Two race meetings will be held this week, the first today, 7 June, a public holiday, and then on Sunday 10 June. Both meetings will consist of nine races and start at 2.30pm.
The salient feature of today’s meeting is the Sette Giugno Cup final with 12 Premier class finalists on a 2,140m distance. Aged between six and 13 years, participants hail from no less than six countries.
They include among others the popular Livi Cantona, Skyparks Premier class championship winner Wiss Night Hawk, five time winner Zilver Boko, Dragonara Tazza l-Kbira finalist and three time winner Nabab du Chatelet, Assikura Cup runner-up Count of Life, heat winner Skip Dimanche and six other well-known horses.
That meeting also features two Gold class races also on a 2,140m distance, both containing a full complement of 16 horses. Some of them have registered a win in their last two outings, including Victory Farming, Cal Win, Side Spin and Stefan Sufflor. Two balanced races are anticipated.
Flat racing takes centre stage on Sunday with the MRC Tote Mediterranean Derby final on a 1,750m distance, contested by seven thoroughbreds hailing from France, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden and USA.
These include 2011 Derby winner Buttermilk, 2011 Coronation Cup winner Fyelehk, Darielli and Sleepwalking which both won this year, recent newcomer Little Anthony, together with Capital Hill and Etoile du Pic. Although flat racing is not as popular as trot racing in Malta, the Mediterranean Derby brings this discipline to life, with a tradition spanning back to 1889.
Sunday’s meeting also includes a Premier class race with a full field of 16 (predominantly Swedish) trotters on a 2,140m distance. This includes recent winners such as Delvin Brodde and Oscar de la Vallee, and popular horses such as Arnie Sensation, Belafonte, Energy Launcher and others, seeking more consistency in their form.
June is a month of finals at the Marsa racetrack. These two finals fielding some of our best trotters and thoroughbreds, promise to be among the highlights of the season.