by Magnat

Another meeting will be held at the Marsa racetrack on Sunday, starting at 1.30pm and consisting of an all-trot nine race card.

The highlights of this meeting are three semi-finals from the Sette Giugno Cup, reserved for Premier class horses of all nationalities, on a 2,140m distance. Six countries are represented, with 14 participants from Sweden, 13 from France, 2 from the USA and one each from Denmark, Finland and Germany.

The first three placed horses in each semi-final make it to the final which will be held on the 7th June.

The first semi-final sees ten participants, including Sultan November coming from a win and two places in its last three outings, former Tazza l-Kbira winner Kakisis, former Skyparks Swedish trotters championship winner Wiss Night Hawk, former Assikura Cup winner Count of Life, 2012 Summer championship winner Milord Barbes, Absolut Spender which won a good race last month, as well as valid horses Nuevo Musette, Ofackevo, Ouragan de Sita and Mystere d’Urfist.

The second semi-final features eleven participants, i.e. this year’s Tazza l-Kbira runner-up Nino de Saintho, fifth placed Original Blue and finalist Arnie Sensation, 2012 Assikura Cup winner Knockout Molar, Simb Mark and Orcas Bac, both winners in their last outing, Skars Hanna which won and placed in its last three outings, Normand d’Oger which won twice and placed earlier this year, as well as valid horses Ouest Mabon, Pro Shop and Nevaio des Bordes.

The third semi-final also includes eleven participants; this year’s Assikura Cup winner Argus Hanover, T.X. Zoogood which won in its last race, Poppes Fighter which placed in four out of its six outings this year, Belafonte which has already won and placed this year, and the other valid horses Baloo Nalan, Give To Get, Shakira Trot, Celebrity Photo, Ouf Boy, Naxos de France and newcomer Lage.

10 year old gelding Lage is registered with the highest handicap points for a newcomer. It won the sum of SEK1,299,990 overseas, through 11 wins and numerous places. Its best time is that of 1’11’2 per kilometre, clocked at Jagersro in July 2009 on 1,609m in a race in which it finished runner-up to the famous Brioni. It had a good last two years in Sweden in which it registered two wins and nine other good places in the first five, beating quality horses such as Copper Beech, Livi Barcelona and others.

The remaining races are equally entertaining, consisting of two semi-finals (all on the 2,140m distance) from each of the Prix d’Enghien (Gold class), Prix de Cabourg (Silver class) and Prix de Cagnes Sur Mer (Bronze class), with five qualifiers from each of them, making it to the respective final.

Naturally a lot of attention is expected to be focused on the Prix d’Enghien semi-finals featuring ten horses in each of them. The first semi-final presents us with interesting horses such as heat winner Onyx Lucernais and runners-up Prince Gaillard, L’Ideal de Fersan and Orion du Vaumicel, winners this year such as Orage du Pont and Natif de Salvi and all other valid participants.

The second semi-final includes no less than three heats winners, i.e. Pepone du Castelet, Natif de l’Hommee and Nitesco d’Anthony, runner-up Phenix de la Roque (twice winner this year), Oscar Indien which has raced in the Premier class earlier this season and all the other participants which will certainly challenge strongly for a win or a place in the final.

The Prix de Cabourg semi-finals feature 12 participants in each, including heats winners Quingen de Bussy (four time winner this year), Pirate d’Urzy (three wins this year), Obiscus del Fa (double winner this year), Quozak Prior, Passons d’Ortige and Marco Barbes, runners-up Quasar de Subligny, Panda des Fleches, Ostheo d’Havetot, Que Je T’Aime Rush, Mealington and Ouraki de Drochon as well as all the other strong participants.

The Prix de Cagnes Sur Mer semi-finals include ten participants in each. The heats winners were Pittacos (four wins this year), triple winner Quindici, Marchallah, Mezio Josselyn and Nevermind, while the runners-up were Polytain, Nuthan d’Emi, Lys de l’Oasis, Lucky d’Hercla and Navaroso de Khepri, with all other participants being worthy of a place in the final.

