by Magnat
“They’re off!” As the commentator would say.
The 2013 season kicks off next Sunday 27th January with an eight race all trot card, with the first race starting at 1.30pm. All races are over the 2,140m distance.
The four week break from racing this month was used by the Malta Racing Club to carry out extremely useful maintenance works at the racecourse, including a resurfacing with new sand which should enhance its quality for the benefit of our horses. Drivers and trainers are encouraged to take into account the softer surface especially in the first few weeks and thus to act with due caution in getting their horses accustomed to it.
After we finished off the last season in style with a great end of year meeting culminating in the VOB Cup final, as usual the new season starts with a set of “normal” races, which however also includes attractive features.
The highlight of the day should be the Premier class race having a full complement of 16 participants, including various popular horses, such as 2012 Cassar Petroleum Autumn Championship winner Troy Boshoeve, 2011 Assikura A Cup winner Count of Life and a number of horses which were among the winners last year, True Q, Net de Ginai, Nec Carmolo, Versace Boko, Indian Attack, Orion du Vaumicel, Skip Dimanche and Nicos de Peneme.
French newcomer Olbo King is also registered to make its debut in this race.
The Gold class race has the same number of participants with most of them having either won (Keeping Quality, Darco As and Charm Hammering) or placed (Matador Knick, Onyx Speed, Key Value, Nick de Touchyvon, Ironbar, Jerry Eme, Oolong and Petrus du Vivier) last month.
As with all the races, the question is whether the horses that were in form a few weeks ago have retained their form after this break and whether those which were seeking to improve their form have managed to do so during this time.
The meeting’s other races consist of three for the Silver class, two Bronze class races and one for Copper class trotters. Differently from the Premier and Gold class races, there are not that many participants in all these races (the maximum is 13 horses), thus leading to rather open races, similar to finals.
Two other horses are registered to debut in these events, i.e. Dutch You Cant Be Me and Swede Claude Carnevale both in the Bronze class.
The drafting of the racecard also takes into account that at the time of this meeting, one of the top races in the international racing calendar, the Group 1 par excellence Grand Prix d’Amerique will be held on a 2,700m distance at the Vincennes racecourse in Paris. Thus, a 45 minute gap is being left between the 5th and the 6th races so as to enable spectators to follow this international race on the screens at the racecourse.
So, we are all set to go for the start of another season. May it be another enjoyable, spectacular and successful season as was the case for the last years, but in particular, may a strong spirit of sportsmanship guide us in all our actions.
Last Meetings
The most important race of the last two meetings of 2012 was undoubtedly the VOB Cup final for Premier class trotters on a 2,640m distance, featuring the top placed horses from the President’s Cup and Prix de Vincennes finals.
Zilver Boko took an early lead in the ten horse field, which it maintained until around 700m from the end, when it was overtaken by Nabab du Chatelet, which had gradually made its way up from the back places.
At the same moment Kakisis (driven by Johann Axisa), which was at that time in eighth position, started an impressive sprint on the outside lanes, which took it past one horse after another until around 370m from the end it came head to head with Nabab du Chatelet, overtook it and took a solid lead which it maintained until the end.
14 year old Kakisis thus claimed its second seasonal win and the VOB Cup more than 3 lengths ahead of second placed Nabab du Chatelet, followed by Oltedo de Rieux, Shakira Trot and Label Chouan. In the process it registered a great time of 1’14’9 per kilometre, the best time in Malta on this distance for the last 3 and a half years, its best in Malta and coincidentally the same average time it registered at the Vincennes racetrack in its last race in France (monte’ – 2,850m) over 4 years ago.
The Coronation Cup final for thoroughbreds, the most important flat race on the sprint 1,250m distance, was held during the penultimate (23rd December) meeting. We only had 4 participants but the quality of the race made up for the small field.
8 year old Cheeky Jack took a small early lead from Timolin and it was a challenge all the way between these two horses and Darielli. Cheeky Jack (Demis Zammit), managed to retain its lead till the end after resisting the strong attack of Timolin which finished only half a length behind the winner and Darielli which finished only half a length thereafter. This was Cheeky Jack’s fourth seasonal win.
In the same meeting, we also had two Premier class races on a 2,140m distance. In the first one, front runner Indian Attack could not resist Normand d’Oger’s attack and had to relinquish its lead around half a lap from the end. Normand d’Oger sustained its effort till the end to finish winning its first race in Malta a length ahead of Argus Hanover which preceded ST Andrew L.B. and Noble d’Ete in that order, in a time of 1’15’4 per kilometre.
The second Premier class race had a more exciting finish as no less than six horses challenged each other over the last 300m, with the race being resolved through a head-to-head sprint between Nino de Saintho and Nevaio des Bordes, with the former claiming its second seasonal win by just a head from the latter in a very good time of 1’15’0 per kilometre. Skip Dimanche and Versace Boko finished in third and fourth place respectively.
Four Gold class races were held (always on the 2,140m distance) in these two meetings.
