Before Covid, I used to go to the course on Velka Pardubicka day, and then watch the six hours and more on Czech Television’s Sport channel, over and over again for several days, and then report on the race in detail here on the English-language pages of Dostihový svět. Since Covid, I have watched the raceday live on television, and have attempted to write up what happened for fans who do not understand the Czech-language coverage.

This year, I will give the bare facts now, and a much more detailed report later. Many thanks to Czech Television, which again provided six hours of wonderful coverage, almost all of which was informative, entertaining and accurate. However, the commentary on the first half of the big race was confusing, and missed out on the what really mattered and what was really happening. The director seemed not to understand what viewers would want to see, and what the commentator would want him to emphasize. Nevertheless, the last one third of the race, from the Hangar Fence onwards, was very high drama, and was well presented. I look forward to watching the wonderful 134th running of the Velka Pardubicka again and again, and writing about it again here  in Dostihový svět.

The raceday began at 11.30, and the first race was run in a sudden, very heavy rainstorm. It was very dramatic to watch the racing while sitting at home drinking a cup of tea. The going was officially good to soft, which I assume refers to the grass track. The ploughed fields had quite extensive shallow pools on them, and the jockeys reported that the mud was heavy but not deep.  No horses slipped up in the course of the afternoon. Fortunately, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started, and the afternoon was sunny but autumnal.

16 runners went down to the start, including two in Irish ownership and training, and one in American ownership. The total experience of riding at Pardubice of their three riders combined was zilch, and none of these three horses got round.  Keith Donoghue, who is a top jockey in Ireland, did very well to get Coko Beach round to the fourth from home looking like a probable winner, but any of the many Czech schooolboys and schoolgirls that dream of winning the Velka could have told him that you and your horse do not mess with Obstacle 27, Havel’s Fence. I have read that Donoghue was “gutted“, I hear that trainer Gordon Elliott was furious, and I wonder  what Coko Beach thought.  

It was generally understood among the Czech riders, plus Thomas Beaurain and James Best, who had all prepared themselves properly for the race, that  Jaroslav Myška on the sound jumper Sexy Lord would lead the field safely as far as Obstacle 6, the Popkovice Turn. However, Coko Beach was first over the Taxis and the Irish Bank, taking both of those difficult obstacles in his stride. Streets of Doyen was also among the leaders coming to the Taxis and causing concern to all those near or behind him. As far as I could see, 20-y-o American amateur rider Teddie Davies did no harm, though the television coverage did not show why Her Him and Lombargini came down at the Taxis. The television coverage shows Lombargini heading off after  his fall in a straight line towards his box. Her Him was ridden by 20-year-old Lenka Neprasilová, who is determinedly picking up rides and has ridden over 30 winners in the last two seasons. Her biggest problem, she says is that she weighs 50 kg and has to use an enormous and awkward saddle when riding at 70 kg in the Velka. Much more about Lenka in the future, I hope. She is spoken about with great respect even by those who do not give their praise lightly.  

There was an important incident at the Taxis that the director failed to pick up and the commentator misinterpreted, as it turned out. High in the Sky fell right in front of Godfrey, and Jan Faltejsek performed a miracle to stay on board. The commentator said that Godfrey was tailed off at the back of the field. Untrue – he lost 15 lengths maybe, but Faltejsek did not panic. He gave the horse a lot of time to recover before moving forward in the second half the race, and left Godfrey with something in the tank for the last few metres of the race.  

There were no problems at the Popkovice Turn or behind the copse. However, Streets of Doyen unseated Ben Harvey at the double fence 8 / 9. The race commentary on television said that another foreign horse, Jeremy Pass, had unseated his rider. However, Jeremy Pass and Teddie Davies continued until the horse was pulled up after the English Fence.

It is generally the case that the Velka Pardubicka becomes competitive after the Hangar Fence, when the horses run on grass and then on ploughed fields in a more or less straight line until they turn onto the flat race course with 600 metres and 3 fences to go. Tired horses begin to drop back and the contenders move forward. Dulcar de Sivola had joined Sexy Lord at the head of the field when they went behind the copse, and when they came to the Hangar Fence he moved into the lead. Talent had run prominently too, and Star looked dangerous. Coko Beach was looking likely to win when he did not jump high enough at the 4^th from home, as mentioned above.

Dulcar de Sivola looked a possible winner at the second last, and even at the last fence. However, Sexy Lord still had something left, despite leading the field, being overtaken and retaking the lead several times in the course of the race. In the last 200 metres, however, Godfrey finally got himself into the race. Godfrey got up alongside Sexy Lord – which rallied yet again. In the last 50 yards, Sexy Lord and Godfrey each stuck out their neck with each stride, exchanging the lead each few metres. If ever a race was won ‘on the nod’ this was it. As they crossed the line, Sexy Lord was thrusting his neck ahead yet again, but had the finishing line come a split second too soon? Two of our finest steeplechase jockeys, Jaroslav Myška and Jan Faltejsek, had both ridden magnificent races on very fine horses, Sexy Lord and Godfrey.

The photo finish was very close. At first, there was a rumour that Sexy Lord had won by a nose. However, it was only a rumour, and it was at least 15 minutes before the official result was announced – a dead heat. It was a first win in the Velka for Jaroslav Myška, who has long been one of our top jockeys, and had already finished 2nd in the race twice, 3rd three times and 4th four times, or something like that. Jan Faltejsek, on the other hand, was winning the race for the 7th time since 2012, and again in the colours of Pegas, in which he had won the race three times (2012 – 2014) on Orphée des Blins. Sexy Lord is trained by Martina Růžičková - well done, Martina!