The grey gelding came from nowhere. Schillaci only got its first commentarial mention with 500 metres to go. The hulking horse duly galloped past Final Card, King Marauding, Noble Lancer, Raw Talent, Street Ruffian, Umatilla and Wrap Around and win the 1992 Lightning Stakes on its Group 1 debut.

The inspiration for its name also came from nowhere to triumph on his first outing among the elite. Toto Schillaci had grown up in a rough, poverty-stricken district. He’d dropped out of school. At his first club, rather than receiving a wage, he earned around one dollar and 90 cents for each goal.

The Palermitano then spent seven unspectacular seasons at Sicilian club Messina. In 1984/85, he scored four goals in 31 games in Serie C. In his first season in Serie B, in 1986/87, he struck three times in 33 appearances. Many questioned whether he was out of his depth.

Yet, despite not playing in Serie A until 1989, and having never played international football three-and-a-half months before the 1990 FIFA World Cup™ began, Schillaci was a shock inclusion in Azeglio Vicini’s Italy squad, which bizarrely included as many forwards as it did midfielders.

“It was a big surprise,” he said. “I didn’t expect to get any playing time. I didn’t even expect to make the bench.”

The Schillaci story was, however, just getting started. He was unexpectedly named on the bench – over Roberto Mancini and Aldo Serena – for Italy’s curtain-raiser against Austria. Goalless after 75 minutes, masses of irritated Italians inside the Stadio Olimpico, Vicini turned not to Roberto Baggio but Schillaci.

“I didn’t realise he was calling me at first,” revealed the No19. As he unzipped his tracksuit top, Stefano Tacconi, Schillaci’s Juventus team-mate, told him to “go on and score a header like John Charles”.

Three minutes later, Schillaci did just that, thumping home Vialli’s appetising delivery to snatch Italy a 1-0 win. He celebrated by sprinting away chaotically, his arms flailing, his eyes bulging.

“It was indescribable,” he said. “I didn’t expect to even get on the pitch. Here I was scoring in a World Cup. My vision went black. I just ran away, astounded. It was one of the best feelings of my life.”

Following a limp 1-0 reverse of USA, during which Schillaci again came on in the second half, he started against Czechoslovakia. It took the 25-year-old only nine minutes to head home and put La Nazionale in the knockout phase.

Schillaci broke the deadlock with a glorious, dipping strike from outside the box against Uruguay in the last 16, before getting the only goal against Republic of Ireland in the quarter-finals. A predatory goal ensued against Argentina in the semis, only for Italy to lose on penalties. Schillaci, nursing a swollen ankle, didn’t take one.

The Italians’ trophy hopes were down, but the Sicilian’s weren’t. With minutes remaining in the third-place play-off against England, Joel Quiniou pointed to a paint patch when Paul Parker tripped Schillaci. Roberto Baggio graciously relinquished penalty-taking duties and allowed Schillaci to send Peter Shilton the wrong way and score his sixth goal of Italia ’۹۰٫ It ensured the Azzurri bagged bronze and Schillaci seized the adidas Golden Boot.

It was a feat so unlikely that Schillaci wasn’t even on a 70-player list offered by a UK bookmaker for the top scorer award. Careca and Marco van Basten were the co-favourites. They were followed by Vialli, Gary Lineker, Diego Maradona, Romario, Jurgen Klinsmann, Muller, Ruud Gullit, Baggio, Bebeto, Rudi Voller, Andrea Carnevale, Claudio Caniggia, Ruben Sosa, Darko Pancev, Emilio Butragueno, Toni Polster and Wim Kieft. It also gives Schillaci a record for being the only man to start on the bench and finish a World Cup as its leading marksman.

“I was our sixth forward,” he said. “I was extremely honoured just to be at the World Cup. I really didn’t expect to play.

“It was a dream sitting on the bench, it was a dream getting sent on to play. Then came the goals. It was the most magical time of my life.

“Italians always talk about ‘The magical nights of Toto Schillaci’. Can you imagine how much joy that gives me? Sometimes people just burst into tears when they see me.

“No matter what country I go to, people want to talk to me about the goals in 1990. They ask me to do the wild eyes (laughs). I found out they even named a racehorse after me! It’s really nice that people still remember me.”

Schillaci sadly passed away in September 2024, aged only 59. ‘Le notti magiche di Totó Schillaci’ ensure his memory will live on eternally. Will his World Cup record?