Town of Pardubice Grand Prix – EURO EQUUS – 4^th qualification race of the 132^nd running of the Velka Pardubicka with Slavia Insurance

          crosscountry steeplechase National Listed - 5800 metres, stakes, 5-y-o and older
CZK 400 000 (200 000 – 92 000 – 60 000 – 28 000 – 20 000)
going: 3.4 (good)

Time: 07 min. 43.76 sec.
Distances: EASILY-4 ¼ lengths-8 lengths- 17 lengths

The September qualification race for the 132^nd running of the Velka Pardubicka was run on good going (3.4) on a less hot afternoon than we had got used to in the summer months. The course was once again in very good order, with green grass and well-prepared obstacles. Despite recent dry weather, the ploughed fields were only slightly dusty.

Ten horses went down to the start. The most interesting was 6-y-o Night Moon, which had won 10 of his 12 races over hurdles and fences, including some good races in Italy. He had won his last 4 races impressively, all of them at Pardubice, and he started as a hot favourite for this qualification race. The other very interesting runner was Talent, winner of the Velka Pardubicka in 2021 and also winner of the June qualification race this year. He has had some problems again this summer, and his trainer made a point of saying that he was not wound up for this race. The aim was to check whether he can be got ready for the big race on October 9^th.

Dusigrosz and Aeneas, both trained by Josef Váňa, had finished well beaten in 7^th and 8^th place in the August qualification race. Both of these horses have won plenty of good races, but neither has shown that the VP is the right race for him. Of the two Slovak-trained horses, Kaiserwalzer won the August qualification race in 2021. Since then, he has fallen at the Taxis in VP 2021 and he finished 6^th behind Del Rey in the May qualification race this year. The horse was already qualified for VP 2022. His Irish jockey, Patrick Mullins, had come over to Pardubice for a third time, to bond with Pardubice racecourse and with the horse. The other Slovak-trained horse, Star, had also already qualified for the big race, by finishing 9^th in the May qualification race, and had finished 6^th in VP 2022, but he still needed to get properly acquainted with the racecourse and, mainly, with the water jumps. Trainer Stanislav Popelka had two runners, Lombargini and Imphal, neither of which had yet qualified to run on October 9^th. Lombargini won the September qualification race in September 2021, but was unluckily brought down by a loose horse quite early in the Velka. He then fell early in the June qualification race this year.  9-y-o Imphal had won 9 races, six of them at Pardubice, but mainly in short-distance crosscountry chases against more or less modest opposition. His previous best performance was in May 2021, when he won a Category II race at Pardubice over 3 300 metres. However, his chances against opposition of this quality seemed quite limited. The other two runners, Laverno and Godfrey, were likely to finish much nearer last than first.

Patrick Mullins on Kaiserwalzer set off aggressively, and when they skipped over the Irish Bank, obstacle no. 5, they were well ahead. Obstacle no. 6, the Popkovice Turn, is always a potential threat. The riders swerve to the left as they approach the fence, in order to take advanatage of better ground, and then swerve to the right before they jump, in order to cut the corner, and plenty can go wrong, especially on the far side of the fence. It did go wrong this time. Night Moon fell and brought down Laverno. Talent was unable to avoid the riderless horses, and his jockey, Pavel Složil, was unseated. Shortly afterwards, at the Small Garden double fence, obstacle 8 and 9, Kaiserwalzer, probably distracted by two loose horses, unseated Patrick Mullins, Godfrey was unable to get over the second part of the double fence, and Star got over the obstacle, but without his jockey. Star caused some consternation when he ran straight on and crossed on the inside of the four remaining runners, which were preparing to turn right. Fortunately, the four experienced jockeys were able to prevent their horses following Star into the distance.

Only about one-third of the way round the course, the field of ten had been reduced to four – the two Váňa-trained horses, Dusigrosz and Aeneas, both of which were already qualified for VP 2022, and the two Popelka-trained horses, Lombargini and Imphal, both of which needed to get round to qualify, and at the same time had received a more or less unexpected chance to win some nice prizemoney in the qualification race. The pace dropped. Aeneas, ridden by Jan Kratochvil, led from Lombargini (Jan Odložil), Imphal (Jaroslav Myška) and Dusigrosz (Ondřej Velek) in a fairly compact group. In the finishing straight, Imphal prevailed, from Dusigrosz, Lombargini and Aeneas. Trainer Stanislav Popelka was understandably well pleased.

Some horses that had already qualified for the Velka were given an outing in shorter warm-up races. Váňa-trained 2018 VP winner, 13-y-o No Time To Lose finished 5^th in the Category II two-mile crosscounty race behind Mediciman. 12-y-o Stretton, trained by Stanislav Popelka, and 12-y-o Váňa-trained Theophilos, winner of the VP in 2019, finished 3^rd and 4^th behind Gatsby in the Category II crosscountry race over 4500 metres. Each of these three older horses has done well in the VP in the past, and appeared to have a satisfactory warm-up race.

A total of 22 horses have qualified for the 132^nd running of the Velka Pardubicka via the four qualification races at Pardubice racecourse. Entries for the VP close on Thursday, September 22^nd at midday, and the declaration to run deadline is on Friday, September 30^th at 10 a.m.

AENEAS(IRE), 8  Váňa snr. Josef

ARGANO, 8 Liška Martin

BEAU ROCHELAIS(FR), 11 Křídlová Tamara

DAJUKA, 8 Holčák Radek

DEL REY(SVK), 7 Mimra Zdeněk

DULCAR DE SIVOLA(FR), 9 Jirčáková Vendula

DUSIGROSZ(FR), 9 Váňa snr. Josef

FLY FILO FLY(ITY), 8 Váňa snr. Josef

CHICNAME DE COTTE(FR), 10 Vítek Pavel

IMPHAL(POL), 9 Popelka Stanislav

KAISERWALZER(GER), 9

LOMBARGINI(GER)*, 11 Popelka Stanislav

MR SPEX(GER), 8 Urbánek Luboš

NO TIME TO LOSE(GB), 13 Váňa snr. Josef

PARIS EIFFEL(IRE), 9 Cagáň Ján (Slovakia)

PLAYER, 10 Kvapilová Lenka

SACAMIRO, 9 Petříková Eva,

STAR(GER), 11 Brečka Jaroslav (Slovakia)

STRETTON, 12 Popelka Stanislav

TALENT, 11 Kabelková Hana

THEOPHILOS(FR), 12 Váňa snr. Josef

ZATARO, 9 Popelka Stanislav 

The four VP qualification races at Pardubice racecourse were run without any Covid-19 restrictions, on a very well-prepared racecourse, and were run on days when the going was not hard, and when the temperature was not extremely high. The prizemoney for the races, and for the Velka itself, have returned to pre-Covid levels.

The wins by Player and Talent confirmed that these horses will be very serious contenders for the big race on October 9^th, if their preparation goes well. Del Rey and Imphal were unexpected winners of the other two qualification races. All trainers will be preparing their horses as well as they can and hoping for good luck when the big day comes round.