Horseracing On The Motorway - Italy
Illegal Horseracing up and down the motorway is the new craze I hear. Apparently mafia folk in Messina - Southern Italy, have been organising horse races on open streets and motorways. Traffic grinds to a halt, some drivers stop to watch, hence everyone stops, stuck in the traffic watching horseracing at 7am.
Mopeds and motorcars surround these illegal horse races, which are actually more like Harness Racing (horse and driver in a cart), than your traditional horseracing itself. The police say they are prevented from making arrests or stopping the races because of the cavalcade. The races have been filmed on traffic cameras instead.
Horses Drugged To Race On Motorways
Most worrisome is the Messina police say the horses are doped up to the hind quarters on many drugs to get them to run. Presumably the horses would rather not race down concrete roads and motorways, dragging a bloke in a cart with an equine whip around, surrounded by a bunch of mad scooter riders and horn beeping mafioso in Fiat's.
Motorway Race Betting?
I have seen no reports as yet that bets have been placed on this Italian motorway horseracing thing. Odds on if motorway racing is made into a legal sport, Ladbrokes will price up a market within the hour.
