The 57th meeting of the season, made up of 10 trotting races on the short distance of 1,640m, was held yesterday at the Marsa racetrack.
The two most important races, those for Gold class trotters, were won by Korentin, driven by Michael Ellul, and Lord of Rush, driven by Ludvic Ghigo.
In the first Gold class race, Korentin increased its pace 500m from the end and registered its first win of the season from Marlow As (Kevin Sciberras).
Favourite Livi Cantona (Julian Farrugia) and Landi Breton (Wayne Farrugia) finished third and fourth respectively.
The second Gold class race was contested by 13 horses. Here, Lord of Rush surged clear midway through the final straight and went on to clinch its second win of the year from Chef FC (Shawn Portelli), Swedish newcomer Tornado Hornline (Charles Camilleri) and Crane Beach (Andrè Farrugia).
The programme also included four Silver class races. In the first one, Bankir Zon (Clint Vassallo) led all the way to make it three wins this season. The winner finished five lengths ahead of Kulls Nero (Tony Demanuele), Izor Rick (Eugenio Bondin) and Syllabub (Rodney Gatt).
Big Hit (Charlò Debono) prevailed over Black Guy (Charles Camilleri) in a keen tussle to secure its third win of the year.
Bete Saknussen (Claudio Refalo) and Matador Knick (Carmelo Farrugia) were third and fourth in the second silver class race.
There was a close finish in the third Silver class race as Joker Pitstop (Charles Camilleri) and Notice As (Carl Caruana) sprinted together in the final metres. The win was awarded to the former with Kobber Dust (Darren Mizzi) and Kamido (Roswald Hili) settling for third and fourth places respectively.
In the fourth silver race, Nevada Silver (Julian Farrugia) stormed clear of the field with 200m to go to record its first win in Malta from King Boy du Dane (Michael Ellul), Iras du Bottey (Ivan Bilocca) and Sakura Victory (Clifforty Calleja).
Another racing programme will be held on Wednesday, a public holiday, with the first race starting at 1.30 p.m. Wednesday’s programme consists of 10 races, all semi-finals for French trotters.
Yesterday’s winners
Race 1: Copper, Vasterbo Lymmel (Raymond Clifton) – 1.16.9”.
Race 2: Bronze, The Womanizer (Mario Farrugia) – 1.16.4”.
Race 3: Bronze, Chilly Beast (Herman McKay) – 1.15.5”.
Race 4: Silver, Bankir Zon (Clint Vassallo) – 1.15.1”.
Race 5: Silver, Big Hit (Charlò Debono) – 1.14.8”.
Race 6: Silver, Joker Pitstop (Charles Camilleri) – 1.15.7”.
Race 7: Gold, Korentin (Michael Ellul) – 1.14.8”.
Race 8: Silver, Nevada Silver (Julian Farrugia) – 1.15.9”.
Race 9: Gold, Lord of Rush (Ludvic Ghigo) – 1.16.1”.
Race 10: Bronze, Nuthan d’Emi (Carl Caruana) – 1.16.2”.