This Saturday, Charles Camilleri the top Maltese horse racing driver for 2009, will be representing our country at the prestigous race, the “Prix des rencontres internationales du Trotteur Francais”.
The race will be held at the famous “hippodrome de Vincenne”, south of Paris, which is were the top trotting races in Europe, if not in the world, are held. The most famous race of them all is the “Prix D’Amerique”, which is held annually on the last Sunday of January.
Together with Mr. Camilleri, the Maltese representative, a host of famous known names and top drivers in their respective countries will be all vying to win this prestigous honour. Most famous of them all and the race favourite is JM Bazirre, who will be driving horse number 11, OKYO D’OCCAGNES. Charles Camilleri will be starting right next to him with number 12, QUITA DU NOYER. The race will start at 16:50 and will be the 7th race of a very important racing programme scheduled for this Saturday. It will be screened live on French horse racing television EQUIDA.
MAX DE GUEZ, driven by the Norwegian driver HP Tholfsen is the horse with the most career winnings of more than EUR 520,000, followed by MASTER PERRINE with more than EUR380,000. The latter horse should soon be running in Malta, as it has been recently acquired by a Maltese owner.
Charles Camilleri when contact said, “the mare looks to be a consistent runner, with a very good track record and we are all hopeful to do well in this race.” Mr. Camilleri has also recently participated in the Cagnes Sur Mer leg of this year’s Mediterranean Horse Racing Championship, which helped the Maltese Team to eventually finish top in this year’s championship. This major honour for local horse racing was also recognized at the recently held MOC awards.
Mr Camilleri will be accompanied by Mr Calcidon Bilocca and Mr Vincent Debono, the owners of the crowd favourite and top Maltese horse IN VITRO DU BOURG, who will be honoured with the top French Horse award by the French Federation at a gala dinner on Friday.
The Malta Racing Club representative, Mr Mark Vella said, “we are very proud of our drivers when they represent Malta outside our shores. In fact we managed to win both the 2008 and 2009 Prix de Malte competitions held in Laval and Cordemais respectively. Charles Camilleri is very professional, and we are sure he will do well in this race.” He continued, “we always aim for the win, but most of all we want our drivers to feel proud when they represent our country and to learn and share their experiences. Such a race is the aim for all other young drivers who dream that one day they will be driving in Vincenne next to most of the best and well known drivers in the world.”
The starting line up is:
1 NATIEU D'ECHAL M. VOLF Check Republic
2 MALIX DE LA MERITE K. VOLODYMYR Ukraine
3 MAGIC DE ASSIGNY A. DENES Hungary
4 MAX DE GUEZ H.P. THOLFSEN Norway
5 MARK DE CHAMANT G. VERGAERDE Belgium
6 MASTER PERRINE J.B. MATTHEY Switzerland
7 MOULIN DE MYKONOS G. BOLSHAKOV Russia
8 MATADOR DE VRIE V. RIMSAS Lithuania
9 NAXOS DE CRENNES A. MOLLEMA (Pays-Bas) Holland
10 ORAGE DU PONT A. FRONTERA Spain
11 OKYO D'OCCAGNES J.M. BAZIRE France
12 QUITA DU NOYER C. CAMILLERI Malta
13 OTTO DES SABLETTES H. WEWERING Germany
14 PETER PAN SCOTT ZERON Canada
