Whilst having no great personal glories to report I am sporting some nice bruising of my ribs to go along with the wonderful memories. But more of the racing later.We arrived in Taranto to thirty eight degree heat which as we were to find was not too far from the norm. Consequently the Italians have adapted by starting their racing later in the evening once the heat of the day passed.

This means the last race finishes close to midnight making for rather long days so we quickly adapted to the local custom of an afternoon siesta to ensure we could stay the course.The ten invited drivers from Belgium, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, USA, Spain and New Zealand congregated at their accommodation the Masseria Quis Ut Deus which is nestled in the Puglian countryside.

The converted and renovated Masseria (fortified farmhouse) where we stayed was originally built in 1710. Pleasantly for us it had been converted into a B & B and spa of a very high standard. A significant feature of the Masseria's construction is the 4.5m stone walls which gives the impression of living in a cave, albeit a very palatial one at that. The Ippodromo Paolo VI is on the northern outskirts of Taranto.

The track is a very wide 1000m circuit with most of the races run over the 1600m mobile. We were hosted by Donato Carelli the track owner and the ever smiling Cosimo Panzetta and the staff and management of the track who all left us all with wonderful impressions of Italian hospitality.Most fields have ten or less starters. However one notable exception to this was the third Amateur race which has NINETEEN starters from the mobile. And with eight across the mobile gate this meant a THIRD line of starters.

As you can probably imagine with the wider American style sulkies and the large number of horses, this resulted in a number of reported traffic problems in the post race discussions. The Italians have allowed the use of half hopples on their trotters which is not allowed in other European countries. The reaction of the northern European drivers was interesting.

They had the very clear perception that if the horse with half hopples on should gallop then it would fall. Another unexplained difference that I noted was the large numbers of horses that had pads on their front feet. This was easily over 50% of all horses observed and was difficult to explain as the track was in good condition with a good cushion on it.

All of the race sulkies are fitted with side poles. Similar in function to a gaiting strap placed on a NZ sulky, the side poles are operated by the driver with his legs...

In my second drive I was confronted with my first use of these. My horse lugged in on each of the bends and I was required to drive with my leg over the side pole and then hold it against the horses flank as we negotiated the bend. It sounds awkward and it was initially but by the end of the race I was quite comfortable in their use.

After driving for the first time in a non English speaking country I have to take my hat off to Peter Ferguson for his recent superb result at the World Champs. The difficulty of understanding your driving instructions and then extracting any additional required information across the language barrier certainly adds a whole new dimension of difficulty to the task at hand.The first Amateur race saw the ten invited drivers squaring off.

This first race acted as a qualifying race for the final with the first five drivers going through to the final on the second day. Drawing wide in barrier eight I elected to ease back and then make a run heading into the back straight the last time. Unfortunately my horse only battled when asked for the supreme effort and we ran home to finish close up in 7th position.

Alas no place in the final for me. The race was won by Roger Allerkranz from Sweden who looped the field with 1000m to run and went on to win easily.The second race was for the invited Italian drivers and was won by Rescio Federiso.

On the second day the ten qualifying drivers lined up in the final which resulted in a very competitive and exciting event. This was taken out by the very talented young French driver Pierre Delamarre who drove a well judged race to hit the front around the final bend.The final event of our stay was a race which combined all the drivers together in one very large nineteen horse field. My horse warmed up nicely and felt very good and as one of the main chances I was definitely in with a shot.

Prior to the start as I attempted to turn him on the track he backed up rapidly and crashed back into a horse that had commenced his turn right behind me. This resulted in a collapsed sulky wheel and some nice bruising to my ribs. After the wheel change the field congregated and we formed up behind the mobile gate. Being drawn fourteen I came up behind the six horse who I was instructed was expected to charge out to the lead. Unfortunately the horse I was trailing galloped 50m prior to the start and came back onto me rapidly checking my horse causing him to gallop.

In New Zealand this would have been a false start. Not so in Italy.So no glory, but plenty of wonderful experiences. A highlight of which was the opportunity to renew old friendships and make new ones in the international harness racing community. The sharing of ideas and experiences with people who share the same passion was certainly a winning one.

Gavin COOK (2008 World and New Zealand Amateur Driving Champion)