Josef Váňa, snr, who announced his retirement from race riding after falling at the final fence on Tiumen in the 2013 Velka Pardubicka, has declared himself to ride the same horse at Pardubice on Saturday, June 28^th. Sixty-year old Váňa is famous for retiring in autumn and reconsidering in spring. He certainly looks remarkably fit, for a 60-year-old who has broken most of the bones in his body. He completed the Pardubice half marathon earlier this year - on in-line skates. He also rode Enzio, trained by himself, in a race at Treviso, Italy, in March.

The reappearance of Váňa on the horse on which he has already won the Velka three times (2009, 2010 and 2011) will be a big moment on Saturday. At the age of 13, Tiumen, too, is a veteran. This is very much a trial race for both horse and rider. Tiumen will be well-fancied for the race. His main rival is likely to be Silver Regent, also owned by KöiDent and trained by Josef Váňa, snr. Silver Regent will be ridden by stable jockey Josef Váňa, jnr.

The main event of the afternoon should have been the second of the four Velka Pardubicka qualification races that are held each year at Pardubice racecourse. There are 20 declared runners, and the favourite will be Trezor, winner of all 4 qualification races that he contested in 2012 and 2103, but a big disappointment in the last three runnings of the Velka itself. Trezor is not entered for this 2014 Velka, but another good run on Saturday would surely relight the ambition of his owner and trainer. Other well-fancied runners include Váňa-trained Budapest, which has finished 2^nd and 3^rd in the Gran Premio at Merano, and Age of Jape, trained by Radek Holčák, winner of 5 classic races as a 3-y-o, five years ago, including the Czech triple crown.

There are 10 races on the card at Pardubice on Saturday, and the first race is a 1 p.m. The course is easily reached from Pardubice railway station, 25 minutes on foot. The train journey to Pardubice takes 60 minutes, and there are several fast trains per hour between Prague and Pardubice.