President’s Cup Final
This afternoon a press conference was held at the Malta Racing Club regarding the President’s Cup Final to be raced on Sunday 13th November. The press conference was addressed by the General Secretary of the Malta Racing Club Mr Anthony Demanuele and the Chairperson of Solidarjeta bl-Isport Mr Antoine Attard.
The Malta Racing Club has decided to keep its annual appointment with all racegoers with the organisation of the President’s Cup under the Patronage of Her Excellency The President of Malta Marie Louise Coleiro Preca. This is the 16th edition since it was inaugurated in the cummer of 1992 and it is the second best honour for local harness racing.
This year this championship is also being organised before the start of the French Trotting Championship in order that all Premier category horses can participate. 41 trotters took part in 4 heats on 16 October from which 20 qualified for the semi finals raced last Sunday. As always the distance is that of 2140m.
One of the characteristics of this final is that it is the owners themselves or their representatives who choose the starting number of their horse. The order of choice is determined by the placing and timing achieved during the semi finals.
The Malta Racing Club has always claimed and insisted that a sport can be nurtured and made more popular by getting children interested from a young age and this is being done through the Horse Racing Academy which is attended by children from 7 to 15 years.
The President’s Cup programme is always enhanced with the participation of these children and this includes the Mini President’s Cup which is a pony trotting race.
It is also the children themselves that will bring the 10 finalist drivers to the presentation area on pony carts to receive a participation token by the President of Malta. This year’s guest singer is the talented Mardy Farrugia who will be welcoming Her Excellency with the National Anthem and also sing the winner’s song as soon as the winner is declared.
The finalist horses will parade before the start of the race in blankets given to them by the Malta Racing Club and the parade will be led by a guest horse which has still to be confirmed.
The total prize money is €3,600 of which the winner gets €2,025, a commemorative blanket and the right to keep the President’s Cup Trophy for a year.
This prestigious trophy was commissioned by former President of Malta Dr George Abela and is the work of Maltese artist George Muscat. The first four finishers will also get a trophy.
It goes without saying that this final also has a philantropic aim which is to collect funds for l-Istrina and the Community Chest Fund.
On the day volunteers will be going round with collecting tins in order to receive the spectators’ donations whilst we also encourage all winning owners to donate part of their prize money for this good cause.
Among the ten finalist horses one finds the 2011 winner Livi Cantona as well as the 3rd placed horses in 2014 and 2015 Vejby Boom and Nico Oland respectively and Quo Williams who finished 5th last year.
The finalist horses and their respective drivers are the following: 1. Vejby Boom - Carl Caruana 2. Nico Oland - Julian Farrugia 3. Ouch - Paul Galea 4. Uhal Berven - Rodney Gatt 5. Midsummer King - Noel Baldacchino
6. Quo Camilleri 7. Ricky Rock - Mario Farrugia 8. Ramses de Vaudon - Redent Magro 9. Royal de Vaiges - David Ellul 10. Livi Cantona - Mario Fenech Williams - Charles
President’s Cup Honour Roll:
Summer 1992 - Zito Bob (Tony Tanti) 1992/1993 - Sanit (Charles Clifton) 1993/1994 - Alto Be (Frencu Cassar) 1994/1995 - Major Bill (John Briffa) 1995/1996 - Huggie Hanover (Raymond Clifton) 1996/1997 - Huggie Hanover (Raymond Clifton) 1997/1998 - Captain Trackline (Joseph Scicluna) 1998/1999 - Bambin d’Orleans (Philip Giordmaina) 2004 - Huit Mars (Michael Seychell) 2010 - Lucas Ness (Mario Farrugia) 2011 - Livi Cantona (Charles Camilleri) 2012 - Mont Cenis Honey (Noel Baldacchino) 2013 - Gently di Poggio (Brian Zammit) 2014 - Pedro Vici (Johann Axisa) 2015 - Vasterbo Paradise (Claudio Refalo)