by Magnat
After the B.O.V. Tazza l-Kbira heats in last week’s long weekend, another race meeting will be held next Sunday 6th April composed of nine trot races all over the short 2,140m distance, with the first race starting at 1.45pm.
The highlights of this meeting are the final of the Ray Auto Dealer Challenge Cup for Silver class trotters and two Gold class “normal” races.
The participants in the final (ten geldings and two mares) hail from France – seven, Sweden – four and one from the Netherlands, with their ages varying between 8 and 12 years.
Quid de la Muette, Partner Blue and Quioco Dry won both their heat and their semi-final, whilst Command Coger, Roma M and Ollico Pellois won one of their qualifiers and placed in the other. These will be challenged by some splendid competitors which are coming from two or more consecutive places, i.e. Law Suit, Quatre de Coeur, Pirate d’Urzy, Zizazimoko, Ringo Flower and Mr Snowman.
The best time in the heats was that registered by Quioco Dry of 1’15’6 per kilometre, whilst Quid de la Muette made the semi-finals’ best time of 1’15’8 per kilometre.
Nearly half of these horses have already been promoted to the Gold class on the strength of their recent beautiful performances.
A balanced and exciting final is anticipated, with the prize-money reaching Euro1,200 (equivalent to that of a Premier class race), with Euro675 going to the winner.
We also take the opportunity of wholeheartedly thanking Ray Auto Dealer for kindly supporting this sport by sponsoring this successful championship.
Then the meeting also reserves for us two exciting Gold class races. The first features various in-form horses such as Obelix Molgard, Rocky de Jervi and Quio de Nappes, all having a win and a place in their last three outings, Beckham Bob which has won earlier this year, and Count of Life and New Star D K, coming from good places, among others.
The second one then contains a mix of trotters which were recently racing in the Premier class, such as Zandina Boshoeve, Pro Shop, Nagano Phedo, Give To Get and Nitesco d’Antony, which should be competitive in this class, with in-form participants such as Blizzard AD, Nubi Lens, Wies Buitenzorg and Why Not As among others, which are coming from good wins or places in their last couple of races.
In addition to two Bronze class races, we also have four Silver class “normal” races (making this meeting a real celebration of this class), two of which (the second and the eighth races on the card) are characterised by an impressive contingent of newcomers, namely six in the second race and seven in the eight race.
These are French nine year olds Reziro Josselyn, Rex Rose, Record du Stade and Ringo Ges and Swedes six year old Vesterbo Mugger and seven year old Double Kiss in the second race and French ten year olds Quakers Extreme, Quirinus Vrie and Quibus and nine year old Rubis d’Olivier, Swedes nine year old Blott Tooma and seven year old Purple Hall and Dutch 7 year old Archie Boko.
French 6 year old Uranus du Cours is scheduled to debut in the Bronze class.
Whilst the qualifiers for the BOV Tazza l-Kbira semi-finals take a break this week, this meeting is characterised by another championship, the Ray Auto Dealer Challenge Cup for the Silver class, the class with the largest number of trotters here in Malta. Making it to the final out of an original list of 114 participants is an honour in itself – but winning it would certainly be the cherry on the cake! This important final will also be supported by a backdrop of interesting “normal” races which will certainly also present exciting fare for all those present at the racecourse.
Last Meetings
The highlights of last weekend’s meetings were undoubtedly the five heats from this year’s edition of the Bank of Valletta Tazza l-Kbira for Premier and Gold class trotters on the 2,640m distance, supported by a number of “normal” trot races on the shorter 2,140m distance, including two for Gold class trotters and a Class A flat race on the extremely long 2,250m distance.
BOV Tazza l-Kbira heats
Vitas took an early lead in the first heat which took place during Sunday’s meeting and after being briefly substituted by Madam di Poggio, it soon went in front once again. At the start of the last lap, Quiet Way arrived head-to-head with Vitas and took the lead with around 800m to go, with Petunia du Pont attacking it on the back straight.
However with 450m to go, Perceval went three wide and advanced to come head-to-head with Quiet Way and Petunia du Pont with 300m to go. Perceval then took the upper hand at the entry of the final straight, and sprinted strongly to secure its first win in Malta, two and a half lengths ahead of Tap Dance, followed by other qualifiers Madam di Poggio, Quiet Way, Chiara Sisu and Poulot des Cinty, in a time of 1’16’0 per kilometre.
