by Magnat

This season’s 36th race-meeting will be held at the Marsa race track next Friday 22nd July from 7pm onwards, and will consist of eight trotting races over a 2,140m distance. This will be the last meeting before the summer racing break and will comprise a number of finals of the Summer Championship.

The finalists were selected after the trotters participated in up to two races each over the last few weeks gaining points depending on their placings in these races.

A final for each class will be held. As usual, the most awaited race will be the Premier class final involving 7 Swedish and 3 French horses with ages ranging between six and twelve years. The full list is Mentor de l’Iton, Candy Fantasy, Isolated, Fire, Major Chaleonnais, Energy Launcher, Affe Fager, Le Coup de Foudre, Belafonte and Energy As.

These include horses which have recently shown excellent form, including Fire and Mentor de l’Iton which both come from two consecutive wins, Energy Launcher which won five times and placed six further times this year, Candy Fantasy which won once and took three second places in its last four races, Major Chaleonnais which was runner-up in each of its last three races and all the other horses.

The Gold class race involves 1 Finnish, 3 Swedish, and 6 French horses, with ages ranging between 7 and 12 years. Another set of in-form horses is involved, including Magnifique Sablais with seven wins and three places this year, Kingpin La Marc with two wins and four runner up positions in its last six races, Nacarat Campbell which comes from two wins and two places in its last four races and all the others.

The finals for the Silver, Bronze and Copper classes are equally interesting and include various popular horses. In addition, we also have Consolation finals for the Gold, Silver and Bronze classes, featuring valid horses which placed after the finalists in the Summer Championship points classification.

Extremely exciting and hard-fought races are anticipated as is always the case when finals are on the card at the Marsa race-track. This should provide a fitting end to a successful first part of this season, with the season now continuing in early September.

Last meetings
A total of twenty races were held over the last couple of meetings. All races were trotting events over 2,140m, leading to the selection of the finalists of the Summer Championship in all classes.

They included three Premier class races. The first saw Energy Launcher take its fifth seasonal win, thus winning in each of the Silver, Gold and Premier classes. Candy Fantasy led for long stretches until Energy Launcher launched a strong sprint in the last phase of the race and went in front. Candy Fantasy reacted well but Energy Launcher still managed to win by half a head in a time of 1’16’3 per kilometre. Ringside and Key Value finished behind in third and fourth place respectively.

Mentor de l’Iton then won its second consecutive race in a time of 1’16’9 per kilometre when it sprinted well in the final straight and managed to overtake previous leader Le Coup de Foudre in the last ten metres. Happiness Photo and Energy As finished behind them in that order.

The last Premier class race saw another splendid performance by relative newcomer Fire which also won its second consecutive race. Various horses occupied the lead in the first half of the race, but Major Chaleonnais went in front at the start of the last lap. After occupying one of the last positions, in the last half lap Fire attacked strongly on the outside lanes, going in front during the final straight and winning by half a length from Major Chaleonnais, Belafonte and Mon Daniel, in one of the season’s best times of 1’15’2 per kilometre.

The Gold class races saw Nacarat Campbell’s second consecutive win in a very good time of 1’15’5 per kilometre, Bete Saknussen’s third seasonal win, She’s Dreamlike’s dominating debut when it won by around 14 lengths in a good time of 1’16’0 per kilometre, and last but not least Magnifique Sablais’ impressive 7th seasonal win.

Notwithstanding the summer heat, these were another two entertaining meetings which truly met the spectators’ expectations …

Doping test results
We are pleased to note that in the last couple of weeks the Malta Racing Club received no less than fifteen doping test results confirming that the particular horses were clean from prohibited substances.

Congratulations go to the owners and trainers of Mon Daniel (Equestrian Festival Premier class final), Kingpin La Marc (Equestrian Festival Gold class final), Think Yatzee (Sette Giugno Cup final), Buttermilk (McDonald’s Mediterranean Derby final), Just The Best (McDonald’s Mediterranean Derby final), Master Perrine (Prix de Vincennes final), Mark de Chamant (Prix de Vincennes final), Malin Roro (Prix de Vincennes final), Lord The Best (Prix d’Enghien final), L’Ideal de Fersan (Prix d’Enghien final), Lys des Etroits (Prix de Cabourg final), Moustique Rose (Prix de Cagnes Sur Mer final), Man Quick (Prix de Cagnes Sur Mer final), Leo de Gratens (Prix de Caen final) and L’Ami du Popey (Prix de Caen final).

We augur that we will continue to have further clean doping test results in future.

Unfortunately the Malta Racing Club also received a doping test result disclosing a Category 1 prohibited substance in respect of Adorabile Med, relative to its placing in the McDonald’s Mediterranean Derby final.

Other news
We wish the best of luck to the Maltese driver who will be chosen to represent our country on the 12th August in the fourth leg of the Mediterranean Horse Racing Union’s drivers’ championship which will be held at the Cagnes Sur Mer racetrack in France.

Our best wishes also go to the driver who will represent Malta in the last leg of this championship which will be held in Voronezh, Russia on the 30th August and to the Maltese jockey who will participate in the sixth leg of the jockeys’ championship being held on the same day at the Kazan racetrack also in Russia.

Our congratulations go also to Maltese jockey Michael Sultana who recently enjoyed more successes in flat races in Belgium. Keep it up Michael, so that you continue making a good name for yourself and your country.

“To say goodbye for the summer”
With these words lifted from the song “Sealed with a kiss”, we close this last article before the summer break. Since last September, we have kept a regular appointment bringing you news from the racecourse… previews, reports of previous meetings, doping test results, our drivers and jockeys’ participation in international events, flashbacks from the past etc.

I am not involved in horse-racing nor do I earn my living from it but am simply a spectator and follower of this sport since the late seventies, an enthusiast of horses whatever their country of origin, whether trotters or thoroughbreds.

It was not always easy to keep this appointment. Writing articles in the middle of the night, sometimes in hotel rooms abroad, airplanes, in bed when sick, consulting racing veterans and researching past races, was sometimes rather trying. Nonetheless, I enjoyed writing these articles on a voluntary basis, thus supporting the efforts being made by so many people to continue enhancing this sport.

Indeed, I feel that for the considerable work that is undertaken and the expenses incurred in importing, caring and racing quality horses as well as the popularity of this sport in Malta, media exposure could certainly improve. Hence this year I wished to give a small helping hand to the efforts being made to promote and bring more visibility to this sport.

These articles would not have been possible without the help received from various people.

I thank wholeheartedly all the Council and staff of the Malta Racing Club led by Chairman Dr Matthew Brincat for all their help, Nicholas Farrugia whose trotting statistics and information are truly impressive and who is so patient in answering my numerous queries, Mike Orland whose website is a constant source of information and who is always willing to provide me with further input whenever required, Mark Vella, who shares with me a great interest in horse-racing history, and Kenneth Vella who kindly procured for me horse racing publications containing much valuable information.

Last but certainly not least, I thank all horse-racing reporters whether of printed or web-based newspapers, radio and television – who were a constant source of inspiration. Well done for your valuable, knowledgeable contributions which are so necessary to further promote this sport.

I take this opportunity to wish you all an enjoyable and relaxing summer with your loved ones. We’ll meet again in September, refreshed and looking forward to more exciting races and meetings…

We wish you all an exciting finals meeting next Friday evening.