A strong sprint in the outside lanes in the last half lap led Power Night Star to a decisive lead in the first one. This horse ended up taking its second seasonal win a couple of lengths ahead of Ygor of Pass, which was followed by Key Value and Janitor respectively, in a time of 1’15’8 per kilometre.
The second provided an interesting head-to-head tussle in the final straight, with the photo finish awarding Keeping Quality its first win in Malta in a time of 1’16’2 per kilometre, just a nose ahead of Ironbar, followed by Charm Hammering and Matador Knick.
The first Gold class race in the last seasonal meeting was one of the Owners’ races. This was won by Niky du Donjon which accelerated strongly in the last 300 metres or so, took a decisive lead and claimed its first seasonal win in a time of 1’17’5 per kilometre, nearly two lengths ahead of Enjoy Kronos, followed by Otas Fighter and Baron G.L. in that order.
In the last Gold class race, Orage du Pont claimed its fifth seasonal win after dominating the final straight and finishing relatively easy winner around three lengths ahead of Petrus du Vivier, followed by Oolong and Hulot, in a time of 1’16’1 per kilometre.
Interestingly, in the 30th December meeting, the Malta Racing Club hosted with pleasure Fr Mario Attard a horse-racing enthusiast, who found inspiration in horse-racing in recovering from a heart-attack that he suffered at a relatively young age. Among others, Fr Mario was driven round the racecourse by veteran driver Raymond Clifton, addressed the spectators and was presented with a photo of racing legend Isard du Pont.
In that meeting, the Malta Racing Club also honoured Noel Baldacchino as the winner of the Champion Driver Award for 2012.
Doping test results
Recently the Malta Racing Club received fourteen doping test results, referring to the President’s Cup and SECF French trotters’ finals held on the 13th and 16th December 2012 respectively, as well as the Coronation Cup final held on the 23rd December 2012.
Congratulations go to the owners and trainers of Mont Cenis Honey, Kakisis, Zilver Boko and Shakira Trot (the first four placed horses in the President’s Cup final) and Nabab du Chatelet, Oltedo de Rieux, Label Chouan and Magic de Assigny (the first four placed horses in the Prix de Vincennes final), Night Inlet (winner of the Prix d’Enghien final), Korentin (winner of the Prix de Cabourg final), Ouragan de Crouay (winner of the Prix de Cagnes Sur Mer final), Neron Pierji (winner of the Prix de Caen final), Cheeky Jack and Timolin (winner and runner up in the Coronation Cup final), whose results confirmed that they were all clean from prohibited substances.
Facts and Figures 2012 (Part 1): Trot newcomers
As we start a new season, it is appropriate to take a look at the one that has just ended. It is debatable whether the “past is the mirror of the future”, but we can certainly learn a lot by analysing the past before looking ahead and concentrating on the present and future.
In terms of newcomers, we can say that as a year, 2012 was “so and so”. We had 211 trot newcomers (we will examine thoroughbreds in another article), which is less than the total of nearly each year between 2000 – 2011, although it still exceeds the figures which used to be registered in nearly every year until 1999. The 2012 figure is 42 horses (or 16.6%) less than 2011’s brilliant total.
We do not have enough information to identify the reasons for this reduction, although statistics show that in some years there was a tendency for a bumper year to be followed by a weak year, e.g. the record of 261 newcomers in the year 2000 was followed by 222 in the following year, the 250 we had in 2004 was followed by 221 in 2005, etc.
Once again, Maltese horse-owners showed a strong preference for geldings, with over 78% of newcomers being geldings (even if these were down from the 86.6% of 2011). Stallions accounted for around 14% and mares close to 8%.
French and Swedish newcomers were once more the most numerous. France accounted for around 55% of newcomers (on the same levels of the 55.75% registered last year), even if in absolute terms these declined by 25 horses, whilst Sweden accounted for around 29.9% (slightly down from the 32% of 2011), with a decline of 18 horses in absolute terms.
Interestingly, the remaining countries increased slightly in real terms (from 31 to 32) and somewhat more significantly in percentage terms, i.e. 15.1% compared to 12.25% in 2011. We had no less than 8 other countries represented among our newcomers, mainly Denmark (9 newcomers) and Germany (6 newcomers), with the remaining 17 newcomers being distributed among Italy (4), the Netherlands (4), the USA (4), Finland (3), Belgium (1) and Norway (1).
As in 2011, the most popular newcomers’ class continued to be the Silver class (around 34.6%). This was closely followed by the Gold class (around 30.8%) and the Premier class (around 28.4%) with the remaining around 6% joining the Maltese racing community in the Bronze and Copper classes.
Most newcomers (54.5%) made their debut aged 9 (around 29.4%), closely followed by 10 year olds (around 25.1%). Around 16.6% were 8 year olds, around 14.2% were aged 11 and 7.6% were 7 year olds. The remaining 7.1% were 4, 5, 6 and 12 year olds.
Newcomers are crucial to any horse-racing community, because they substitute the horses which stop racing for one reason or another. Malta is no exception. We augur that 2013 may be a more fruitful year in terms of newcomers.
We wish you an exciting start to the new season 2013.
