by Magnat

Two race meetings will be held this weekend, both eight race cards. The first will be held on Friday starting at 6.30pm and the next on Sunday at 2pm.

These meetings are dedicated exclusively to long distance events, with trotters racing over the 3,140m distance and thoroughbreds on the 2,250m distance, both being the longest race distances in the respective disciplines. These races test the horses’ endurance talents and the strength of their finishing powers and provide more variety at our race track.

The two key races are naturally those reserved for Premier class horses with both featuring a full field of 16 horses. Friday’s race includes various trotters coming from recent wins or good placings, such as Sultan November, Nagano Phedo, Simb Mark, Orage du Pont and Nicos de Peneme, among others.

Sunday’s race is reserved for horses with the highest MRC handicap points. These include various popular trotters which have also already won or placed well this year, such as Oran, Mars, Assikura A championship winner Argus Hanover, Belafonte, Ofackevo, Olympien Major, Of Course Ramble, Fire, Poppes Fighter, Magic de Assigny, Ourasi Diams and others. The field includes some of Malta’s best trotters with an high quality race certainly being in the offing.

The three Gold class races also have a lot to offer. With fields of 14, 13 and 15 participants respectively, between them they include various winners this year, such as Octobre En Fete (three wins), Charm Hammering (two wins), Skars Hanna, L’Ideal de Fersan, Orion de Chapeau, Prince de Blequin, Simb From Abroad, Pirate d’Urzy and Nobleness Dubrio.

These races also include a number of interesting trotters which used to race in the Premier class until recently whilst Dutch newcomer Udice Boko is registered to make its debut in this class on Sunday. All of these are very competitive horses with long distance specialists having some advantage over horses preferring shorter distances.

The other trotters registered to make their debut this weekend are Lord Martin (SE) in the Bronze class, Que Je T'Aime Rush and Queops de Retz (FR) in the Silver class.

We also have an interesting Class A flat race on the equally long 2,250m distance, featuring seven participants. We see the return of US thoroughbred Kimberley Downs after a year of successful racing in France and Belgium, 2012 Coronation Cup winner Cheeky Jack, Irish newcomer Alto Monte, Pelle di Luna which obtained a good second place in its recent debut, Friarscourt and Bon Santos in search of better form, as well as Ollie Fliptrik returning after over a year’s absence.

We do not have many 3,140m races in Malta and thus we look forward to the times that will be registered in them. Interestingly, the best times on this distance in each of the last three years were those of Le Bon Mayennais (1’17’5 per kilometre in 2010), In Vitro du Bourg (also 1’17’5 per kilometre in 2011) and Nevaio des Bordes (1’16’2 per kilometre in 2012), with the national record still remaining the 1’15’3 per kilometre registered by James de l’Iton in November 2008. Who knows whether we will see some interesting times even this weekend?

Last Meeting

The history of the Tazza l-Kbira never ceases to surprise us! This year, we had to wait an extra week in order to follow the most important race of the season! The date on which it was due, Sunday 7th April turned to be a wintery day with gale force winds and race showers and the Malta Racing Club decided to postpone the meeting by a week to Sunday 14th April.

This was ultimately worthwhile because last Sunday was a glorious sunny day attracting a bumper attendance at the Marsa racecourse with spectators following a splendid, colourful race meeting.

The big race was preceded by a car and motor cycle parade courtesy of the Mustang Club Malta and the Harley Davidson Group whilst a band contributed to the festive atmosphere. The parade of participating horses led by the legendary In Vitro du Bourg was as usual spectacular.

Drivers and owners of the finalists were driven in Mustang cars and Harley Davidson motorcycles to be presented to the public at the winners’ circle. A token marking their participation in this year’s Tazza l-Kbira final was presented to each of them by the Hon Dr Stefan Buontempo, Parliamentary Secretary for Research, Innovation, Youth & Sport.

On a 2,640m distance, the race was an entertaining one. Nitesco d’Antony had a good start, taking an early lead in the 10 horse field (Count of Life and Quebec were scratched before the race), but Nabab du Chatelet soon advanced on the outside lanes from last place, going in front after around 650m.

It led at a relatively calm pace for the next lap, increasing the tempo substantially at the start of the last lap. On the back straight, the race leader was attacked strongly by Odedjalo, which nearly caught up with it. However Nabab du Chatelet seemed to find new energy at this stage, maintaining a slight lead, with Odedjalo changing pace around 400m from the end allowing the former to consolidate its lead.

The final straight was a triumphant one for Nabab du Chatelet (with Charles Camilleri at his first Tazza l-Kbira win) as it maintained its strong pace, successfully resisting a courageous attack by Nino de Saintho and marching to a splendid and deserved win, a couple of lengths ahead of the same Nino de Saintho, followed by Okilaibo, last year’s winner Mig of the Wood and Original Blue in that order.

The Hon Dr Stefan Buontempo led the presentation to the owners and drivers of the first five placed horses to bring to an end another successful edition of the Tazza l-Kbira.

