The winter months should be quiet in Czech racing. There will be no racing here until next April, and few trainers have horses that they want to run abroad and conditions for training the horses intensively indoors or on an all-weather track. Although our horses ran in December only at Deauville and at Marseille Pont des Vivaux, in France, and at Grosseto, in Italy, some pleasing successes were achieved. After a disappointing season in the Czech Republic, Khalshani, now trained by Pavel Tuma, won a Listed hurdles race at Grosseto, where Váňa-trained Katchaba also won a smaller race. Phu Hai, which was recently transferred to Václav Luka Jnr’s yard, won a nice handicap race at Deauville.

The weather here continued very mild until just after Christmas, after which winter with snow suddenly arrived. Prague Velka Chuchle racecourse has been opened up as a centre for crosscountry skiing, which is very popular here. Today (December 30^th) was a bright sunny cold day, just right for Nordic skiing. Pardubice racecourse also serves for skiing in winter. However, the weather forecast suggests that the snow will thaw within the next couple of days in Prague.

In the December 2014 newsletter, I commented in detail on an interview in which Jiří Charvát, president of the Jockey Club, answered questions posed by Martin Cáp. It was afterwards suggested to me that I might comment on an interview that appeared on the Fitmin&TURF website at the end of November. I must admit that I had missed this interview with Pavel Viceník, conducted by Jiří Zlámaný. Jiří Zlámaný deals with press and public relations at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse, and also produces the Velka Chuchle racecard and does raceday commentaries at Velká Chuchle, and writes about racing. Pavel Viceník isa long-term administrator of Czech racing and a member of the legislative commission of the Czech Jockey Club.

Pavel Viceník deals with two of the main points in the interview with Jiří Charvát: his desire to have pattern races in the Czech Republic, and his claim that Czech racing has failed to punch its weight on the international scene.

Viceník explains in detail what is necessary in order to put on a black-type race. He points out that we have only a handful of flat horses good enough to be placed in such races, and that they run at various distances. Until we have four or five horses of the required quality at the same distance, it will be very difficult to get together a good enough field. To attract top foreign horses, it would be necessary to offer a prize of a million crowns or more. He concludes that, until we have a much larger number of top class Czech-trained horses, there is no real alternative to our best horses running mainly abroad.  

He goes on to claim that the Czech horseracing authorities have been active and effective members of international horseracing bodies without a break for 40 years. As a result, international rules and regulations have been thoroughly integrated into our racing, and, for example, Czech-trained horses are able to run abroad without unnecessary formalities and with very few misunderstandings. He rightly mentions two highly respected personalities at the Jockey Club headquarters at Velká Chuchle, whose long-term contribution Czech racing has included plenty of international activities. Věra Plachá’s contribution has been in the area of Czech thoroughbred breeding, and ensuring that the Czech thoroughbred breeding register is fully internationally compliant and recognized. Eva Chaloupková (wife of Václav Chaloupka) has ensured that horseracing operations in the Czech Republic are in compliance with international standards. In 2012, at the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities conference in Paris, the Czech delegation was invited to make a presentation about Czech horseracing, which you can see on  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-IdqALmjA#t=94. Pavel Viceník is the presenter.

He addsI consider it a great pity for Czech racing that – as during previous changes in the leadership of Czech racing – this time again we are going back to zero, instead of building on what we have already achieved. It is unfortunately a rule that every change of this kind takes place in an unpleasant atmosphere here, and I have been asking myself for years why this is so. In any event, Czech racing loses time, able people and reputation in this way.

He concludes Czech racing and thoroughbred breeding are anchored solidly and adequately for their size in the international space. In my personal opinion, this anchoring does not match the potential of Czech horseracing. Nevertheless, we have always had the necessary contacts to find our way in the world of horseracing and for further development. I am sure that we still have them. Each generation will do some good things and some not-so-good things: the important thing is for the next generation to correct the mistakes and to further develop the good things.

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On a recent quiet afternoon, I checked the Dostihový svět English language website to see how many hits each entry has attracted. I was surprised to find that many of the old entries are still being read quite actively. Most of the older entries have 200 or 300 reads. The more recent entries have been read less – Am I losing my touch? Or do my entries mature slowly? Or both?

The following 11 items, in descending order, have achieved more than 1 000 hits

5963 hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/1457 . This entry announces plans for the Josef Vana summer cup series of three well-endowed classical steeplechases for summer 2013. Unfortunately, only two of these were run, as the collapse of the government in summer 2013 led to the Ministry of Agriculture withdrawing its support for the series, the final race in which was cancelled. In 2014, the series was not revived.

3236 hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/2201 . This was an announcement that a rather fine greyhound stadium was going to open in Prague. This stadium has opened, but it appears to suffer from a lack of racing dogs. I now think I owe it to my 3236 readers to go to the stadium and make a report.

2415 hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/2830 . Reflections on the 2013 Velka Pardubicka. Items about the VP get quite good numbers of readers, but it is not clear to me why this one should have been particularly widely read.

2062 hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/1002   This is a very interesting insight into the problems at Merano racecourse a couple of years ago, written by Giancarlo Fochesato. Happily, the 2014 season at Merano has gone well, and the problems of very late payment of prizemoney have gone away.  

1779  hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/697 . This explains why the 2012 VP was run on a Saturday, and reports that it will in future revert to its normal date, the second Sunday in October.

1565 hits  http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/4046   This item, written in July 2014, recommended weekends of steeplechasing in autumn in central Europe: at Wroclaw, at Merano and at Pardubice. The number of hits for this one pleases me greatly – I hope that some readers decided to visit one of these meetings in 2014, or will come over in 2015.

1523 hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/1356    Plans for the revival of the big jumps meeting at Wroclaw in 2013. The Velka Wroclawska was run in 2013 and in 2014, and I hope it is now an established annual event early in September.

1502 hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/542 The October 2012 newsletter. I am pleased to see that these newsletters are quite widely read. I do not understand why this one scored more hits than the others.

1411 hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/981  Another article by Giancarlo about the problems in Italian racing

1287 hits  http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/1002  A translation about plans for racing at Pardubice, posted in January 2013

1018 hits http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/1728   Entries for the 2013 Velka Pardubicka.

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I should inform you of a change in my e-mail address, which is now Robin.Arthur.Healey@cvut.cz. Of course, an English gentleman of a certain age would be mortified to have his middle name casually outed in this manner – I mean to say, George Harrison famously called his haircut Arthur. It is too late now to explain to my Czech employer that an English gentleman has at least one middle name that he will only ever divulge the initial letter of.

I wish everyone a good and successful and healthy year in 2015.