Enrico Camici, one of Italy’s greatest jockey, was born in Barbaricina, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Pisa, on January 31, 1912. In 1919, his father Ercole went to work in Milan at the San Siro racecourse and two years later, at the age of nine, Enrico joined him, interrupting his school education.
When his father moved to the stable of trainer Giuseppe De Montel, still in the Milanese capital, Enrico followed him. He was put under the protective wing of jockey Paolo Caprioli, which led to him making his race riding debut, aged 13, on September 9, 1925 on a horse named Pisan, on whom he finished second.
He rode his first winner on Budrio at San Siro on April 24, 1926. Under the guidance of Caprioli, he scored his first big race success on Francavilla in the 1927 Italian Grand Prix, a race he was to win 11 times in all during his career.
In 1929 he finished third in the jockeys’ table with 55 winners, which included his first classic victory on Ortona in the Italian Oaks. The following year he finished in second position with 65 wins.
When Paolo Caprioli went to ride in Rome in 1931, Enrico became stable jockey to Giuseppe De Montel. His career continued until the interruption induced by the Second World War, at the end of which he signed a contract to ride for Italy’s most famous owner, Federico Tesio.
Riding for Tesio, he won the Derby Italiano four times and partnered the champion Ribot (right) throughout his unbeaten 16-race career. He rode Ribot to three wins at two, then six as a three-year-old in 1955, including the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Ribot’s seven wins in his final season at four included the Grand Premio di Milano, Ascot’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and a second Arc by six lengths from Talgo.
Enrico’s other big winners in Britain were Tenerani in the 1948 Goodwood Cup, Botticelli in the 1955 Ascot Gold Cup and Marguerite Vernaut in the 1960 Champion Stakes. He won a second Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, along with the Grand Prix de Deauville, on Molvedo in 1961.
He was associated with nearly all the best post-war Italian horses until his retirement in July 1969, having ridden 4,089 winners from 16,575 mounts. His domestic wins included the Derby Italiano five times, the Oaks d’Italia nine times, Premio Paroli (Italian 2,000 Guineas) five times, the Premio Regina Elena (Italian 1,000 Guineas) six times, the St Leger Italiano twelve times, the Grand Premio di Milano ten times, and the Gran Criterium seven times.
He never won a British classic. He rode the favourite, Antelami, in the 1962 St Leger but could finish only eleventh behind Hethersett.
After retiring from the saddle, he became a successful trainer, firstly for the Aurora stable and then the Gabriella stable. He retired in 1986.
Enrico Camici died of a heart attack at Pisa on March 17, 1991, aged 78. He had seemed in excellent health and had been racing at Pisa the previous weekend. Since 1997 a race has been run in his honour at San Rossore racecourse in Pisa.