This was 12 year old Nabab du Chatelet’s third consecutive and seasonal win in a time of 1’15’8 per kilometre. This is the third French trotter whose name starts with the letter N to win the Tazza l-Kbira after Nicolas de la Fuye and Nemo de Bruyeres in 1988 and 1989 respectively.

Interestingly, the six winners since the resumption of the Tazza l-Kbira in 2008 all placed in the first three places in the Prix de Vincennes of the previous December, i.e. James de l’Iton (Tazza l-Kbira 2009), In Vitro du Bourg (Tazza l-Kbira 2010), Mig of the Wood (Tazza l-Kbira 2012) and Nabab du Chatelet all won the Prix de Vincennes held the previous December, whilst James de l’Iton was runner-up in the December 2007 Prix de Vincennes following with a win in the 2008 Tazza l-Kbira and Kakisis was third in the December 2010 Prix de Vincennes before winning the Tazza l-Kbira in 2011.

In the Gold class race, Markus Klipp took an early lead which it maintained until around a lap from the end. At that stage Phenix de la Roque lauched a strong attack, taking the lead with around 900m to go and opening a good gap from the others. In the final straight it controlled its race successfully and comfortably claimed its first win in Malta by around two and a half lengths from Oustiti d’Anjou, followed by Ironbar and Kapro Wareco in a time of 1’16’8 per kilometre on 2,640m.

Similarly over 2,640m, the three Silver class races in that meeting resulted in wins for:

(i) Mr Snowman, at its third seasonal win, winning a tight finish by half a head from Bankir Zon in a time of 1’17’3 per kilometre,
(ii) Nobleness Dubrio, at its first win in Malta after leading for most of the race and resisting a tough challenge from Max Galbe, to win by half a length in a time of 1’17’8 per kilometre, and
(iii) Iatas Skid, which was in front for practically the entire race, maintaining a strong pace throughout to take its first seasonal win more than four lengths ahead of newcomer Quid de Belle Vue, in 1’17’0 per kilometre.

100th Edition

They had to be just two articles and instead ... we arrived at a 100!

I have been a horse-racing (both trot and flat) enthusiast since I was a boy, with my initial visits to the Marsa racetrack dating back nearly 34 years. My first Tazza l-Kbira memory is Espoir des Marais’ win and my first Mediterranean Derby recollection is James Angus’ win, both in 1979. I continued following Maltese horse-racing until 1992 when for various reasons I had to stop doing so.

One of the aspects that had disappointed me at the time was the discontinuation of the Tazza l-Kbira, the championship that I used to await every year.

To my surprise, just over four years ago, I was reading the papers and discovered that the Tazza l-Kbira had started being organised again. That was in fact the 2009 edition of the Tazza l-Kbira championship.

On my return to the track I was impressed with the improvements that had taken place during my long absence, particularly the infrastructural improvements and the discipline that had given the place an atmosphere fitting for the whole family.

I also discovered that my secondary school class mate Dr Matthew Brincat had become Chairman of the Malta Racing Club.

After following the sport for about a year, my interest had become strong enough for me to write a long letter to Dr Brincat, providing him with some comments on the positive aspects that I had seen and some suggestions for further improvement.

I expressed my wish for more exposure to be given to this sport in order for it to become more popular. Among others I suggested that the Malta Racing Club should complement the work of our extremely knowledgeable horse-racing journalists in the media, by publishing regular reports on the Maltese horse-racing scene.

I am no expert in this sport but just an enthusiastic spectator. So, my idea was simply to write a couple of articles just to demonstrate how this can be done, and then that such an initiative would be continued by more capable people.

Instead I continued writing these articles on a completely voluntary basis from one week to another for over 2 and a half years until we are now in the 100th edition – with Mark Vella kindly providing the photos and putting the articles on the website.

Not an easy task because of my long working days, such that these articles are typically written in the middle of the night, irrespective of whether I am abroad or in Malta. In particularly busy weeks, sometimes the article is published a bit late, but better late than never!

I am not sure how many people read them. Sometimes I feel that there are not that many readers and I am pleased whenever I get some comments and suggestions from those who do. I also thank the few people who put a “like” on the facebook link, because they are of real encouragement.

From the work required to write these articles, I admit that the translation is the part I hate, but I do it because the article is intended to reach Maltese who feel most comfortable in their language as well as foreigners who might have an interest in our horse-racing scene.

I doubt how long I will manage to continue, with the effort it requires and my other commitments, as well as the fact that with time one tends to become repetitive, to lose the freshness in one’s writing ...

But in the meantime I am happy to have given this small voluntary contribution to our favourite sport as a tribute to all those who make Maltese horse-racing such a great sport ... the Malta Racing Club, owners, drivers, trainers, spectators, journalists and last but not least, our horses, considered by many as members of their family, for which they are ready to make personal sacrifices to take proper care of them!

I wholeheartedly thank all those whose support has been indispensable for the publication of these articles ...

We wish you two great meetings this weekend.