June is a month of finals here in Malta, but May is an equally important month because it provides us with the finalists which will be the protagonists of the various exciting finals. The above look at the composition of the semi-finals which will be held next Sunday demonstrates the strength of the participants and the difficulty of predicting the qualifiers, providing a guarantee of more balanced, uncertain races, which we have come to associate with these championships.

Last Meetings

The highlights of the last two meetings consisted of various heats from the SECF championships reserved for French trotters.

Naturally, from among these, the three Prix de Vincennes (Premier class) heats were the most anticipated.

In Friday’s first heat, Ouest Mabon took an early lead which it maintained until around 700m from the end when it was attacked by Of Course Ramble which overtook it, to go in front. In the meantime, Oran accelerated strongly advancing from the middle of the pack and managed to go head-to-head with the race leader in the last bend before the final straight.

By the middle of the final straight, Oran had taken the lead and continued on its way to claim its second seasonal win by about two and a half lengths from fellow qualifiers Ourasi Diams, Of Course Ramble, Mig of the Wood, Phenix de Milo and Magic de Assigny, in a time of 1’16’0 per kilometre.

In Sunday’s second Prix de Vincennes heat, Mont Cenis Honey took the rails early on, followed by horses such as Okilaibo and later on Nabab du Chatelet. The race maintained this pattern until the middle of the final straight when Okilaibo found the space to launch its attack, taking the lead in the last 60 metres and registering its first win in Malta by half a length from Mont Cenis Honey in a time of 1’16’3 per kilometre. Nabab du Chatelet, Ohime Mag, Olry Meslois and Quelino d’Amour also made it to the semi-finals in that order.

The final Prix de Vincennes heat provided the best time last weekend – 1’15’6 per kilometre. At the beginning it was Oviedo Vici which started very fast opening a lead of around five lengths from Label Chouan followed by the other participants. Oviedo Vici’s lead was whittled down substantially with around 800m to go, with Label Chouan managing to go in front around 150m later.

Mark de Chamant came on the outer lanes to arrive head-to-head with Label Chouan around 400m from the end, with the former taking the lead at the entry of the final straight, but Odedjalo accelerated strongly in the final straight came from the middle lanes to attack the race leader and to overtake him in the last 50m to win, notching its third seasonal win by less than half a length from the same Mark de Chamant followed by the other qualifiers Orne des Olivettes, Olympien Major, Label Chouan and Orly Montaval.

In the third Prix d’Enghien (Gold class) heat, Orion du Vaumicel went in front early on, maintaining its lead uncontrasted until the entry into the final straight. However at the start of the final straight, Natif de l’Hommee started a strong sprint in the middle lanes, managed to take the lead in the last 100m and finished strongly to claim its first seasonal win, one and a half lengths ahead of qualifiers Orion du Vaumicel, Nobleness Dubrio, Nuper and Orage du Pont in that order. The winner’s time was 1’16’4 per kilometre.

Newcomer Quartz Clayettois took the lead in the last Prix d’Enghien heat, but it was overtaken after about 500m by Magnifique Sablais, with Onyx Lucernais being close to the race leader for most of the race. The latter managed to go in front around 600m from the end, soon took a commanding lead and appeared heading for a comfortable win until L’Ideal de Fersan came from nowehere sprinting in a brilliant manner to arrive head-to-head with Onyx Lucernais in the last few metres.

The photo-finish awarded the win to Onyx Lucernais by just half a head from the same L’Ideal de Fersan with Quartz Clayettois, Oscar Indien and Pancho Villa also qualifying for the semi-final. The race time was 1’16’7 per kilometre.

In the only Class A flat race on 1,750m, Darielli took an early lead, followed among others by Ollie Fliptrik in a tight pack. However, on the back straight, Timolin started an impressive acceleration, managing to go in front in the last 500m and continued strongly until the end, to comfortably claim its third consecutive and seasonal win by nearly five lengths from Buttermilk, followed by Darielli.

