by Magnat
Another race-meeting will be held next Sunday 28th November at the Marsa race track with the first race being scheduled for 1.30pm.
The race card consists of no less than eleven races, nine trotting ones and two flat races, all of which are over short distances.
The two key races are semi-finals from the President’s Cup, a championship which used to be organised until a few years ago and is being revived this year, with the final being scheduled for the Republic Day (13th December) meeting.
This championship is being contested over a short 2,140m distance and is reserved for Premier class trotters of any nationality which have either not participated in the Prix de Vincennes or been eliminated from the heats of that championship last weekend.
Fourteen horses have been registered in each semi-final with five horses from each race qualifying for the final. A number of popular horses are scheduled to compete in this championship including some coming from very good recent performances such as Isolated, Alf Eme, Kejser Flamingo, Magnific As, Bello Fratello, Play on Me and others.
We also have a various newcomers participating in the first semi-final, including Swedish horse Carnegie Hall which at just 7 years old has already won SEK584,925 and has a best timing of 1’12’7 per kilometre, as well as French new horse Niarpan which at 9 years of age is the youngest French horse this year to exceed Euro330,000 of winnings and has a best time of 1’12’2 per kilometre. Other valid new horses here will be Jitterbug (SE), Gentle Way (SE) and Super TD Limburgia (GER).
The remaining races will see the return of the sprint 1,640m distance which has not been used in the last few months. These will involve three Copper class races, two Bronze class races (in one of which new horse Tapper Kana (SE) is scheduled to make its debut), one race reserved for Silver class horses and another for the Gold Class in which the horses have enough points to achieve promotion to the Premier class in case of a win or in some cases even a high placing.
After an absence of five meetings, we shall also have two flat races featuring in this programme. One is scheduled for Class A horses and another for Class B on the short 1,250m distance, with seven horses being registered in each race. Among the participants in Class A, we find recent winners Etoile du Pic and Mary Celest as well as Dama di Kirey, an Italian mare making its local debut.
This meeting should be a fitting continuation of those held last weekend where we had a total of 21 races which were all reserved for the SECF championships for French trotters. This saw the qualification of 20 horses for the semi-finals of the championship of each respective class which will be held on the 8th December.
These meetings were very well attended and saw some fiercely fought out races with close finishes , where qualifiers included a good mix of favourites and outsiders.
The three Premier class (Prix de Vincennes) heats saw the wins of legendary In Vitro du Bourg (his 31st win in Malta) and very popular horse James de l’Iton (both past winners of the Tazza l-Kbira and of the Prix de Vincennes) as well as relative newcomer Mont Cenis Honey at its second win from as many races with the best time of the two meetings, i.e. 1’16’5 per kilometre on the 2,640m distance.
Other notable performances included those of Larkay d’Echal in the Prix de Caen (Copper class) at its fifth consecutive win, Neo de Mira in the Prix de Cabourg (Silver class) at its third consecutive win, L’Alpha de Cosse and Major Luchois in the Prix d’Enghien (Gold class) at their fourth seasonal win, and others.
Our last word for today is one of support for jockey Michael Sultana who has been selected by the Malta Racing Club to represent Malta in the Mediterranean Union Jockey Championship Final which will be held in Siracusa, Sicily on the 8th December.
The fact that Malta is currently placed in joint first place in this championship’s standings together with Morocco, does honour to all those who work hard to promote flat racing in Malta and bears witness to the quality of the Maltese jockeys, despite their relatively small number. We are sure that Michael will train hard and give his utmost to achieve the best possible result for his country and his colleagues.
This is another occasion when Malta can show that despite its small size, the talent existing in our country is as strong as that of countries far larger than ours. It is also an exercise in teamwork where each jockey representing our country gives his best contribution for the benefit of the entire team. We wish our compatriot all the best and in particular, whatever the result, we are sure that he will be a fine example of Maltese horseracing sportsmanship both on and off the track.
Best wishes for another exciting meeting next Sunday.
