by Magnat
Race-meetings will be held at the Marsa race track next Saturday (23rd) and Sunday (24th) April (Easter Sunday). Saturday’s meeting will start at 2pm with Sunday’s at 2.30pm.
Each meeting will feature eight trot races, all over 2,640m except for one race over 2,140m.
The meetings’ highlight is expected to be the Premier class race in each meeting, with both having a full field of 16 horses. Saturday’s race features horses which are close to the Gold class and includes some coming from good performances in their last three races, such as Carnegie Hall (a win and a place), Bill Boing (two places), Gentle Way (two places) and others.
It also features Swedish newcomer Candy Fantasy, which at just six years of age has already won SEK565,400 overseas, and whose best performances in 2010 in Swedish racetracks include four second places and a third place on distances varying between 1,640m and 2,660m and its best time of 1’12’4 per kilometre on 1,640m.
Sunday’s Premier class race features horses having higher points. These include trotters such as Livi Cantona (five wins in its last seven races), U*Bet Premier class Championship winner Think Yatzee, Belafonte, Master Perrine and Mon Daniel (each coming from a win and a place in the last three races) and various others.
It also includes two horses making their debut, i.e. Milton Malhis (FR) and Uncle Sund (SE). The latter has won around double the minimum winnings necessary to qualify for the Premier class, i.e. NOK946,753 (around SEK1,100,000) and has a best time of 1’12’7 per kilometre over 1,640m.
We also have an interesting Gold class race in each meeting with various popular horses, some of which have also competed in the Premier class in the past.
We also welcome the Finnish drivers who are visiting Malta this weekend to compete in a race over 2,140m comprising them and a number of Maltese drivers. This is an occasion for friendly competition and the creation of relationships between our drivers and their foreign counterparts.
Apart from the above newcomers, the following are also expected to make their local debut this weekend: Ocean Gede (FR) in the Silver class, Napolitano Sun (FR) in the Gold class and Olifant du Pouy (FR) in the Malta-Finland Race.
Last meeting
The key feature of last Sunday’s meeting was the Assikura Cup semi-finals over 2,140m, reserved for horses which are neither French nor Swedish. We now have all the finalists of this championship.
The first semi-final for the Premier, Gold and Silver classes resulted in a win for Obi Wan Kenobi which led from start to finish to beat fellow qualifiers Socrates and Baronello.
In the second, Indian Attack produced a strong final sprint to win from Big Hit and Bete Saknussen, which also made it to the final. In the last semi-final Count of Life overtook newcomer Arifant in the final straight and went on to win in the meeting’s best time of 1’16’9 per kilometre, with Newman finishing third.
In the semi-finals for the Bronze and Copper classes, Boston Harbor obtained its second consecutive win in the first one, whilst Great Line registered a close win in the second. The other qualifiers are Kejser Engely, Blizzard, Lemon Solo, Papa’s Dream, Lazume Simoni, Divinis, Zut and Insa.
In the Gold class we saw Energy Launcher’s fourth seasonal win and its promotion to the Premier class, whilst Magnifique Sablais registered its third seasonal win in the Silver class to achieve promotion to the Gold class.
The two flat races over the short 1,250m distance saw the dominance of Mayfair Princess which registered its first win in Malta by a considerable margin in Class B, whilst newcomer Kimberley Downs had a winning debut in Class A.
Variety in horse ages
A feature which strikes me in the Maltese horse-racing scene is the variety of ages of horses competing locally. Not being a racehorse-breeding country, our horses are virtually all imported after they complete their career overseas.
Thus trotters often start racing here aged between 9 and 11 years, when they are close to or have reached the racing age limit in the respective foreign country or did not (or are unlikely to) reach the winnings’ targets set to continue racing there.
Yet, a number of them continue to perform extremely well locally. Some even manage to make their absolute personal best time here and sometimes (could it be that the local track is more suitable to their running or that they strike a better relationship with their Maltese trainer/ driver?), have performances which are on par or better than those at a younger age overseas.
Recently, we have also seen an encouraging number of (mainly Scandinavian) horses making their debut in the higher classes at younger ages of 6 – 8 years, when they often still have good margins for improvement and which should allow us to enjoy them locally during their peak years.
As they grow older, less horses manage to continue competing (as is also the case abroad, where the number of horses of a particular generation reduce annually, even from a relatively young age). But some of them continue performing at praiseworthy levels even as they grow older.
Having winners of the Emirates Tazza l-Kbira aged 14 and 13 years, a horse aged 13 which beat younger Maltese and Italian competitors in Siracusa to win the Trofeo del Mediterraneo, a U*Bet championship winner and a qualifier for one of this year’s Assikura Cup finals both aged 15, are some of the examples which confirm this.
Indeed, similarly to some human athletes who with appropriate training and discipline manage to keep up with their juniors even at a ripe age, a number of our horses show that despite being not so young, with proper care and training, they may still have a lot to offer.
We wish you all two exciting meetings this weekend and a Happy Easter.