The Sette Giugno Cup: Some facts and figures

Some feel that the Maltese trot calendar includes two many championships, thus becoming too crammed and over-stressing our horses.

Others, like me, believe that championships are the centrepiece of this sport, the main attractions which pull people to the racecourse, with everybody being prepared to the limited to give its very best, and so the more championships we have the better it is.

In any case, the Maltese system in which horses are not invited for the finals as happens in the big European finals such as the Prix d’Amerique and the Elitloppet (which coincidentally will be held on Sunday), but have to pass through qualification phases with periods of time between them means that the number of championships that we can have in any season is necessarily limited.

Fi kwalunkwe kaz, is-sistema Maltija li fiha z-zwiemel ma jigix mistiedna ghall-finali bhal ma jigri fil-finali l-kbar fl-Ewropa bhall-Prix d’Amerique u l-Elitloppet (li kumbinazzjoni se tinzamm fi tmiem din il-gimgha), izda jkollhom ighaddu minn fazijiet ta’ kwalifikazzjoni b’perjodi ta’ zmien bejniethom ifisser li bilfors in-numru ta’ kampjonati li jista’ jkollna f’kull stagun huwa minnu nnifsu ristrett.

However everybody is entitled to his or her view – and so it should be!

So naturally, I was looking forward to the start of the Sette Giugno Cup championship. Open to our top class horses, this gives the possibility of following once more the cream of our horses in action.

Given that so far this year it was not possible to organise the Swedish trotters’ championship, this championship provides us with another opportunity of watching the best class of Swedish horses in action against horses of other nationalities. This championship, in contrast with the Tazza l-Kbira, will be held on the shorter 2,140m distance (only the first edition was on the Tazza l-Kbira distance of 2,640m).

In another contrast with the Tazza l-Kbira, this is one of the most recent championships in Maltese horse-racing. The first edition only took place in 2009 and so this will be the fifth one.

There are some differences between the first two editions and the following ones. The first two were known as the MRC Premier Trot, but in 2011 the names was changed to the Sette Giugno Cup, as it has remained to date, so that in this manner a link would be created with Maltese history and the timing when the final is held.

It has always been a relatively short championship. The first two editions consisted only of a direct final without qualification phases, where we had eight finalists with the possibility of reserves coming in instead of horses which may be scratched from the race. The following editions saw two phases, with the finalists emerging from a semi-final phase always reserved for Premier clas horses.

The first two editions were reserved for non-French horses, the following ones saw the addition of French horses eliminated from the Prix de Vincennes heats or which may not have participated in that championship.

The first edition, that held in June 2009, was held on the same day as the finals for the French trotters’ championships, and the next day’s newspapers gave little space to this final, with the centre of attraction being reserved for the French trotters’ finals.

However the popularity and prestige of this Cup increased with every edition that was held afterwards, especially when the semi-final phase was added and when the final was the highlight of the particular meeting.

To date, this championship’s winners were two Swedes, first Arnie Sensation and then Think Yatzee (twice) and finally the Dutch Zilver Boko. In the year in which it won this trophy, every one of them had a beautiful season; Arnie Sensation had finished runner-up in the Best trotter table for 2009, Think Yatzee had won four times and placed in the other races it competed in in each of the years 2010 and 2011, whilst Zilver Boko had won the Best Trotter honour for the year 2012.

From the eight horses we had in 2009 and 2010, the horses participating in this championship increased to 31 in 2011, 33 last year and this year we have 32. From these the only past winner was the first, Arnie Sensation, now aged 13 years and even this year a Tazza l-Kbira finalist.

Now that we have taken a look at the best, the time has come to turn to the present. We wish all the best to the owners of all participating horses u we keenly await to see which will be the nine finalists! With the quality of horses we can rest assured that whichever they may be these will guarantee a great final!

We wish you another great meeting next Sunday.