In the last race on the last afternoon of the 2014 Italian racing season over fences, at Grosseto on December 17^th, Josef Bartoš needed to ride the winner to be sure of winning the Italian jockeys’ championship. He achieved this by riding Barnabo to victory. If he had not won this race, there was a danger that he could have lost the title on an appeal against a win by horse that he rode at Milano more than a month ago.

Josef has had more than his share of injuries over a number of recent seasons, and has been riding in pain since his heavy fall in the Velka Pardubicka and another fall soon after he resumed riding.

Josef Bartoš is the first Czech jockey to have won the Italian championship.      

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This is a translation of an interview made by Petr Guth and published on the Dostihový svět Czech lasnguage web pages