The 43rd meeting of the season, made up of eight races, was held at the Marsa racetrack yesterday.
The most important events of the afternoon were two Premier Class races, on a short distance of 2,140m, and a flat race over 1,750m.
Major Chaleonnais and Noble d’Ete won the top trotting events while Ollie Fliptrik finished first in the only flat race of the card.
It was Virginia Med (Demis Zammit) that stormed out of the blocks in the flat race, opening a two-length lead from Ollie Fliptrik (Sarah Borg) and Joliminoi (Michael Sultana).
But with some 500m to go, Virginia Med started to slow down and in came Ollie Fliptrik for its fourth win of the season.
Joliminoi, Mayfair Princess (Ramon Grima) and Genievre (Charles Pace) finished second, third and fourth respectively as Virginia Med failed to keep up with the front-runners.
Eleven horses participated in the first Premier Class race of the meeting.
Here, early leader Norwegian Arifant (Noel Baldacchino) was outsmarted by favourite Major Chaleonnais (Charlo Debono) which easily went on to register its fifth win of the season from Bonus Kall (Shawn Portelli), Arnie Sensation (Carmelo Farrugia) and Arifant.
Major Chaleonnais clocked an average time of 1.15” per kilometre.
Noble d’Ete (Raymond Clifton) increased its speed 600m from the finishing line of the other Premier race for this French trotter to chalk up its first win in Malta, half-a-length ahead of favourite Niky du Donjon (James Carabott).
Energy Launcher (Alex Cortis) and Dialect Af Prinfo (Shawn Formosa) followed home in that order as Noble d’Ete had an average time of 1.17.1” per kilometre.
Meanwhile, a number of trotters yesterday qualified for a series of Condition Race finals that will be held in the coming weeks at the racetrack.
These competitions are being organised by the Malta Racing Club with the financial support of Cassar Fuels.
Kejser Flamingo (Rodney Gatt) and Lucky Fan (Charles Camilleri) sprinted neck-and-neck in the final metres of the Gold Class race.
The win was awarded to Lucky Fan after the judges had consulted the photo-finish. Kejser Flamingo was disqualified and the runner-up spot went to Wim (Brian Zammit).
Another racing programme will be held on Friday evening.
The card will consist of eight races with the first, open for Copper Class horses, starting at 7 p.m.
Yesterday’s winners
Race 1: Class Copper, Nashville Victory (Shawn Portelli) – 1.19.6”.
Race 2: Class Bronze, Above Roland (George Attard) – 1.19.2”.
Race 3: Class Silver, Charlie Smitt (Frenċu Cassar) – 1.19.5”.
Race 4: Class Flat, Ollie Fliptrik (Sarah Borg) – 1.51.1”.
Race 5: Class Premier, Major Chaleonnais (Charlo Debono) – 1.15”.
Race 6: Class Gold, Lucky Fan (Charles Camilleri) – 1.17.4”.
Race 7: Class Premier, Noble d’Ete (Raymond Clifton) – 1.17.1”.
Race 8: Class Silver, Odelvio (Rodney Gatt) – 1.17.6”.