by Magnat
Another race-meeting will be held at the Marsa racecourse next Sunday, with the first race starting at 2pm. Eight races are on the card, seven of which are for trotters and the remaining one for thoroughbreds.
All races are on sprint distances, with trotters racing over the 1,640m distance, whilst thoroughbreds will be engaged on 1,250m.
After the various Cassar Petroleum Championship races held during the last weeks, we return to a “normal” race programme before the finals’ weekend next week.
The Premier class race features various trotters which have participated in the Cassar Petroleum Autumn Championship, a number of which have won or placed in recent races, such as Chaco Bar, Sultan November, Oscar de la Vallee, Oncle Sam and Gentle Way.
Mustang du Don, Nagano Phedo and Nick de Touchyvon make their return after various months of absence, whilst Swedish newcomers Baron Flax and Simb Mark are scheduled to make their debut.
The Gold class race is equally interesting, grouping together horses which are on the doorstep of the Premier class. Many of them have recently been racing in the Premier class and would again gain promotion thereto, with a win or in some cases even a good place.
Horses which have recently placed well include Energy Launcher (two 3rd places in its last 3 races), Naja In Blue (third in its last race) and Ouragan d’Any (runner-up in a Premier class race around a month ago).
The two Silver class races are as usual extremely balanced. Nasdaq du Closet and Zerbin have won during the last month, while horses such as Olympio des Loyaux, Ostheo d’Havetot, Prince Feulavoir, Marco Barbes and Lonestar Somolli have taken good places, although a number of them have won or placed on the longer 2,640m distance. It will also be interesting to follow the form of various horses which are making their return to racing after various months of absence.
The remaining trot races are two for the Bronze class and one for Copper class horses.
The class A flat race features six horses originating in Germany, Ireland, Italy and the UK. Interestingly, after a lack of thoroughbred newcomers during the last four months, we should have the opportunity of welcoming two newcomers, i.e. Four Richer (UK) and Royal Fleece (Italy).
Timolin, coming from two runner-up places, is in the line-up, Privilidged Boy and Marivan are scheduled to make their return after a seven month absence, whilst Honey Moon is expected to seek better form than that shown in its last race.
It has been quite some time since we last saw trot racing over the spint 1,640m distance. Apart from adding variety, this also gives sprint specialists an occasion to shine over their favourite distance, whilst favouring speed and good timings and putting horses and their drivers on tiptoes throughout the race, because of the difficulty of recovering from any mistake on such a short distance.
Last Meetings
The main races during the two meetings held last weekend were the two Cassar Petroleum Autumn Championship semi-finals for Premier class trotters on a 2,140m distance.
Shakira Trot and Zilver Boko were the leaders in the first phase of Friday’s semi-final, but Mont Cenis Honey took over with around a lap to go, and maintained the lead till the end notwithstanding Zilver Boko’s strong attack which finished half a length behind it. Mont Cenis Honey registered its second consecutive and seasonal win in an excellent time of 1’14’8 per kilometre, with Zilver Boko, Count of Life, Shakira Trot, Celebrity Photo and Maximal Value being the other qualifiers in that order.
In Sunday’s semi-final, Veikko Hornline took an early lead, but in the last half lap it suffered the attack of various horses, with Think Yatzee taking the lead in the middle of the final straight and winning by less than half a length from the same Veikko Hornline, with Troy Boshoeve, Matrix Reloaded, Livi Cantona and Noble d’Ete following them into the final. This was Think Yatzee’s third seasonal and second consecutive win, in a time of 1’15’9 per kilometre.
Also on Sunday we also had a “normal” Premier class race in which Oros de Reve took an early lead of about a length from the other horses, which it maintained until the start of the final straight, when Danish newcomer Mars launched its strong attack which led it to take the lead and win on its debut by nearly a length and a half from the same Oros de Reve, followed by Skip Dimanche and Versace Boko. The winner’s time was of 1’15’8 per kilometre.
In the Cassar Petroleum Gold class Condition Race semi-finals, we first saw Ollico Pellois claiming its third seasonal win, when it went in front at the beginning of the final straight and won by almost two lengths from fellow qualifier Orion du Vaumicel, in a time of 1’16’8 per kilometre. Energy Launcher and Pinekiller took the remaining places in that order.
