In crosscountry steeplechases at Pardubice racecourse, we expect the unexpected. However, the last of the four VP qualification races in 2023 was particularly unpredictable. Nine horses lined up for the start. Lodgian Whistle, Talent, Star and Argano had already qualified for the big race in the earlier QRs at Pardubice racecourse. Hapgarde de Thaix, recently arrived from France, had already qualified in his country of origin. Gap Pierji, one of the large number of good horses owned by Scuderia Aichner SRL (Josef Aichner) and trained in the Czech Republic by Josef Váňa junior, was  running for the first time in the Czech Republic but had already qualified in Italy for the VP. All of these horses had already set October 8th as their main target, and were running on September 2nd to familiarize themselves with the obstacles and have a serious warm-up race. Nevertheless, the qualification races carry good prizemoney by Czech standards, and plenty of prestige, so the connections were ready to compete with each other.

Only three of the runners needed to get round in good order to qualify for the big race. These were Godsalino, whose previous form was nothing much, and two horses that had failed to get round in earlier qualification races. These were Slovak-trained Royal Gino, which had already failed twice and seems to be an  erratic jumper, and Stuke, winner of 6 hurdles (siepi) races at Merano in 2018 – 2020 and an overall total of 12 races on the flat and over hurdles, but more recently he seemed not to have taken to crosscountry at Pardubice. All three got round OK, not impressively.

 The favourites for the qualification race were Lodgian Whistle and Talent, both of which have been elite crosscountry chasers at Pardubice for some years. The bookmakers offered only quite short odds against Gap Pierji and Argano, and the rest were outsiders. At first, nobody wanted to make the pace, but after the first fence Lodgian Whistle and Josef Bartoš got going, and those at the back, especially Argano and Star fell rather a long way behind. Lodgian Whistle made quick work of the Irish Bank, and Talent’s jockey, Pavel Složil junior, was unseated at that obstacle, perhaps attempting to keep pace with the leader. Talent continued without his jockey to the end of the race, so perhaps he had a more or less satisfactory preparatory race.  When he got over the Small Gardens double fence, Lodgian Whistle was stretching out the field. As he turned to the right, however, his saddle slipped and Bartoš had to pull him up. It was not immediately clear which of the other runners might take over the lead, and the backmarkers had an opportunity to make up part of the gap between themselves and the rest of the field. Jan Kratochvíl, on Gap Pierji, then decided to set the pace. It looked for a considerable while as if he was going to run right away from his six remaining rivals (five, after Hapgarde de Thaix was pulled up). However, when  they  came on to the grass circuit with three fences to go, Kratochvíl started looking round and Stuke moved closer to him. By the second last, Argano and Star had both moved right up behind the leaders. Argano kept going to the end, and won very comfortably by five lengths from Star and Stuke. Royal Gino and Godsalino took the prizemoney for 4^th and 5^th, and Gap Pieri finally struggled over the line in 6^th place.            

 Argano finished 3^rd in VP 2022 and Star finished 6^th in VP 2023, both of them coming back after being tucked in a long way behind for most of the way. Argano finished 3^rd in the May qualification race behind Chelmsford, and Star finished 3^rd behind Sacamiro in the August qualification race. Both had been ridden by Martin Liška, and both had been allowed to settle in well behind the rest and then put in a big effort in the last kilometre.

Martin Liška, trainer and jockey of Argano, gave the horse all the credit for a remarkable tactical run. Liška received particularly warm applause when he passed from the racecourse to the winner’s enclosure.

The four qualification races have not given a strong indication about the potential winner on October 8^th, especially as Chelmsford has not run since his win in May.

In a smaller race on September 2^nd, Irish trainer Peter Maher ran two horses, Jet Fighter and Alpha Male. Both got round safely but not quickly, and the trainer plans to leave the horses here with Greg Wroblewski and run both of  them on Velka Pardubicka day. 6-y-o Jet Fighter will go for the Velka Pardubicka, all going well. Peter Maher has informed us that Irish trainer R.P. O’Keefe is considering sending Vital Island over to run in the Velka Pardubicka.

Entries for the 133^rd running of the Velka Pardubicka with Slavia Insurance close on September 7^th.