The 94^th running of the Czech Derby, sponsored by the Charvát Group, was held on a mild midsummer afternoon at Prague Velka Chuchle on good going, in front of a well-filled grandstand. The early leaders were Dekatmie and Tannhaeuser, but on the back straight New Attack went to the front. The pace was on the slow side, but just fast enough to be a test of stamina over the 2400 metre distance. As the horses entered the finishing straight, with 600 metres to go, they spread across the course. 100:1 outsider Vainakh took the lead on the inside, and for a moment looked like a possible winner. In the last 200 metres, however, it became clear that the key battle was in the centre of the course, between the two joint favourites. Honzik Chipera went into the lead, but he was caught in the last 50 metres by the late run of Cheeky Chappie, which had been last of all entering the finishing straight.

Irish-bred Cheeky Chappie, by High Chapparal out of Cheeky Weeky (Cadeaux Genereux), is owned by MonteNegro, trained by Radek Holčák, and was ridden masterfully by Jiří Chaloupka. This was a third successive Czech Derby winner for MonteNegro (Jiří Posád), who won last year with Mister Aviation and in 2012 with Kadyny. Forty-five minutes earlier, MonteNegro won the 54^th running of the Impuls Radio Gold Cup with Always on Sunday, which “only” won the Czech St Leger last year. MonteNegro also recently won the Pardubice Gold Cup with 5-y-o Brog Deas, the most promising oval-track chaser seen here since Royal Mougins. It is not a bad record for an owner that has only been in the game for four years, and in that time has only owned, by my calculations, nine racehorses, one of which is an unraced 2-y-o.

British-bred Honzik Chipera, by Archipenko out of a Hernando mare, owned by Jiří Chavát, trained by Tomáš Šatra and ridden by Martina Havelková, narrowly missed out on victory, and might be able to reverse this result when Honzik and Cheeky meet again.

French-bred outsider Vainakh, by Rock of Gibraltar, owned by Ramzan Kadyrov, trained by Arslangirej Šavujev, finished 3rd. He was ridden by Robert Havlin.

Prize money for 4th to 7th place went to Love Me, Dekatmie, New Attack and Vajgaros. Love Me and Vajgaros are both Czech-bred, by Egerton and by Rosensturm. Egerton sired Taggerton, 3rd in the 2013 Czech Derby, and is establishing himself as a sire of stayers.

The best Czech 3-y-os can now take on further challenges, such as the Slovak Derby, Oaks and St Leger, not to mention the other regional classics, and then match up against older horses.

The remaining Czech classics are the Oaks, to be run at Most on Saturday, July 19th, and the St Leger, which will be the feature race at the next meeting – the first meeting of the autumn season – at Prague Velka Chuchle on Sunday, August 31st.            

Racing continues here throughout the summer, with meetings every Saturday and most Sundays. Saturday, June 28^th at Pardubice features the second Velka Pardubicka qualification race. Trezor, Age of Jape and Budapest are among the entries for this race, which will probably be overshadowed by the appearance of Orphée des Blins and Tiumen, winners of the last 5 VPs, in one of the other races.