Another exciting horse racing meeting, the 43rd of the season, was held on Sunday at the Marsa race track in front of a good crowd of Maltese enthusiasts and tourists.
Eight races were on the card with the most important events being the two Premier Class races and the flat race run over a 1,750m distance.
The honours went to horse of the day Major Chaleonnais in the first of the Premier Class races.
Driven superbly by young driver Charlo Debono, Major Chaleonnais was never in any trouble or even challenged during the whole race. The time, the best of the day, was an excellent 1.15” per km.
The second Premier race went to Noble d’Ete at its first win in Malta, driven by popular veteran driver Raymond Clifton, pipping pre-race favourite, Niky du Donjon, in the last metres.
Flat racing enthusiasts had the lovely Sarah Borg registering a comfortable win on her horse Ollie Fliptrik, ahead of Joliminoi.
The other five races all formed part of the Cassar Fuels Autumn Championship, whose final will to be held at the end of this month.
The results were:
Copper Class: Nashville Victory (Shawn Portelli) – 1.19.6”.
Bronze Class: Above Roland (George Attard) – 1.19.2”.
Silver Class: Charlie Smitt (Frenċu Cassar) – 1.19.5”.
Silver Class: Odelvio (Rodney Gatt) – 1.17.6”.
Gold Class: Lucky Fan (Charles Camilleri) – 1.17.4”.
Cassar Fuels Autumn
Championship enters
semi-final stage
Two race meetings will be held this weekend, tomorrow at 7pm and then Sunday at 2pm.
These meetings comprise a total of 16 trot races plus a flat race.
The key attraction consists of two semi-finals from the Autumn Championship, one tomorrow and the other on Sunday, pitting against each other ten horses in each race, these having been the best horses in the heats. These include, among others, heat winners Carnegie Hall, Flash Coger, Keelan and Solid Lady Spin.
Five trotters from each semi-final qualify for the final which will be held on Sunday 30 October.
The remaining races also involve qualifiers for the other trot classes. Only two or three horses (depending on the class) from each race qualify for each final and each race is extremely balanced. Finals will be held on Friday 28 and Sunday 30 October.
There will also be an interesting Class A flat race, including some select horses; Cheeky Jack and Fyelehk, both winners in their last race, former double Mediterrean Derby winner Just The Best, Pride of India and newcomer Prince Yarraman.
These races are guaranteed to keep spectators on tiptoes throughout, with results being extremely difficult to predict.