Malta hosts a European FEGAT Women’s Championship for the first time
Next Sunday, April 28, Malta will host for the first time the Euro‐ pean Women's FEGAT Champi‐ onship. FEGAT is the European Federation for Amateur drivers and unites 13 European countries.
This is the 40th edition of this championship which will be or‐ ganized by the Malta Racing Club with the support of EquestriMalta.
Malta partnered with FEGAT back in 2019 and already had pos‐ itive performances in champi‐ onships of this Federation where among others it is the current reigning champion in the world championship of this Federation with the victory of Cliferty Calleja in the 2022 edition staged in Italy.
This will be the second partici‐ pation for Malta in the FEGAT Women's European Champi‐ onship, where after the experi‐ ence in Norway last year, the Malta Racing Club has again cho‐ sen the young driver Cherise Far‐ rugia to represent Malta in this homebound edition. Cherise Far‐ rugia is a 19‐year‐old young driver who already has a prolific career in horse racing.
Driving her first official race in on the 5 October 2020, Cherise registered her first victory on the 1 November of the same year. she has until now driven 462 official races and won 57.
Among her achievements, Cherise counts a victory in the Prix de Caen 2021 final with Givre Nonantais and is also the winner of the classification for jockeys under 25 years of age for 3 con‐ secutive years.
In last year's participation in Norway as part of 2023 edition of this same Championship, Cherise had registered a victory on horse Apollo Creed whilst finishing 6th overall.
For this FEGAT European Ladies Championship, Malta will host 12 other participants who together with Cherise Farrugia will drive 4 races as part of this championship which will be held at the Malta Equidrome sport complex.
This will be the second interna‐ tional event organized by the Malta Racing Club in our country in a period of 6 months.
The Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Inno‐ vation Dr Clifton Grima expressed his satisfaction for the joint col‐ laboration between Malta Racing Club and EquestriMalta through which another European event will take place in Malta.
This will not only attract twelve different countries and strengthen this sport and the tourism it brings, but also certificate once again our country as gaining recognition for its capabilities and resources at holding international events of this calibre.
Minister Grima added that as a country we should continue to im‐ prove and grow our reputation on these successes to continue to present championships of this kind, in this case a European championship for women, that is being hosted for the first time in Malta.
The CEO of EquestriMalta Max Zammit claimed that Equestri‐ Malta is committed to continue to attract, promote and financially support such activities that not only offer a show and sports tourism, but serve as a showcase and promotion of this sport, even with women, building on the suc‐ cess of Cherise Farrugia and her participation abroad.
The Vice Chairman of the Malta Racing Club Tony Demanuele thanked the owners for their col‐ laboration in offering their horses to run in this championship.
He also stressed how with the fi‐ nancial and administrative help of EquestriMalta, such champi‐ onships can be held at the Malta Equidrome and appealed for con‐ tinued synergy for the good of the sport.