by Magnat

Race-meetings will be held at the Marsa race track next Friday (27th) and Sunday (29th) May, with each meeting comprising 10 races. Friday’s meeting will start at 6.30pm, with Sunday’s beginning at 2.00pm.

The most attractive features of these two meetings are the SECF championships semi-finals reserved for French trotters competing in each respective class (two semi-finals for each class spread between Friday and Sunday), and the semi-finals of the McDonald’s Mediterranean Derby for thoroughbreds being held on Friday.

Trot races will be over a 2,140m distance with flat races having a 1,750m distance.

The main focus of the SECF championships are expected to be the two Prix de Vincennes (Premier class) semi-finals. These feature a total of 16 horses with ages of between 11 and 15 years, nearly all of which had exceeded Euro200,000 in race-winnings in France.

Even in Malta, these horses have been prominent in various championships, and among them we have winners of It-Tazza l-Kbira, Prix de Vincennes, Dragonara Casino championship, Premio Trofeo del Mediterraneo and Summer Championships, among others. The semi-finalists also include a number of relative newcomers which have already started showing their worth in Malta.

Even the championships for the other classes include a number of popular trotters. For instance in the Prix d’Enghien (Gold class), we will see horses aged between 9 and 15 years, most of which had more than Euro145,000 in race-winnings in France, and in Malta have previously raced in the Premier class and performed well in past Prix d’Enghien and other championships.

The first five horses from each semi-final make it to the final so that we should have ten horses in each of the five finals.

The other trot races are two for the Copper class, one for the Bronze class, three for Silver class horses and two Gold class races. In these races we have the following registered newcomers: Demi Deck (SE), Law Suit (SE), Next Haufor (FR), Opera du Pam (FR – previously scratched), Osay du Viette (FR) and Westside Photo (SE) in the Silver class, and Nacarat Campbell (FR) and Nouxor (FR) in the Gold class.

Then sixteen of the best thoroughbreds will compete in two McDonald’s Mediterranean Derby semi-finals. The first four horses from each semi-final qualify for the McDonald’s Mediterranean Derby final which will be held on the 7th June.

These include horses originating in the Czech Republic, France, Great Britain, Ireland and the USA, among which the last two years’ Mediterranean Derby winner Just The Best, various horses which won at least once in their last three outings, i.e. Uncle Bertie, Tarruji, Giada Med, Mayfair Princess, Kimberley Downs and Ollie Fliptrik, and the remaining horses, which are all worthy of a place in the final.

So, a weekend of fine racing, both for trotters and thoroughbreds, awaits us…

Last meeting
Last Sunday’s meeting was dominated by three semi-finals for the Sette Giugno Cup (successor to last year’s MRC Premier Trot) reserved for Premier class trotters over a 2,140m distance. Three qualifiers from each semi-final qualified for the final which will be held on the 7th June.

The first semi-final saw Gentle Way going in front in the last 300 metres and resisting a strong challenge from Isolated to take its second seasonal win from the latter and Super Qui, which also qualified for the final.

Then it was Arnie Sensation’s turn to register its second win this year, taking the lead in the final straight and holding on till the end, to beat fellow qualifiers Mentor de l’Iton and Energy Launcher, in the meeting’s joint best time of 1’16’1 per kilometre.

Finally, Think Yatzee registered its 13th win in Malta and its 3rd this year, launching its strong attack in the last lap and keeping up the pace till the finish-line to also register a time of 1’16’1 per kilometre. Newcomers Nobel de Grimoult and Skip Dimanche finished behind him and also made it to the final.

We also had a bright performance by Jobie Lucky in the Gold class race, which resulted in its first win in Malta, by a good margin ahead of Kingpin La Marc and Biggles Coquet.

The other winners of the day were Orlando Tejy and Major Mitri in the Silver class, each of which registered its first win in Malta, Narval d’Haufor (also its first win in Malta), Pout de Quelaines (second win in Malta and this season), Divinis (third win this season) and Nympheta de Bisoir (second win this season) in the Bronze class and Insa (first win this season) in the Copper class.

Doping test results
We are pleased to report that another three negative doping test results were received by the Malta Racing Club this week. Congratulations go to the owners and trainers of Boston Harbor, Moustique Rose and Ollie Fliptrik.

Doping tests will continue to be carried out regularly by the Malta Racing Club and we augur that these will continue to give negative results.

The flat racing scene
On the occasion of the McDonald’s Mediterranean Derby semi-finals, it is fitting that we should take a look at the current flat racing scene in Malta.

This was the original horse-racing discipline introduced into Malta around a century and a half ago – and not surprisingly, because at the time Malta formed part of the British Empire, where flat racing is extremely popular and the United Kingdom was the country of origin of most of the original promoters of this sport in Malta.

But with trot racing’s growth in popularity, this discipline started losing ground particularly with the diminution in the British presence in Malta from the 1950s onwards. The inauguration of the new racecourse in 1981 made flat racing even less popular because its sharp bends and relatively short straights make it much more suitable for trot racing than for flat racing.

Thus flat racing continued on its backward trend throughout the eighties and nineties. However, in the last ten years or so, this discipline started attracting new interest and with the encouragement of the Malta Racing Club, we saw a gradual increase in the number of thoroughbreds, flat races etc.
Today, thoroughbreds are split into two classes, A and B, with race distances being 1,250m, 1,750m and 2,250m.

In 2010, we had around 30 races spread among 61 meetings, with 14 races in 26 meetings (including the start of year festival) this year to date, i.e. an average of a race every two meetings. Around 13 local jockeys have participated in these races this year.

The MRC thoroughbred classification list included 46 thoroughbreds in 2009, rising to 49 in 2010. We have already seen 34 participating horses in the first five months of this year, with ages ranging between 3 and 10 years, although ages can vary depending on the available horses.

Twenty-one horses made their debut in 2010 with fifteen others in the first five months of this year.

May the popularity of flat racing continue growing in Malta, because it is a historic, extremely exciting discipline which adds variety to the Maltese horse-racing scene.

Next week we intend to take a brief look at the Mediterranean Derby and at some other flat racing championships in our racing calendar.

We wish you all two enjoyable meetings this weekend.