by Magnat

Two race-meetings will be held over the coming week at the Marsa race track. The first is scheduled for next Sunday and the following on Wednesday of next week, a public holiday, being the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Both meetings commence at 1.30pm and will each comprise 10 races.

Next Sunday’s will be one of the few December meetings not featuring any championship but will include various points of interest. The all-trot race card over the sprint 1,640m distance contains one Copper class race, three Bronze class races, four Silver class races and two reserved for the Gold class. We hope to see good times being registered in this meeting.

The two Gold class races take centre stage in this meeting and include a number of horses coming from recent good performances, such as Lord of Rush, Livi Cantona, Giant Game and Chef F.C.

An interesting newcomer is Swedish horse Totti Boko having a best time of 1’12’6 per kilometre and winnings of over SEK1,100,000 in Sweden and nearly Euro14,700 in France where it continued its career. He will debut in the Gold rather than the Premier class, under the rule classifying horses on the basis of winnings parameters relative to the last country in which they have raced for some time.

Apart from the afore-mentioned Totti Boko, three other trotters will make their debut in the Gold class, i.e. Not Before (FR), Stormy Sand (SE) and Tornado Hornline (SE). Another new horse, Mattahari (SE), will feature in the Bronze class in this meeting.

Whilst next Sunday’s meeting will have a very international flavour with horses originating from eleven countries, that of Wednesday 8th December will be reserved for French horses. The latter meeting will be dedicated exclusively to the semi-finals of the SECF championships featuring some of the best French horses on the Island.

Two semi-finals will be held in the championship reserved for each class, with five horses from each semi-final (i.e. ten in total) qualifying for each final. The finals will be held on Sunday 19th December.

Each of the two Prix de Vincennes (Premier class) semi-finals has an impressive field of trotters, worthy of a final. The first includes horses such as James de l’Iton, Lou Petiot, Mont Cenis Honey, Mica Bonero, as well as all the others, with the second featuring In Vitro du Bourg, Kakisis, Lady de Vindecy, Liosco Atout, Madis Boy and the remaining, equally valid, horses.

The two Prix d’Engien (Gold class) semi-finals also include a number of top-class performers such as L’Alpha de Cosse, Lascar Beaujolais and Never Better which are all coming from two consecutive victories and Major Luchois which won twice and placed another time in its last three outings. Even these semi-finals are expected to be extremely balanced and will include various horses having a successful past career in France.

Indeed, choosing winners and qualifiers in each semi-final is currently a matter for considerable debate given the quality of all horses featuring in each of the five championships.

Last Sunday, centre-stage was occupied by the two President’s Cup semi-finals reserved for Premier class horses which either did not compete in the SECF championship or else were eliminated from the said championship in the heats.

The first semi-final saw the second consecutive win for Swedish horse Isolated which launched its attack in the last phase of the race and won ahead of newcomers Carnegie Hall and Niarpan, with Alf Eme and Melino du Rib also making it to the final. In the second race, another Swede, Arnie Sensation, registered the better time in these two races (1’15’9 per kilometre on 2,140m) finishing ahead of the other finalists Lucas Ness, Enjoy Kronos, Bello Fratello and Shamin.

Lord The Best returned to the Premier class with a splendid win in the Gold Class, registering the best time of the meeting at 1’15’1 per kilometre on a 1,640m distance.
The two flat races had completely different endings. British mare Minnow won the Class B race by a large margin, whilst in Class A, Irish mare Mary Celest won its second consecutive race after a very hard tussle with Mean Mr Mustard and Etoile du Pic which finished second and third respectively.

Our last reflection is inspired by the various championships being held at the Marsa race-track these last couple of months. The trotters qualifying for the respective finals provide an interesting insight into the Maltese horse-racing scene. They come from different countries (except in championships reserved for a particular nationality) especially France and Sweden but also with a representation from other countries, particularly other Scandinavian ones.

Ages also tend to vary widely, being mainly in the nine to twelve year age bracket but also with a few relatively younger seven or eight year olds and some representatives of the thirteen year and older generation. In particular however, one can note among those making it to the finals, the mix of favourites and outsiders, of horses having a successful past in their country of origin and those which perhaps might not have shown so much value overseas but are showing their true worth in Malta.

All this, together with some fine times registered, bear testimony to the keen competition in the horse-racing scene and to the pride and commitment with which racehorses are cared for in Malta.

We wish you all another two pleasant meetings this coming week.