There are three race meetings in the Czech Republic this weekend. None of them offers particularly high-quality racing, but there are good-sized fields, winners will be hard to find, and a few owners and trainers will win long-awaited consolation prizes as we enter the last month of our horseracing season.

On Saturday, there is an extra meeting at Slušovice. There are five races, over fences and on the flat, with the first race at 2 p.m., but a range of celebratory events begin at 11 a.m. Two of the races celebrate the Čuba brothers. František Čuba was the genius behind the remarkable Slušovice Miracle, in which a small Moravian collective farm emerged in the 1980s and produced computers and a range of other high-tech products, set up a racecourse that attracted enormous crowds to buy the collective’s products and enjoy the races, and became a centre for rally sport. František’s brother, Josef, set up the racecourse at Slušovice 33 years ago. Unfortunately, the Category I steeplechase named after Josef Čuba has attracted only a moderate field.

Also on Saturday, first race at 1.30 p.m., there is a mixed meeting at Lysa-nad-Labem. There will be seven races, and the Category II race over 1 300 metres has attracted a good field for this course, where better horses are nowadays beginning to run. The turf at Lysa has been improved a lot, there is now a good rail, and the course is as safe as a 1 400-metre circuit is likely to be. Locally-trained Nyani Tomba will be the favourite.

On Sunday, there are nine races at Prague Velká Chuchle, including two Category II races. The Category II race for fillies and mares has attracted a good field, including Dally Hit, Sapsiree and Nidara (which is being offered for sale at the Thoroughbred Sale at Pardubice on Friday, October 10th).  The first race is at 1 p.m.

The following weekend will be the high point of the Czech horseracing season – the Velka Pardubicka meeting. This is a two-day meeting, with some good flat racing, by our standards, on the Saturday, and eight top races over hurdles and fences on the Sunday, culminating in the Velka Pardubicka. On the Saturday, the first race is expected to be at about 12 midday, and on Sunday, October 12th, the first race will be at about 11.20 a.m.