Seventeen horses have been entered for the 132^nd running of the Velka Pardubicka, to be run at Pardubice racecourse on Sunday, October 9^th. They include all the horses that did well in this year’s four VP qualification races at Pardubice, with the exception of the first and second in the May qualification race (Del Rey and Theophilos). The three other qualification races were won by Talent, Player and Imphal (see reports on each of the qualification races below).

In last year’s VP, Talent was the winner, Mr Spex finished 3^rd, and No Time to Lose 4^th.

In the 2020 VP, won by Hegnus, Player was 2^nd and Talent was 4^th.

In 2019, won by Theophilos, Stretton was 2^nd, Chicname de Cotte was 3rd, and Talent finished 7th

In 2018, won by Tzigane du Berlais, Stretton was 3^rd, and No Time to Lose was 5^th

In 2017, No Time to Lose won the VP in the mud.

12-y-o Stretton finished 2nd in the VP 2019, and 3rd in VP 2018.

There are three entries that qualified by completing a race over 4 800 metres run outside the Czech Republic. Young Dev, trained by Denis Hogan, will be a very welcome visitor from Ireland. This 8-y-o grey won a race at Punchestown early in 2022. Brunch Royal and Santa Klara are both owned by Italian owner Scuderia Aichner and are trained here in the Czech Republic by Josef Váňa junior. Both have won a number of races – Brunch Royal won the Wielka Wroclawska a year ago. Neither has run at Pardubice before.

No Time To Lose, trained by Josef Váňa senior, won the VP in 2018, but is now 13 years old. Heavy ground would suit him. Váňa senior has only one other runner in the race this year. Dusigrosz has been pointed at the VP this year, after doing well at other racecourses in past years. He has not yet shown on the course that he is a potential VP winner, but his 2nd place in this year’s September qualification race, behind Imphal, showed some improvement.  

For the first time in many years, Josef Váňa senior is not the trainer with the biggest number of runners in the race. This year Stanislav Popelka has three runners: Imphal and Lombargini finished 1st and 3rd in the unimpressive September qualification race, and Stretton’s impressive performances in the VP go back to 2018 and 2019.  

Kaiserwalzer won the September 2021 qualification race against weak opposition, and has disappointed since then.

Lombargini won the August qualification race in 2021, then fell twice before coming 3rd out of 4 finishers in the September 2022 qualification race.

11-y-o Talent and 10-y-o Player will be well fancied for this year’s Velka. No Time to Lose and Stretton have shown repeatedly that they can do well in tough, long crosscountry races at Pardubice, but they are not getting any younger. Mr Spex finished third, as a 7-y-o in VP 2021.

Entries for the other races on Velka Pardubicka day have been announced. The fields are a bit small, but the quality looks fine. Jockey Club (dostihyjc.cz)

132^ND RUNNING OF THE VELKÁ PARDUBICKÁ WITH SLAVIA INSURANCE
Crosscountry steeplechase. Listed – 6y-o+ - 6900 metres – CZK 5 000 000 Kč, entries: 17