Exactly 568 pages, more than a hundred historic press cuttings and documentary photographs, bustling work over a period of 25 years, which has morphed into an exceptional book, not only in terms of its extent and range, but also with its bold graphic conception. What led to the publication of Dostihy o modrou stuhu (Races for the Blue Riband), which maps out the history of the most prestigious flat race that every Czech jockey, trainer and racehorse owner wants to win?

Horseracing at Markopoulo racecourse in Athens comes to an abrupt end

At its meeting on November 30^th, 2023, the final point on the agenda of the Council of the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic was the election of the president of the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic for a four-year period. The two candidates were the present president since the end of 2019, Ing. Josef Bečvář, and his predecessor, JUDr. Ing. Jiří Charvát, who served as president from April 2014 until December 2019. In the first round of voting, neither candidate won the required two thirds majority, and in the second round Jiří Charvát won by ten votes to five.

The school for apprentices at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse provides a good opportunity for young people to learn to care for racehorses and start on their way towards becoming a jockey and working with horses. Each September, there is a new intake of teenagers – nowadays mainly girls – and the hardest-working and most talented can progress quite quickly.