After the focus in European trotting during the winter months has primarily revolved around the French Winter Meeting at Vincennes, the major-stakes season is now getting underway in the other countries.
On Sunday (May 3), Italy’s biggest sprint race will be run—once considered one of the finest races in Europe—the Gran Premio Lotteria at the Agnano track near Naples.
Despite a total purse of more than €800,000, foreign participation is so-so—there is only one Sweden-trained runner, along with three French starters.
The Gran Premio Lotteria is contested in three elimination heats, from which the top three finishers advance to the final, which alone is worth €715,000.
Italy’s leading trainer, Alessandro Gocciadoro, dominates the entries, sending no fewer than seven horses to the starting gate—including last year’s winner, Always Ek, who once again gets the top Swedish driver Magnus A. Djuse in the sulky.
The field lists for the three heats are as follows:
Gran Premio della Lotteria 2026
1st heat
Horse – (sire) – driver – trainer
- Executiv Ek (Face Time Bourbon) – Alessandro Gocciadoro
- Follia d’Esi (Ringostarr Treb) – Marco Stefani – Enrico Montagna
- Free Time Jepson (Face Time Bourbon) – Andrea Guzzinati – Alessandro Gocciadoro
- Working Class Hero (Village Mystic) – Gabriele Gelormini – Jörgen Westholm
- Frank Gio (Face Time Bourbon) – Matthieu Abrivard – Sebastian Guarato
- Diva del Ronco (Varenne) – Mario Minopoli Jr. – Vitale Ciotola
- Far West Bi (Muscle Hill) – Francesco Facci – Erik Bondo
- Fly Top (Tesoro Degli Dei) – Roberto Vecchione – Alain Chavatte
2nd heat
- Finalmente Par (Varenne) – Antonio Simoli – Giorgio d’Alessandro Sen.
- Bleff Dipa (Mister JP) – Enrico Bellei – Marjo Hannele Natynki
- First of Mind (Face Time Bourbon) – Alessandro Gocciadoro
- Banderas Bi (Ganymede) – Roberto Vecchione – Alessio di Basco
- East Asia (Ready Cash) – Andrea Guzzinati – Alessandro Gocciadoro
- Cobra Killer Gar (Readly Express) – Gabriele Gelormini – Erik Bondo
- Fellow Wise As (Maharajah) – Nicolas Bazire
- Always Ek (Filipp Roc) – Magnus A Djuse – Alessandro Gocciadoro
3rd heat
- Dany Capar (Exploit Caf) – Alessandro Gocciadoro
- Dats Tore (Fourth Dimension) – Vincenzo Luongo – Gennaro Caillo
- Funny Gio (Face Time Bourbon) – Antonio di Nardo – Alessandro Gocciadoro
- Dubhe Prav (Robert Bi) – Santo Mollo – Filippo Rocca
- Falco Killer Gar (Varenne) – Enrico Bellei – Alessio di Basco
- Express d’Arc (Wishing Stone) – Francesco Facci – Erik Bondo
- Ernesto Spritz (Maharajah) – Andrea Farolfi – Andrea Zarzetto
- Iron du Gers (Love You) – Nicolas Bazire
All Italian races are streamed online and can be watched at this link—click here.
And while we’re on Italy, the 10-year-old Alrajah One made a comeback on Wednesday (April 29( at the Visarno track in Florence.
Alrajah One had not started since the Lotteria in 2025 but showed good form and won comfortably for Alessandro Gocciadoro in a race at 1=-5/16 miles—timed in 1:57 (mile rate).
In 2022 and 2023, Alrajah One was trained by Åke Svanstedt and won, among others, the Crawford Farms Open Trot, Spirit of Massachusetts, John Cashman Memorial, Maple Leaf Trotting Classic, and Allerage Farms Open.
Alrajah One has been used at stud in both Italy and the U.S.—his oldest crop is now 4-years-old.