by Magnat

Two race meetings will be held at the Marsa racetrack at the end of this week; a meeting this Friday (23rd September) and another on Sunday (25th September).

Each meeting will feature 8 races, all of which are trot races, except for one flat race being held on Friday. Friday’s meeting starts at 7pm whilst Sunday’s will commence at 3.30pm.

Both meetings will be reserved for sprint races, with trotting events being run over the very short 1,640m distance and the flat race on the equally short 1,250m distance. These should be exciting races where horses give their best from the early stages.

This week, the highlight of each race card will consist of the Premier class race. Friday’s race is reserved for horses in the lower part of the Malta Racing Club’s Premier class classification, whilst Sunday’s race features trotters with the highest number of points in Malta.

A number of well-known horses will compete in each race and some will make their return to the track after the summer break or after a lay-off of some months. These include Skip Dimanche, Nuage Somolli, Flash Coger and many others. We also have two Swedish newcomers, i.e. mare Queen Isabella in Friday’s race and True Q in Sunday’s.

True Q is registered with the highest number of points for newcomers. It is a ten year old trotter with foreign winnings of SEK1,380,088, a best time of 1’12’2 per kilometre (on a 1,609m distance) and having collected 18 wins and various places overseas; among its best performances this year, it had a win and two 3rd places on distances ranging between 2,140m and 3,180m.

The three Gold class races (one on Friday and two on Sunday) are also close events and include various consistent horses such as Summer Championship Gold class winner Nacarat Campbell, Equestrian Festival Gold class final winner Kingpin La Marc and many others, as well as newcomers Nioco du Dypp (FR), Oscarina (SE) and Wim (NL).

The last Gold class race deserves special attention, being reserved for trotters with the highest points in this class.

The remaining trot races consist of 2 for the Copper class, 3 for the Bronze class and 5 for Silver class horses. Two newcomers are scheduled to make their debut in the Silver class, i.e. Out Xing (SE) and Running Rose (FI).

The flat race on Friday’s programme will feature Class A thoroughbreds, with a full complement of eight registered horses. This includes two newcomers, i.e. Debbie’s Love (GB) and Fyelehk (IR), Mary Celest and Rougement which have raced last week, and Friarscourt, Marivan, Virginia Med and Letthewordgoforth which have not competed for some months.

This should be a meeting which gives sprinters an opportunity to shine and to register some good timings, while further refining their preparation for the upcoming championships.

Last meetings

Although held in the humid weather which is typical of this time of year, the first two meetings since after the summer break included various interesting races.

Arguably the main protagonists were the winners of the Premier class races. In the race held on the 9th September, we saw Carnegie Hall leading the field for most of the race, only to be overpowered by Natif de Salvi’s strong sprint in the final straight, with the latter registering its second seasonal win.

In last Friday’s race, Livi Cantona increased its tally to five wins this season, when it got the better of a strong field in a balanced race, with various horses tussling in the final straight. It registered the best time of these two meetings, i.e. 1’16’5 per kilometre over a 2,140m distance, beating runner-up Major Chaleonnais, winner of the Summer Championship for Premier class horses.

Indian Attack dominated the first Gold class race going in front early on and retaining its lead throughout, whilst the second race resulted in a good win for Danish newcomer Lacoste I.T., which took the lead in the final straight and went on to win comfortably.

Another newcomer which made a winning debut was US thoroughbred Cheeky Jack in the Class A flat race. It had a very good race, beating Pride of India into second place.

Where were the grey hairs?

Whilst rummaging through some old papers, I came across a photo of myself at the racetrack 25 years ago … a picture of a smiling young man with the track in the background.

As our attention starts focusing on the Cassar Petroleum Services Autumn Championship, that photo brought back memories of two championship finals which took place that year and which I (and who knows how many racing veterans) remember watching at the track.

The B.O.V. final held in February 1986 saw Jalium (driven by George Mangion) sprinting into the lead ahead of mare Liane du Comtal, Langon and the other horses at the beginning of the 2,150m race.

At the start of the last lap, Jalium was still leading, Liane du Comtal fell back whilst Langon became the main challenger. I remember spectators next to me commenting that Jalium would not have enough stamina to hold on. Langon was gradually getting closer and closer to Jalium especially in the backstraight. Suddenly Jalium found a new surge of power to pull away as the final curve came in sight, dominating the final straight and winning comfortably from Langon and Jarijus.

The Teacher’s final (April 1986) also contained many popular names. The early leader was Keluguet, followed by Maxime de Launay, Huit Valseurs, Issou and the other horses bunched together. The situation did not change much as the race entered the last lap of the 2,650m distance.

But in the backstraight outsider Lys des Pres driven by Raymond Clifton produced an impressive burst of speed and opened a three-length lead from Keluguet and Liane du Comtal. As the horses entered the final straight Liane du Comtal was gradually eating into Lys des Pres’ lead to whittle it down to about one length with 50 metres to go. Around me some were commenting that the mare will overtake the leader, whilst others contended the opposite. The latter were right, because Lys des Pres retained the lead to win ahead of Liane du Comtal, Huit Valseurs and Keluguet.

A long time has passed since that photo and those finals. It is the same racetrack but its condition has improved considerably, while the horses, many people, the autostart car and some other features have changed over time. But looking at that photo, I feel that probably I have changed most … I’m older, heavier and with a head of grey hair that was not there 25 years ago!

We wish you all two exciting meetings this weekend.