by Magnat

Two race meetings will be held at the Marsa racetrack over the coming week; a meeting this Sunday (6th November) and another the following Sunday (13th November) both starting at 1.30pm.

Both are rather long meetings with the first comprising 10 races and the second 11 races.

The main attraction of these meetings is the Exotique Challenge Cup final for thoroughbreds being held this Sunday over the long 2,250m distance. The seven finalists are Cheeky Jack, Kimberley Downs, Friarscourt, Lite North Wind, Ollie Fliptrik, Wildnis and Genievre. Five US horses, one German and another French horse, these include some of this year’s most consistent thoroughbreds.

In this Sunday’s meeting, we also have a “normal” Class A flat race over the same distance, in which nearly all the seven participants did not take part in the Exotique Challenge Cup heats. Many of them have already won this year, i.e. Nuage de la Tour, Pride of India and Tarruji. Irish thoroughbred Little Benny is also registered to make its debut in this race.

The trot races will be held over the 3,140m distance which is the longest race distance here in Malta.

A number of newcomers are registered to make their local debut, many of them in preparation for the upcoming SECF and President’s Cup championships. These are Ok du Matin (FR), Olympio des Loyaux (FR) and Oyos (FR) in the Silver class, Ouragan de Crouay (FR) in the Gold class, plus seven newcomers in the Premier class which we will refer to below. (For completion’s sake, apart from those mentioned in last week’s article, in the last meeting, we also had two other newcomers, i.e. Paco du Poncelet (FR) and Oliver du Sud (FR) in the Silver class, which came in as reserves.)

Three Premier class races are scheduled over these two meetings, one this Sunday and another two the following Sunday. This Sunday’s race includes horses coming from recent wins or good places such as Night Inlet, Lascar Beaujolais and Dialect Af Prinfo, five time seasonal winner Energy Launcher, newcomers Manuel Jet (FI), Nec Carmolo (SE) and Nous Dix de l’Evre (FR), and various other interesting trotters.

The first Premier class race on Sunday 13th November sees among others recent winners Niky du Donjon and Noble d’Ete and recent runner-up Bonus Kall, June 2010 Prix de Vincennes winner Madis Boy, newcomer Troubadour S (NL) and many other competitive horses.

The final Premier class race on Sunday 13th November is reserved for horses in the top layer of points in the Malta Racing Club classification. It includes a list of horses worthy of any final, such as this year’s Equestrian Festival Premier Class Final winner Mon Daniel, current VOB Cup winner Isolated, Summer Championship Premier Class winner Major Chaleonnais, Prix de Vincennes winner Master Perrine coming from a win last week, last week’s runner-up True Q, and other popular horses.

The three newcomers in this race are registered with the highest number of classification points for newcomers. Mig of the Wood is an 11 year old trotter with winnings overseas of Euro432,710, a best time of 1’12’2 per kilometre (over 2,175m), with 13 wins and many places overseas.

The other two are ten year old horses. Nevaio des Bordes has won Euro451,217 abroad, has a best time of 1’11’9 per kilometre (over 2,100m) and has collected 12 wins, apart from various places overseas – its last win in France was in August 2011 over 2,900m. Normand d’Oger has foreign winnings of Euro332,280, with 8 wins and numerous places and a best time of 1’13’3 per kilometre (over 2,100m). Its last win in France was registered in July 2011 over 2,150m.

Two Gold class races will also be held in each meeting. Among others, the second one this Sunday comprises horses which are very close to the Premier class. It includes fifteen strong horses such as Autumn Championship Gold Class winner Naja In Blue, recent winners Ludo de Bellande, Peasant Gallant and Lucky Fan and many others.

These should be two very interesting meetings, with the Exotique Challenge Cup final being a major appointment for flat racing enthusiasts and we can follow the current form of many trotters competing in the SECF and President’s Cup championships which will commence in the coming weeks.

Last meetings

Under menacing clouds from which poured showers of rain at times, last Sunday’s meeting provided three exciting finals from the Cassar Fuels Autumn Championship.

In the main final, that for Premier class horses, Carnegie Hall led for most of the way, with the lead being taken over by Flash Coger in the last lap. But as the horses turned the final bend, Livi Cantona driven by Charles Camilleri, produced a fantastic burst of speed, went in front and finished comfortable winner in front of Lou Petiot, Lipouz Lesmelchen and Nabab des Corvees.

It was Livi Cantona’s seventh seasonal win in a time of 1’14’7 per kilometre, which is not just the seasonal best on the 2,140m distance, but such a time has not been realised on that distance in Malta for nearly two and a half years and is this horse’s absolute career record time on a distance longer than 1,640m.

The Gold class final saw Naja In Blue taking the lead in the last lap and maintaining its strong pace till the end to win ahead of Beckham Bob, Magnifique Sablais and Touch The Diamond. The winner’s time was 1’16’2 per kilometre.

In Friday’s meeting, Mealington led the field for most of the race but Lutan Villetot launched a strong attack in the last half lap which led it to the front, ultimately triumphing by a small margin from Nevada Silver, Must du Buisson and Odelvio, in a time of 1’16’1 per kilometre.

The other finals resulted in wins for Nashville Victory (Copper class) and Syllabub (Bronze class).

Friday’s Premier class race was very interesting, with Milord Barbes leading for most of the race. However Master Perrine which had been in the pack until then, increased its pace in the last few hundred metres to take its third seasonal win from True Q, Kakisis and Arnie Sensation, in a time of 1’16’8 per kilometre, on 2,640m.

Friday’s meeting also provided an interesting international encounter race between Maltese and Swedish drivers. This was won by Darco As driven by Maltese driver Marco Tanti ahead of King Boy du Dane, Izor Rick and Brokkur TYC, which three horses were all driven by Swedish drivers (Jan Skoglund, Lasse Punkari and Mats Holmstedt respectively).

Normal Races

After the exciting finals we had last weekend, over the coming week, apart from the Exotique Challenge Cup final, the other twenty races can be referred to as “normal”, that is, races which do not form part of any championship.

After these two meetings, we will then have the start of a series of prestigious championships, the SECF Championships, the President’s Cup, the Coronation Cup etc.

But normal races are also important in the Maltese racing calendar. Naturally there are more normal races than championship races. One of their advantages is that whilst in a championship a horse has fixed appointments of when it needs to race in qualifiers and finals and thus it is under some pressure to be in its best condition on a particular date, competing in a normal race does not oblige the horse to race again on a specific date and thus permits the horse’s training and rest to be planned in a more relaxed manner.

Normal races in most cases result in an increase or reduction of points in the Malta Racing Club classification. This determines the horses’ racing class and thus in which championships they can compete. It is important that the class in which the horses race reflects their ability, so that we can have balanced races both in championships and in normal races.

Races which do not form part of any championship are also useful to expose horses to the competition necessary to be suitably prepared for the most important appointments of the season. In such races sometimes one tries different drivers, different racing strategies and driving styles, a variety of equipment etc, aimed at improving the horses’ performances.

Furthermore however, with the quality and quantity of the horses we have among us and the resulting strong competition, even winning a normal race is far from easy. The hard-fought, spectacular races and the joy of owners, drivers, family members and friends in the winners’ circle, even after a normal race, bear enough witness to this.

So, let’s look forward to and enjoy both the Exotique Challenge Cup final as well as the normal races that await us in the coming two meetings ...

We wish you all two exciting meetings this coming week.