to Meran. Even the big French breeders didn't miss the opportunity to come to the Passer city with their best horses. After all, they didn't want to miss the unique opportunity to win exorbitant prize money.

Word had also gotten around among the spectators that the best horses would fight for victory in Untermais. In addition, the horse racing course and the adjacent horse village “Borgo Andreina” had only been completed a few weeks earlier. Now it was time for the population to explore the new structure during a visit and what better way could this have happened than by coming to the Untermais horse racing course for the Grand Prix. The thousands of equestrian sports lovers from all over Italy were brought to Merano by special trains. No other obstacle races were allowed to take place on Italian territory that day and many high-ranking government representatives took their seats in the overflowing stands - this also underlines how important the race in Merano was to the fascist regime.

The dictator is raging The race itself was extremely exciting and several horses fought for victory in a breathtaking neck-and-neck race. In the end, however, the “wrong” horse crossed the finish line first: Roi de Tréfle, a horse from a French racing stable, won and the guests from France also set the tone at the first Meran Grand Prix.

This angered Benito Mussolini so much that he instructed the Italian racing team owners to give more weight to obstacle sports in the future in order to be able to stand up to their eternal rival France in the future. With success: just one year later, Horizon, a horse from the Italian racing team “Scuderia Tricolore”, won the second Meran Grand Prix.

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When the “wrong” horse won on the debut

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