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Photo of the Day

September 04, 2003

Palio Horse Race, Siena, Italy, 1986

Photograph by O. Louis Mazzatenta

"[At Siena's Palio horse race] tragedy strikes two-time winner Brandano, a prize gelding racing last year for Chiocciola, the contrada [neighborhood] of the Snail. As sometimes happens, several horses went down while rounding Curva di San Martino, a sharp turn opposite the finish line made all the more difficult by its downward slope. Brandano suffered a broken leg and had to be destroyed—a crushing blow to members of the Snail. Five jockeys were injured in the accident."

—From "Palio," June 1988, National Geographic magazine