Troll and Rififi Nonantais win major semi-finals

The 52rd meeting of the season, made up of ten races all for trotters, was held on Sunday. The card included semi-final races for French trotters from the Prix De Ile De France, for Premier Class trotters, the Prix De Normandie, for Gold Class, and the Prix De La Cote d’Azur for Silver category. All championship races, held over a long distance of 2,640m, are organised by the Malta Racing Club in collaboration with the French association Le Trot and betting companies Izibet and PMU. On Sunday, Noel Baldacchino was best driver with five wins. From the two Premier semi-finals, 12 horses qualified for the final stage. Eleven trotters lined up for the race semi-final. Early leader, Tip Top Nelliere (David Ellul), ran out of steam around 300m from the post and it was reeled in by Troll (Andrew Farrugia) which sealed its first win by a length from Tipol De Nappes (Michael Ghigo) and Ricky Rock (Charles Camilleri). Tip Top Nelliere had to settle for fourth place with Tender And True (Ramon Briffa) and Quartz De Vindecy (Carmelo Farrugia) also making it for the final. Rififi Nonantais (Rodney Gatt) went unchallenged for most of the distance in the second Premier semi-final. This French...