ORS Racing - Marsa Report

Marsa Meeting Report 6th December 2009

Marsa Racecourse Marsa is Malta’s premier racecourse, although with only one course on the main island and one on nearby Gozo it has little competition. Racing is staged under the auspice of the Malta Racing Club.

Although they do stage some flat racing the majority of racing in Malta is trotting and today’s card featured eight graded trotting races. The racing is graded Bronze, Silver, Gold and Premier. Even to an uninitiated trotter like me the standard between bronze and premier was obvious.

There is betting both with bookmakers and Tote, although the bookmakers should be avoided at all costs as they bet to a percentage book in excess of 300% in every race. In eight sixteen runner races the longest price I saw was 6/1.

The other worry I have about trotting is it is very easy to manipulate a race due to runners getting disqualified for breaking out of a trot.

The opening contest was a bronze contest, like all of the afternoons races over 2,140m (or in English money just over 10½ furlongs. As seems to be the norm in trotting races the pace was slow for most of the contest with the real pace developing as they turn for home and the relatively short run-in. A close run race

The field were well bunched turning for home and it was one of the fancied runners, Internet, who made late progress to grab the honours in the final 50 metres.

Race two, by contrast, saw Furey set off at a good pace to steal a march on his rivals and when the pace hotted up he was so far clear none of his rivals were able to mount a challenge.

Race three saw another thrilling finish with Qantele making absolutely cracking progress from about seventh place at the beginning of the home straight to sail past his rivals and seemingly book an impressive victory. However in an amazing flurry in the final 50 metres Vera L H came from even further back, along with two others, resulting in Qantele coming home only fourth.

Stewards following the race Race four showed how fickle trotting can be when one of the “placed” horses was subsequently disqualified. Trotting is not for the impatient, the stewards scrutinise replays from several angles looking for horses breaking out of a trot. The more obvious ones are disqualified as the race is being run – a car, topped by a loudspeaker, and full of stewards runs alongside the runners with any miscreants named and shamed, their riders having to drop to the rear of the field or pull up. Any problems the mobile stewards miss are then picked up from the replays. I am not sure what happens if the mobile stewards incorrectly call a horse for not trotting.

Races five and six was uneventful.

Race seven was the feature race of the day and looking through the form beforehand one horse, Arnie Sensation, stood out head and shoulders above the others. I thought about having a bet only to find others shared the same view and the horse was trading at 2/5. A watching brief as 2/5 in a sixteen runner race is not particularly attractive. As it turned out keeping the wallet closed was a good idea as the “hot shot” of the day could only manage to come home a well beaten third, unable to make sufficient progress inside the final few hundred metres. The prize, all €700 of it, went to Lajos Useful, upped in class from Gold, who put in a good front running performance.

The meeting ended with a Gold contest and another tight finish with Emil Brebro taking the honours.

A days trotting at Marsa is certainly different than a day at Ascot or Cheltenham, although going racing in the sunshine in December is a bonus.

There was a decent crowd and with admission only €5. The crowd could be divided into two times, the wizened racegoers who have probably been coming racing here since time in memorial and, by contrast, there were a large numbers of families, with three or four generations having a good afternoon out in the sun.