The second heat had little story as Pacha de la Frette took an early lead and led the field at a comfortable pace followed closely for most of the distance by Olry Meslois. However Pacha de la Frette increased its speed in the last half lap and in the final straight it successfully resisted various horses’ attack, to also claim its first win in Malta in 1’17’9 per kilometre, nearly two lengths ahead of the fast-finishing newcomer Prieure’, followed into the semi-finals by Poppes Fighter, Arnie Sensation, Ourasi Diams and Shakira Trot.
The third heat saw the lead changing hands various times in the first lap, with horses such as Pat de Fontaine, Quintet and True Q, among others, all being in front for some time. However, The Bad Rock went in front with a mile to go. Cloria Victis then advanced well to come head-to-head with the race leader with a lap to go.
However in the back straight we saw an impressive acceleration by Pat de Fontaine, in sixth place, which went out three wide to come close to The Bad Rock and Cloria Victis at the start of the final straight.
And it was indeed Pat de Fontaine that was the strongest horse thoughout the final straight, taking the lead with 150m to go and proceeding undisturbed to its first win in Malta in the best time of these heats, 1’15’3 per kilometre, more than two lengths ahead of Pouloud Keroc’h, followed by The Bad Rock, Oran, Cloria Victis and Midnight Passion which all made it to the semi-finals.
It is worth noting that in this heat Lorraine Cunningham (on P.A. Surprise), became the first female driver to participate in the Tazza l-Kbira in this prestigious cup’s 80 year history. Congratulations Lorraine!
Then in the fourth heat (the first of Monday’s meeting), newcomer Ego Sanna took an early lead followed by various horses, including other newcomer Quirio Charm and Vanmaker Limburgia. The situation remained the same for long stretches, but from the middle of the backstraight we saw the determined advance of another newcomer, running two wide, Papy de la Potel, which 300m from the end caught up with second placed Quirio Charm and attacked frontrunner Ego Sanna in the final straight.
Papy de la Potel went ahead in the last 80m and had a dream debut, winning by a length from the fast finishing Oltedo de Rieux, followed by Quirio Charm, Vanmaker Limburgia, Ego Sanna and Totti T. Dream which qualified for the semi-finals. The winner’s time was 1’16’7 per kilometre.
Original Blue led the field for most of the last heat, with Nabab du Chatelet advancing on the outer lanes, to come close to the race leader with over a lap to go. However Made In Hoff sprinted brilliantly three wide as from the middle of the backstraight, to catch up with Original Blue with 300m to go.
Made In Hoff took the lead soon after the start of the final straight but we soon saw a punishing sprint by Vejby Boom which resulted in an exciting finish, with the latter managing to reach the finshing post first by just a head from the same Made In Hoff to claim its second consecutive and third seasonal win in 1’17’0 per kilometre. Sultan November, Absolute Spender, Nabab du Chatelet and Original Blue, in that order, were the last to make it to the semi-finals.
Gold class
Means Nothing took an early lead in the first Gold class race, but it was overtaken after around 300m by Quazoumax, which remained in front for most of the race. However as from the middle of the back straight we saw an impressive sprint three wide by Cowboy Party which led it to advance up to the race leader with 250m to go.
Cowboy Party took the lead at the start of the final straight and went on to dominate the remainder of the race, claiming its first win in Malta in 1’16’3 per kilometre, three lengths ahead of Quarborandum, followed by Quazoumax and Means Nothing.
Edge Trick went in front early in the second Gold class race maintaining the lead until the backstraight, when 850m from the end, Xray Hornline overtook the race leader with Quiz du Lys following closely.
Quiz du Lys caught up with Xray Hornline with 300m to go, went ahead at the start of the final straight and sprinted strongly till the end to claim its second consecutive win from its two races in Malta in 1’16’4 per kilometre, a length and a half ahead of the fast finishing newcomer Quermes Rush, followed by Pan des Couperies and Happiness Photo.
Class A flat race
Kimberley Downs was the fastest out of the starting gates in the Class A flat race followed closely by Ollie Fliptrik. The latter managed to go in front after 700m, but in the middle of the backstraight Kimberley Downs launched its decisive attack, took the lead again and then had no challengers until the end as it accelerated further, to claim its first seasonal win (its thirteenth in Malta) in 2’21’49, three lengths ahead from Ollie Fliptrik, followed by Buttermilk.
