by Magnat

Race-meetings will be held at the Marsa race track next Friday (25th) and Sunday (27th) March. Friday’s meeting will be the first evening meeting this year and will commence at 6pm, whilst Sunday’s meeting will commence at 2pm.

Each is an eleven-race, all-trot meeting over a short distance of 2,140m, except for the two Emirates Tazza l-Kbira semi-finals which will be over 2,640m.

Friday’s meeting will include a Copper Class race, a Bronze Class race, no less than six Silver Class races, one race for Gold class horses and two for the Premier class.

The Premier class races include a number of trotters which have just ended their commitments in the Emirates Tazza l-Kbira. In the first we have horses which are relatively close to the Premier class points limit whilst the second includes those with a higher number of points, such as among others U*Bet Premier class championship winner Think Yatzee, former Prix de Vincennes winner Joker de Choisel, Ker Pellois (winner of four out of its last five outings), last December’s President’s Cup winner Lucas Ness, as well as four newcomers, i.e. French horses Milord Barbes and Milord du Biwetz, Swede Belafonte and Danish horse Hannibal K.

Interestingly, eleven-year old Hannibal K has winnings overseas of over three times the minimum necessary to qualify for the Premier class, i.e. NOK1,525,317, and has a best time of 1’12’5 per kilometre.

Sunday’s race-card is dominated by the two Emirates Tazza l-Kbira semi-finals at the end of which we will have the ten finalists (five from each race).

The first semi-final sees the following: Count of Life, Gentle Way, Glory Cowboyland, Kakisis , Arnie Sensation, Flash Coger, Madis Boy, Neo de Mira, Liosco Atout, Race Ball, Magnific As and Lonshults Anders, whilst the second includes Lou Petiot, Netter Williams, Isolated, James de l’Iton, Major Chaleonnais, Affe Fager, Wiss Night Hawk, Mon Daniel, Kain Poifond, Kalipso Pierji, Malin Roro and Marathon Villers – 13 French horses, 9 Swedish trotters, 1 Danish and another Finish.

The remaining races consist of three Copper class, four Bronze class and two Gold class races. In the Gold class, we will see Swedish newcomer Trackstar, which at the relatively young age of six years already won SEK454,500 overseas, with a best time of 1’13’4 per kilometre and whose best performances in 2010 include two wins on 2,160m at Skelleftea and Solvalla race-tracks.

Apart from the above-mentioned newcomers, another fourteen trotters are registered to make their debut, i.e. Onegeur (FR), Obscur de Busset (FR), Onlooker (FR), Onwards Star (FR), Oscardo du Val (FR), Urido Limburgia (GE), Victory Farming (SE), Nastown de Guez (FR), Lucymeister (NO), Wonderofyou (SE) and Proudest Jake (FI) all in the Silver class, and Nustang de Chenu (FR), Triumf Sund (SE) and Narval du Donjon (FR) in the Gold class.

Last meeting
Due to bad weather, last Sunday’s meeting was a postponement of the meeting that was due to be held on the 13th March. It consisted of eleven trot races and one flat race (in which French horses Joliminoi and Sagouin also made their debut).

This was dominated by the four Emirates Tazza l-Kbira quarter-finals, where we saw wins for Lonshults Anders which led for most of the race and managed to maintain its leadership till the end, veteran James de l’Iton which spent long stretches of its race running two wide but was still strong enough to win in the meeting’s best time of 1’17’1 per kilometre, Kakisis which won by the smallest of margins thanks to a late sprint, while Marathon Villers won its second consecutive race from as many races in Malta after dominating its quarter-final.

The other races also saw a number of horses register their second win, either their second consecutive one, i.e. Mirall Composite (Copper class), Noe de Loudat (Bronze class) and Niko de Chamant (Silver class), or their second seasonal win (Energy Launcher – Gold class and Natif du Moulin – Silver class). Finally, Judoka du Rib (Copper class) and Jet de Mee (Silver class – in a good time of 1’17’4 per kilometre on 2,640m) won their respective races, whilst Irish horse Tarruji won its third consecutive Class A flat race.

Other news
During the last meeting, we also saw a number of presentations as a result of re-classifications caused by positive doping tests. Kakisis was declared last season’s most consistent trotter, Lucas Ness is the winner of the President’s Cup held last December, and Internet is the winner of last February’s U*Bet championship Bronze class final.

Flashbacks from the past
As this year’s Tazza l-Kbira semi-finals are about to take place, flashbacks from past Tazza l-Kbira semi-finals pass through our minds.

The early seventies saw the start of a revival in Maltese horse-racing with the importation of a good number of quality horses. The edition of forty years ago saw the removal of the handicap system in this championship with all horses starting from scratch. In those days, the championship was contested over heats, semi-finals and final.

That year, the Tazza l-Kbira semi-finals took place on the 2nd May 1971, with wins going to Urus du Padoueng (at its second race – and win – in Malta) which won arguably the more balanced semi-final from Renov Vit and Quinadou, and to Setu Kerveyer which recorded the best time and won from Sanglier and Solide Espoir. Other horses making it to the final were Quillaja, Quiscale III, Sam II and Ulvik.

Thirty-five years ago, the semi-finals were due to be held on the 25th April 1976, but the first was annulled because a power failure prevented a false start called by the stewards from being noticed by the drivers who continued the race. The second saw relative newcomer Borely Victor leading for most of the race followed closely by Alcyon III which went in front around 300m from the finish line and held the lead until the end, to win from Borely Victor, Unique Tresor, Au Fond des Bois and Berberis II.

The first semi-final was re-run on 2nd May. In last place for most of the race, Ultra Son B started a steady run in the last phase and won from Atome II, Trigny, Urbain L and Acteon Joli.

Which horses will make it to the final this year? We will know the answer next Sunday.

We wish you all two exciting meetings this week-end.