The second meeting of the season at the Marsa racetrack yesterday was made up of seven races, all for trotters.

The most important event of the afternoon programme was the race for Premier Class trotters.

Twelve horses lined up at the start, three of which, Power Of Love, Plastic and Poulot Des Cinty, were all making their debut in Malta.

Oran (Julian Farrugia) upped its pace in the final metres and finished first ahead of Sultan November (Shaun Portelli), Lage (Marco Refalo) and Oltedo de Rieux (Charles Camilleri).

Oran clocked an average time of 1.14.5” per kilometre.

The card also included two races for Gold Class trotters.

Paleo des Cascades (Redent Magro) sprinted strongly during the last 300m to beat the challenge of Simb Tyrant (Marco Tanti) in the opening Gold race. Energy Launcher (Oliver Bonello) and Joss QC (Noel Baldacchino) filled the other top-four positions.

Swedish mare Zandina Boshoeve (Rodney Gatt) went on to top the other Gold Class race after winning the duel with Phoenix de la Roque (Noel Baldacchino) in the final metres. Oolong (Charles Degiorgio) and Carnegie Hall (Darren Mizzi) followed in that order.

Another meeting at the racetrack will be held on Sunday.

At the Vincennes racetrack in Paris, Maharajah, a Swedish nine-year-old trotter driven by Orjan Kihlstrom, won the prestigious Gran Prix d’Amerique, yesterday.

This prestigious race was held over a long distance of 2,700m and 18 horses lined up at the start.

Yarrah Boko (Pierre Vercruysse) stormed ahead in the early stages, opening a half-length’s lead from Maharajah and pre-race favourite Ready Cash (Franck Nivard).

Midway through the distance, Up and Quick (Jean Michel Bazire) shot into the lead with Maharajah and Yarrah Boko still in contention.

When the horses turned up for the final straight, Up And Quick ran out of steam and was overtaken by Maharajah which triumphed in an average time of 1.13.3” per kilometre.

Yarrah Boko, Roxane Griff (Eric Raffin) and Timoko (Joseph Verbeeck) followed in that order at the final classification.

Meanwhile, young driver Cliferty Calleja represented Malta at the European Amateur Cup for drivers in Vincennes on Saturday. Calleja drove French trotter Saxo De Breteil and finished seventh.

Norwegian driver Alf Torfinn Skeie led all the way with Italian Lord Dany. This trotter finished first, three lengths ahead of Middle East (Joey Vignoni – Sweden) and Yewel Boshoeve (Sophie Blancheterie – France).

Winners at Marsa
Race 1. Copper, Buckens Stjarna (Tony Tanti) – 1.20.9”
Race 2. Silver, Valles Emile (Mario Borg) – 1.17.2”
Race 3. Bronze, Marchallach (Rodney Gatt) – 1.17.7”
Race 4. Gold, Paleo des Cascades (Redent Magro) – 1.16”
Race 5. Bronze, Nemrod du Ruisseau (Silvio Schembri) – 1.17.8”
Race 6. Premier, Oran (Julian Farrugia) – 1.14.5”
Race 7. Gold, Zandina Boshoeve (Rodney Gatt) – 1.16.4”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.