A decisive attack in the last half lap saw Netter Williams take the lead in the next Gold class semi-final, going on to take its third seasonal and second consecutive win by about a length and a half from the other qualifier Baron GL in the best time of Sunday’s meeting and an absolute personal best for this horse of 1’15’7 per kilometre. Naja In Blue and Podium finished in third and fourth place respectively.
The last Gold class semi-final saw an interesting duel in the final straight between Ozerio and Keeping Quality. Finally, it was the former which registered its first win in Malta in a time of 1’16’1 per kilometre, by about two lengths from Keeping Quality which also made it to the final. Okir de Leau and Side Spin were third and fourth respectively.
The other winners were Pilote de Nganda (first win in Malta), Black Guy (second seasonal win), Kandy du Frutier (first seasonal win), Orio de Marancourt (fourth consecutive and seasonal win) and Lucas Ness (first seasonal win) in the Silver class, Hawkear (first seasonal win), Noli de Marray (third seasonal win) and Marchallah (second seasonal win) in the Bronze class and Mirage d’Ete and Ksar (both at their first seasonal win) in the Copper class.
Driver of the Month Award
The driver of the month award for September was won by Charlo Debono on the basis of the two wins he registered on Major Chaleonnais and Zerbin and the three places, two on King Boy du Dane and the other on the afore-mentioned Major Chaleonnais, from the six races he competed in last month.
We wish Charlo all the best! Many thanks also to Pegasus Bar & Bistro for supporting this award by sponsoring September’s edition.
Registration of Jackets
The Malta Racing Club is currently requesting drivers and jockeys to register with it the racing jacket with which they participate in races, together with its colours. This registration needs to take place by the end of this month.
Newcomers in 2012
Now that we are already in the middle of October, it is appropriate to look at the profile of this year’s newcomers.
Until the last meeting, 176 trot newcomers had made their debut this year. This is below the levels reached in the last couple of years, when by this stage of the season the number of newcomers had already reached 213 last year and 200 in 2010.
However this year’s is also a good number and it already exceeds whole year’s figures which used to be reached in years up to 1996 (except for 1992 which was a bumper year).
101 of these newcomers are French, accounting for around 57.4% of this year’s newcomers so far. Around 33.7% of French new trotters were 9 year olds, 32.7% were 10 year olds and around 23.8% were 11 year olds. Thus these three ages accounted for over 90% of French newcomers. The remaining around 10% were split between 6, 8 and 12 year olds.
Swedish newcomers amounted to 48 or 27.3% of the current total (interestingly France and Sweden together account for nearly 85% of all newcomers so far). The 9 and 10 year olds were the most numerous even in this case, with 9 year olds accounting for around 29.2% and 10 year olds for 22.9% of the Swedish total. Seven year olds accounted for 20.8%, with the remaining 27.1% being split between 4, 6, 8 and 11 year olds.
Denmark occupies third place with 8 trot newcomers (or 4.5% of the total), followed by Germany with 5 (or 2.8%). Seven and nine year olds (3 each) were the most popular among the Danes, whilst eight year olds (3 as well) were the most popular among the Germans.
The remaining 14 horses (8% of the total) were split between 6 countries, i.e. the Netherlands (4), Finland and Italy (3 each), USA (2) and Belgium and Norway (1 each).
The most popular newcomers’ classes were jointly the Gold and Silver classes with around 32.4% of new horses making their debut in each of them followed by the Premier class with around 27.8%. A big jump then leads to the Bronze class with nearly 6.3% of newcomers and the Copper class with 1.1%.
Thoroughbred newcomers have been extremely few this year, even compared with recent years when they were also not numerous. These only amounted to 8 so far, with three hailing from Ireland, 2 from Great Britain and the remainder being one each from Malta (this is a rarity which is worthy of note), Sweden and the USA.
Thoroughbred newcomers were split into five 4 year olds, two 5 year olds and one 3 year old.
Undoubtedly, so far this year’s newcomers have been less numerous than they were in the last few years, as regards trotters and even more in the case of thoroughbreds. Who knows whether we will see a revival in the last couple of months of the season, bringing final numbers up to more respectable figures?
We wish you another exciting meeting this weekend.