Hero from the past: Neronien – Interview with its trainer and driver Emmanuel Fenech (Part 3)
This is the last part of the interesting interview with Emmanuel Fenech regarding Neronien. In this last part, we focus on the horse’s training and on its characteristics during races.
Question: What did Neronien’s training consist of?
Answer: Due to the fact that it was fire-blistered in its hind legs I took special care of it and I never gave it hard training (galoppi). I used to take it for a swim every day. One of Louis’ employees used to come at 11am and we would spend until 12pm or 12.30pm at the sea every day. It remained a beauty of a horse until the end.
I used to take it for track training on Tuesday and Friday and would give it 10,000 metres (ten laps), take it inside the paddock and then out again. If it would have raced on Sunday, Monday would be a rest day but on Tuesday I would take it down for training at the track. Twice a week was dedicated to track training.
I used to feed it a country mix and it used to love it so much that it would not run unless you gave it that food. However then it used to eat so much that it would get heavy and hence the need to give it some solid training. An hour and a quarter, an hour and a half every time.
It used to accept the training and thus it would burn what it would have eaten.
I used to put two horse blankets on it and cover it with plastic to make it sweat. It used to follow that regime from when it came to Malta until it stopped racing.
One needed to harness it every day. One can’t say “today I am not in the mood” or “I am going to skip it”.
I used to put it in harness in the morning and then in the evening we would take it for a quiet quarter of an hour - half an hour walk on a lead. Because notwithstanding its hyper character it was as quiet as a baby in the evenings.
In the evenings my brothers and sisters used to come up to Louis’ house and I used to tell them to take it for a quiet walk on a lead.
Its paddock was annexed to Louis’ house in Attard – I had around a tumolo and a half, two tumoli where to train it.
Question: Did you use to alter its training regime when a race was coming up?
Answer: When we would have a race ahead of us, I would somewhat intensify its training. Always for an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half. And as soon as I would intensify its training it seemed as if it knew that a race was coming and would become hyper. It’s unbelievable!
It was a tough training programme even on me but I did not mind it because what I used to do with him during the week, the horse would give back on Sunday in the race. It gave me a lot of satisfaction because I won various races with it.
And the horse was very attached to me. If another person harnesses it and takes it for a couple of laps of training, it would look at me in a surprised and questioning manner; it would realise that I would not be on it.
Question: At the time races used to have either a standing start or an autostart. Which did the horse prefer?
Answer: Its preference was clearly the autostart. It was simply not good at all with a standing start because it used to start with a galopp not with a trotting gait.
Question: What about the horse during the race, would it would prefer to run short or long distances, bare-foot or shoed etc?
Answer: It was a bright horse. I could split the race in any way I wanted. If I found the first lap to be slow, I would take it out three wide and advance up the field. It was also not one of those horses that one would uncover only in the last part of the race. It had a pace and it could maintain it.
It was also a very regular horse. Once it changed gain in a championship final, which was won by Neroli de Vaure, but it never did it again. It was an honest horse.
It always used to run shoed because at that time we did not use to race horses barefoot.
It could run both long and short distances – it was a versatile horse.
In Malta we saw some of Neronien’s best running. It made 1’17’6 on 2,150m whilst its record in France was 1’17’4 on the mile – really close!
Question: What had happened for it to have stopped racing at 14 years in the middle of the 1992-93 season?
Answer: At the end of its career, it started opening up to the outer lanes in the backstraight. It would still do a decent time, but it did not maintain the stamina to go all the way.
At some stage it started wheezing and I got a specialist to operate on him and found serious problems with its throat. And the specialist told me that he would not operate the horse and that I should not continue racing with it because there was a risk that it could collapse and die on the racecourse. And so, I stopped racing it.
Louis used to really love the horse and his children used to treat it as if it was their own child. He had constructed a paddock with a stable from which it could go in and out. However I never left it free in the paddock because it was a big horse and if it were to start playing about in the paddock it could have finished up injured.
Question: One final comment ...
Answer: Neronien was a great-hearted horse and I will remember it forever. I had gone up to France to buy it and it was an enormous success!
We sincerely thank Mr Emmanuel Fenech for his availability to share with us these great memories. These form part of Maltese horse-racing history and record for posterity the exploits of both Neronien and Mr Fenech himself. Well done Emmanuel!
We welcome suggestions regarding people we can interview for their memories about other legendary racehorses here in Malta.
We wish you another exciting meeting on Sunday.
