by Magnat

This season’s seventh meeting will be held next Sunday 20th February starting at 1.30pm, with seven trot races over a short 2,140m distance and one long flat race over 2,250m. This will be a meeting dedicated to the lower trot classes whilst the Premier and Gold class horses rest ahead of the Tazza l-Kbira heats scheduled for next week.

One Copper class race and three races for each of the Bronze and Silver classes will be held. These are expected to be balanced hard-fought races with the Copper class one reserved for horses with relatively low points in that class and Bronze and Silver class horses being grouped according to the number of points held thereby.

The second race is reserved for Bronze class trotters which would be promoted to the Silver class with a win or in some cases even a good placing, such as High Speed Night, Kamido, Lorenz de Noyelles, Nympheta de Bisoir and others, whilst the eighth race involves Silver class horses which are close to the Gold class, including Jollity, Major Mitri, Nevada Silver etc.

Four horses are scheduled to make their debut, i.e. Frederico (DK), Front (SE) and Ouragan de Valsoiz in the Silver class and Pronto du Lys (FR) in the Bronze class.

The flat race is reserved for Class A horses with eight horses being scheduled to participate. This includes popular horses such as Coronation Cup winner Uncle Bertie (coming from three consecutive wins), No Telling and Ollie Fliptrik and new horses Life is Now (IR) and Mayfair Princess (GB).

Last meetings
The fifth and sixth meetings were dominated by the U*Bet championship finals reserved for Swedish trotters. On Sunday, Think Yatzee won its third U*Bet Premier championship taking the lead in the early stages and maintaining it throughout, despite runner-up Flash Coger’s and 3rd and 4th placed Wiss Night Hawk’s and Isolated’s challenges in the final stages. Think Yatzee clocked 1’15’0 per kilometre, the best time on a 2,140m distance since the extensive works on the race-course of November 2009.

Lover Boy Index also led since the early stages and won the U*Bet Gold class championship being promoted to the Premier class in the process. Mint Spirit, Gentle Way and Kosai L.J. followed the winner in that order. On Thursday, even Gigo Lloyd won the U*Bet Silver class championship dominating early on to win comfortably from Ironbar, Noble Spirit and Energy Launcher.

The other finals were won by Robin Lou (Bronze class) and Supremo As (Copper class). On Thursday, we saw an exciting Premier class race which was dominated by newcomers who took the first four places. The end was a close affair between the winner Major Chaleonnais and its followers at the finish line, Master Perrine and Mon Daniel, with Malin Roro finishing in fourth place. Neo de Mira won its fifth race in Malta and Max Galbe won its first locally (and promotion to the Premier class) in the two “normal” Gold class races held last week.

Other news
Last Sunday Michael Sultana, champion jockey for 2010, represented Malta in the first leg of the Mediterranean Horse Racing Union’s jockey championship 2011, in a race held at the Cagnes Sur Mer race-track in France.

Despite partnering a horse which was not among the favourites, Michael finished in fourth place among jockeys representing countries participating in this championship. The next leg will be held in Malta on the 31st March.

Malta achieved a prestigious second place in the 2010 MHRU jockeys championship. Repeating such a success in the face of stiff competition from larger countries where flat racing is extremely developed is no easy task. However we have full faith in the talents and professionalism of our jockeys and are sure that they will continue doing their utmost to honour our country whilst gaining further valuable international experience.

Timings
Some good timings were registered at the Marsa race-track recently. On Thursday, Netter Williams clocked 1’16’7 per kilometre in the Silver class, currently the best time this season on 2,640m. This is also the best time in this horse’s racing career.

Whilst we sometimes hear comments that horses racing in Malta are sometimes beyond their prime, it is good to see the other side of the coin and that there are also horses which deliver their very best locally. Netter Williams is not the only case; other horses which have already made their best time in Malta include other winners this week like Neo de Mira (1’16’1 on 2,640m) and Chilly Beast (1’15’0 on 1,640m), the legendary In Vitro du Bourg (1’13’7 on 2,140m) and various others.

Making an absolute best time in Malta is not so likely for horses registering times of less than 1’14 per kilometre overseas but even such horses have made some impressive times locally. For instance the 1’15’0 per kilometre registered last Sunday by Think Yatzee is a very respectable one (added to its local best time of 1’13’3 on 1,640m) and the same counts for the 1’15’1 made by Flash Coger and Wiss Night Hawk.

Although it is highly unlikely that we will see the likes of a Ready Cash or Maharajah racing in Malta, such statistics enable us to appreciate the ever-improving quality of our horses, which have a lot to offer even after completing their career overseas as well as the dedication of the Maltese owners and trainers in caring for their horses in a manner which brings the best out of them.

We wish you all another interesting meeting next Sunday.