by Magnat

Two race-meetings will be held this weekend at the Marsa race track. The first is scheduled for next Friday at 7pm with the second being held on Sunday commencing at 2pm.

Eight races are scheduled in each meeting, all of which are trotting races except for the third race on Friday which will be a flat race.

The spotlight will be on the two Dragonara Casino Championship semi-finals which will be held during Sunday’s meeting over a 2,640m distance. Both of them will involve various popular Premier class trotters, with the first featuring among others Arnie Sensation, Kakisis, Think Yatzee and James de l’Iton and the second including horses such as Lou Petiot, Lipouz Lesmelchen and Play on Me.

Five horses from each semi-final will qualify for the final which will be held on Sunday 7th November, whilst the remaining horses will qualify for the consolation final which is scheduled for Friday 5th November.

All the other classes will also be in action in the heats for the Condition race for each of the Copper, Bronze, Silver and Gold classes. As has been the case in the first heats held last Sunday, the distance will be a long one of 3,140m and practically each race involves a large number of participating horses which makes the outcome extremely interesting and difficult to predict.

The fifth race on Friday’s programme will be a young drivers race on 2140m featuring ten drivers. Such races are useful because they promote our hard-working youngsters who represent the future of this sport and who I am sure will continue in the footsteps of legendary past and present drivers and make us proud with their professionalism in future. They all deserve our full encouragement and support.

Two trotters are scheduled to make their debut: Number One of Max (FR) in the Silver Class and Crane Beach (GER) in the Gold Class.

Seven horses are registered to take part in the Flat race which will be run over a short 1,250m distance. This is a maiden race reserved for horses which have not yet won in Malta and includes two new thoroughbreds, i.e. Miss Chevalier (IR) and Montarral (IR).

If this weekend’s races will mirror those held last week, two very interesting programmes await us. Indeed, the last meeting involved a large number of strong and close finishes whether for wins or places. It was clear that a strong will to perform well existed among the participants.

Races in the Copper, Bronze and Silver classes were heats for the Condition race finals that will be held on the 7th November and the requisite number of horses qualified from each class with the remainder qualifying in the course of this weekend.

No less than four horses, Niko de Chamant (Silver), Izor Rick (Malta-Eskilstuna), Lady Holmely (Silver) and Nimeno (Bronze) won their first race in Malta.

Le Bon Mayennais won the Premier class race with a strong sprint in the final straight. A horse who had some very good performances over long distances even in France, it recorded the best time of the season on the 3,140m distance, i.e. 1’17’5 per kilometre.

The Malta – Eskilstana Finn-Tack Amateur race which featured five Swedish drivers and seven Maltese ones was won by Maltese driver Karl Debono who was partnering Izor Rick. Swedish driver Ronald Jansson partnering newcomer Cocos Kaos was second.

The Class A flat race resulted in another close finish with mare Etoile du Pic winning ahead of favourite Mr Roxy Music after a tussle at the end of the race.

It was fitting that during last Sunday’s meeting the Malta Racing Club presented to the public and officially honoured the six drivers (Alan Agius, George Attard, Charles Camilleri, Carl Caruana, Frencu Cassar and Tony Demanuele) that formed the Maltese winning team in the Mediterranean Horse Racing Union trotting Championship 2010. The MRC will be nominating this team for the Malta Olympic Committee’s awards.

These drivers have done us proud with their quality and teamwork. They led a small nation like Malta to win this championship against much larger competing countries. It is fitting that as a nation we recognise the achievements of Maltese sports persons whenever we achieve such prestigious results.

We wish you all another two exciting meetings.