The 2012 horseracing year in Italy has ended on a rather melancholy note. This should not be a surprise, when one considers the present critical situation in the country and in the sport. The gravity of the economic situation and its impact on the racing sector are best described by just two facts: the government racing authorities reduced their subsidy by 40% this year; and payments of prize money from June 2012 onwards are still pending.

At the end of December it was officially announced that trotting in Milan will be discontinued in 2013. The last meeting of 2012 attracted just 2,500 spectators, with betting raising only EUR 68,000 at the racecourse and Euro 340,000 at the betting shops elsewhere in Italy. These are figures that clearly speak of a crisis [by Italian standards – here in the Czech Republic, the attendance would be considered fairly satisfactory, and the betting turnover is many times greater than we expect].

Trotting is the more popular half of the racing world in Italy. Milan is the country's richest city. And it was a Sunday race day. What conclusions can be drawn?

The 87-year-old Milan trotting racecourse is located in the vicinity of the flat racecourse, and the same racing association (Trenno Srl) owns and manages both courses. We have been informed that organizing trotting races has become a financial loss maker that the course owner simply cannot afford any more (now that there are fewer racing days and, at the same time, management costs keep rising). In the not too distant future, the same could also be true for the flat racing course.

Both courses are encircled by central Milan residential and office districts. Until the late 1950s, there were a number private training yards and tracks adjoining the racecourses that made San Siro a highly efficient sporting complex. However, these facilities have been progressively replaced by apartment buildings, and now only the racecourses and some of the stables remain. The racing association is heavily in debt, and would be ready to sell the whole area to a real estate developer, if only the local Town Council would give authorization for this.

This is exactly the solution that I personally advocate. The end of the old, glorious ... and agonizing San Siro racecourse. The installation of a stone or a brass plate commemorating the men and the horses that made San Siro great (Federico Tesio, Nearco and Ribot, to begin with). And a brand new San Siro course, relocated to a green area 30 to 70 kilometres outside Milan. From the sale of the present San Siro estate, the racing association will be able to get enough cash to pay its debts and finance the building of a new course in a less central, rural or suburban area.

Of course, the association will solemnly undertake to set up a new racecourse (in order to get permission to sell). And yet there is a risk that they will renege, take the cash and then produce nothing more than fine plans and fine words, for years and decades to come.

The end to this story will ultimately depend on how much importance Milanese and Italian racing people attach to having international flat racing in the region.

My conclusion will shock and provoke many people: 'better no San Siro at all - either old or new - than an agonizing San Siro'. 

The closure of the Milan trotting course follows another alarming situation that came to a head in Naples a few weeks ago. There, racing at Agnano, the local flat course, has also been discontinued by the central racing authorities, due to alleged mismanagement (and due to criminal acts that were a threat to regular racing).

Last, but not least, an important change took place at Merano recently. The local racing association was dissolved in December, barely a year after it was set up. A group of private investors, led by champion Italian jumps trainer Paolo Favero, a native of Merano, duly submitted an offer to rent and manage the course and organize the races; but the offer was rejected. (It is curious how the situation shows similarities with Josef Vana's unsuccessful attempt to take over responsibility for organizing races at Pardubice.)

In the end, the Town of Merano, which owns the racecourse, selected a new company, which is largely a joint venture of the Pisa-San Rossore and Rome-Capannelle racing associations, to organize the races in 2013. This is at the same time a new association and an old association. One of the partners, Pisa-San Rossore, was the majority shareholder in Merano Maia Spa, the previous organizer of racing at Merano, which has now been dissolved.  

It is easy to see the advantages deriving to Italian horseracing from active co-operation among three of the four most important organizers of racing in Italy (the fourth is Milan-San Siro). As far as jumps racing is concerned, Rome, Pisa and Merano are the big three. 

The limiting factor - in my opinion - is that co-operation and partnership are planned, and not competition among the courses.

The standard Italian strategy is to rely on government subsidies to solve financial and (mis)management problems. This new Rome-Pisa-Merano alliance will be seen by its founding members as an instrument powerful enough to lobby the central ministerial and racing authorities with some success.

My question, though, is about the business plan that the 2013 version of the Merano racing association has. How long will we have to wait for the renovation works on the grandstand to be completed? Two years have already passed, and all that we have had is a series of announcements. Will the 2013 calendar feature fewer races, but of higher quality. Or will there be the usual mix of more or less good-quality jumps races together with flat races for amateur riders on the same racecard?

Will the Gran Premio prize money be upgraded to decent European standards ?  

Old questions and, hopefully, new answers in 2013.

(Contributed by Giancarlo Fochesato)