Thursday 7th July 2011
34th and 35th horse-racing meetings 2011 – 8th and 15th July

by Magnat

Race-meetings will be held at the Marsa race track over the next week with a meeting this coming Friday (8th July) and another on Friday next week (15th July). Each meeting comprises 10 trot races over a 2,140m distance, with the 8th July meeting starting at 6.45pm and that of the 15th starting at 6.15pm.

These races constitute the second and last leg of the Summer Championship permitting trotters to gain points in an endeavour to make it to the finals being held in a couple of weeks’ time.

We have two Premier class races from this Championship this coming Friday, featuring eleven and ten horses respectively, including a number of popular ones this year such as Energy Launcher, Candy Fantasy, Mentor de l’Iton and others.

In next week’s Premier class race, we see ten horses all having more than 505 points in the Malta Racing Club classification. We welcome back the Maltese prize-money record holder In Vitro du Bourg, relative newcomer Fire which won on its debut last week, and various top performers this year, Mon Daniel, Gentle Way, Isolated, Wiss Night Hawk, Livi Cantona, Mystere d’Urfist, Belafonte and Major Chaleonnais.

We also have two races for Gold class horses in each programme. These all include successful horses such as Lys des Etroits, Bankir Zon, Magnifique Sablais, Kingpin La Marc, Nacarat Campbell, Ludo de Bellande, Napolitano Sun, Rambo Lambo and many others, as well as newcomers Nestor Green (FR), Nicos de Peneme (FR) and She’s Dreamlike (SE).

The remaining races consist of three for the Copper class, five for the Bronze class and another five for Silver class horses (in one of which Swedish newcomer Hulot is expected to debut this Friday).

Another two entertaining meetings are expected, leading to the selection of the finalists for the Summer Championship finals being held in the second half of this month.

Doping Tests
This week the Malta Racing Club received a doping test result disclosing a Category 3 prohibited substance in respect of Joker de Choisel, relative to its win in the SECF Prix de Vincennes Final last month.

Last meeting
Last Friday’s meeting consisted of eight trot races over a 2,140m distance forming part of the Summer Championship.

In the Premier class race, we witnessed a great performance by Swedish newcomer Fire. Throughout most of the race, Fire (driven by Mark Refalo) was engaged in a head-to-head challenge with front runner Energy As, with the former running on the outer lane. However Fire powered in front around 150m from the end to win in the meeting’s best time of 1’16’4 per kilometre from strong finishers Major Chaleonnais, Belafonte and Le Coup de Foudre.

Another newcomer, Nomade de Mai, was also one of the protagonists of the second Gold class race on the programme. This horse led for nearly the whole race, but was overtaken a few metres from the finishing line by Ludo de Bellande which took its first win in Malta with a powerful sprint. Bankir Zon and Big Hit finished behind them in that order.

The other Gold class race saw a number of horses taking the lead at different stages, but Lys des Etroits, fresh from its win in the Prix de Cabourg final, produced a strong burst of speed to go in front around 200m from the end and went on to take another win, ahead of Victory Toll, Notre Allegro and Nukir de Bodavel.

Interestingly, the second best time of the meeting (1’16’9 per kilometre) was registered in the Silver class by Family’s Moonlight at its first win this year, whilst Master Lupin took its third seasonal win in the other Silver class race.

The remaining races were won by Juaben (first win this year) and Supremo As (second seasonal win) in the Copper Class, and Lazume Simoni (second win this year) in the Bronze Class.

The Summer Championship
The Summer Championship is a phenomenon of the last 20 years or so. Until that time the custom was that races (and indeed the racing season itself) would stop in June, with the new season commencing in September.

The increasing number of horses and interest from many owners in continuing to race for some more time before the summer break led to meetings continuing even in July (and in some cases even August) as from the early nineties.

The introduction of artificial lighting earlier this century gave further impetus to summer meetings, facilitating their holding late in the evening, thus sparing the summer heat to horses and humans alike.

Meetings were organised on different days, including Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, in order to allow spectators to head to the beach with their families during the weekend.

A variety of systems have been used to determine the finalists, including knock-out systems, league style, etc. Then, as is fitting, the last summer meetings feature the championship finals for each respective class, open for horses of all nationalities – hence the reference to the Summer Championship.

Interest in summer racing was not always consistent and there were years (e.g. 2006 and 2007) in which it was not even held. However, since 2008 it has become a standing feature in the Maltese racing calendar.

Winners have included popular horses such as Junior League, Joker Smabo, Iris du Louvet, Arnie Sensation, Lady de Vindecy and many others.

Among the interesting editions is that of 1999, where the Class A1 final commenced with the disqualification of favourite Meadowbranch Fury, with the remaining seven horses being bunched together for most of the race. Master David was in the lead for long stretches but around 100m from the end, Swedish horse Giovanni launched a great sprint to win the Championship, ahead of Hoot Hammering and Tahays Blue Wonder, in a time of 1’15’7 per kilometre.

But one of the most dramatic finals, if not the most dramatic, was the Class A1 final ten years ago, when Drabant Are and Divan challenged each other to the finish, leaving spectators on their toes even afterwards, arguing as to which horse had made it first to the finish line. The photo-finish was consulted, but even this precision machine could not divide these two horses which touched the finish line together and were thus declared joint-winners in a time of 1’16’5 per kilometre over 2,140m.

Will we have more memorable finals in a couple of weeks’ time?

We wish you all another two exciting meetings.