The last show of the Global Champions Arabians Tour series on the Old Continent is about to start. The show in Rome closes the European part of the series before its glorious return to the Arabian Peninsula, the homeland of the purebred Arabian. Still, ere that happens, pure-blood gladiators will fight for championship titles and rank, and all this in a place where Arabian horses have never been before – the largest arena of Ancient Rome.
Rome: the Eternal City
When people in the Far East speak of an “Eternal City,” they usually refer to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, from where Japanese emperors ruled their vast domains for over a millennium. Westerners on the other hand use this centuries old nickname for the city of Rome. In his life’s masterpiece “Aeneid”, Virgil wrote: “Sit Latium, sint Albani per saecula reges, sit Romana potens Itala virtute propago”. John Dryden in his English translation rendered these thoughts very close to the original: “Latium be Latium still; let Alba reign, and Rome’s immortal majesty remain”.
The work was written in the times of Emperor Octavian, the glory days of the Empire, so there was nothing to suggest that in later centuries the city would change hands many times between various magnates and invaders, be pillaged by pirates, besieged or destroyed. Despite this, it survived even the greatest of storms and tempests, and the stones on which both Trajan and Adam Mickiewicz walked can still be seen on the Palatine Hill.
Rome like Chicago: the Windy City
Speaking of storms and tempests… At the turn of August and September, on the ancient Circo Massimo, the Italian part of Longines Global Champions Tour took place, the most prestigious show jumping competition in the world. As is the case of Arabians, for sport horses this is the last European leg of their cycle too. The Grand Finale will be organised in Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After the end of the event, it was time to prepare for the Global Champions Arabians Tour. The events are just five days away, but…
On Tuesday, 3rd September, the capital of Italy was hit by torrential rains hurricane-like winds, the likes of which Rome has not seen in a long time. Even the Arch of Constantine, one of the most beloved and most photographed attractions from the times of the Roman Empire, suffered damage. When the skies over Rome cleared, the city’s archaeological services quickly secured the stone and rubble broken off of the Arch, which had been treacherously struck by a powerful lightning bolt during a downpour. Capricious weather did not spare the Circus Maximus either. The decorations and tents were carried away by the wind and flooded by the rain. Nonetheless, the organisers did not wring their hands, but rolled up their sleeves even higher, because they have quite an event ahead of them.
Horses and games!
Paraphrasing the Roman satirist Juvenal, the author of the saying “panem et circenses”, meaning “bread and games”, we might as well say “equos et circenses”, because that’s precisely what we want from the Roman leg of GCAT: horses and games. For over a month now, we have been asking ourselves what sort of surprises do the Italians have in store for us? How will they choose to enchant us, while celebrating their culture and traditions, and how will they combine them with purebred horses? The Dutch set the bar cruelly high, throwing a “festa” that the Brazilians would not be ashamed of during the carnival, and so did the French before them, who toyed with art and convention with a Mediterranean-worthy ease. It is commonly said that Italian cuisine is the best on the Old Continent, and every Italian will proudly say that the best chef in the world is their grandmother. Not Massimo Bottura from Modena, whose Osteria Francescana boasts Michelin stars. So perchance, our Italian hosts are preparing a feast not only for our eyes? We’ll see soon enough…
Furthermore, we are now more than just used to a phenomenal quality of horses – rendering us dumbfounded. Breeders and owners of horses with top positions in the male and female rankings know that they have a lot to lose. In both cases, the situation is extremely tense, and the order in the top three could be decided by a trivial, seemingly insignificant, mistake of the presenter. Nerves will be eating away at our friends and colleagues from Dubai Arabian Horse Stud, Al Saqran Stud and Ajman Stud, present at the venue ,whose stallions and mares are as of now on top.
Will AJ Kayya remain undefeated? Will E.S. Harir beat D Shakhar and how close will he get to D Borkan? What Polish-bred horses, or maybe even -owned, will we see in the arena where chariots raced two thousand years ago? One thing is for certain. Just as the Roman screamed their heads off in Hadrian’s time, cheering on Diocles, one of the greatest charioteers in history (and certainly the richest), so too will we lose our minds on Saturday evening.
Global Champions Arabians Tour Rome – Friday and Saturday 6-7 September 2024 at Circus Maximus.
Livestream on Arabian Essence: https://www.arabianessence.tv/events/gcat-roma-2024/820/.
