The chestnut colt Axl Rose, driven by Alessandro Gocciadoro, was the heavy favorite in the 92nd Derby del Trotto raced Sunday night (Sept. 22) at the Agnano track in Naples, Italy.

Alrajah One won easily in 1:56.4f (mile rate). Gerard Forni photo.

Axl Rose, who was 1-10 in the betting, was able to take early command, but with less than a half-mile to go in the 1-5/16 mile event, he suddenly went off stride and was disqualified. Instead, 13-1 shot Alrajah One, driven by Enrico Bellei, would win easily in 1:56.4f (mile rate).

This was the fifth Derby win for Enrico Bellei, who has been Italian champion driver 18 times. However, due to problems with his back, Bellei is not seen so often at the races anymore. So far he has raced 355 times this year and won 65 races.

The winner, Alrajah One, is sired by the Swedish stallion Maharajah and out of a mare sired by Varenne. He is owed by Scuderia My Horse and trained by German-born Claus Hollmann. The purse for the winner was $390,000.

The filly division was won by the favorite, Audrey Effe (she by French stallion Up and Quick), driven by Andrea Farolfi in 1.58:1f. Audrey Effe has raced 13 times and won 11 races with two seconds. She earned $115,000 for the win.

The Italian Scuderia Bivans has many good trotters like Tony Gio, who last week beat Bold Eagle, and the talented 4-year-old Face Time Bourbon, who Tuesday night will try to qualify at Vincennes to the European Trotting Derby, Grand Prix de l’UET.

Another top horse belonging to the Bivans stable is the 5-year-old Vivid Wise As (sired by Yankee Glide). Vivid Wise As was very talented as a 2- and 3-year-old, winning 11 races from 13 starts, but ran into trouble. Some months ago he came to the stable of Alessandro Gocciadoro, who has found the key to Vivid Wise As. A month ago Vivid Wise As won a Grand Prix at Cagnes sur Mer in 1:50.2 — the fastest mile in Europe in 2019 — and Sunday night he won easily in the Italian Group 1-race, Gran Premio Turilli at Agnano.

Vivid Wise As, whose dam is Temple Blue Chip by Cantab Hall, won the Turilli in 1:54.4f (mile rate) by open lengths. The purse for the winner was $70,000.