Wild horses won’t keep Stones away

The Rolling Stones will rock Belgrade this summer even if their performance at the city’s main racetrack distresses hundreds of horses stabled at the venue, concert organizers said Friday.

“Preparations for the July 14 concert are going smoothly, there are no problems,” said Dejan Maksimovic, a director of Music Star Productions, shrugging off concerns from an animal rights organization.

Officials of the Hippodrome racecourse acknowledged that some of the finest -- and most skittish -- gallopers among the few hundred horses may be given tranquilizers when the Stones unleash their stadium-rocking decibels before a potential audience of 80,000.

“But we’ve done that before; this is not the first rock concert at the Hippodrome,” said Natasa Pavlovic of the state-run racecourse.