As of the end of the 2014 season, Jiří Posád, whose horses run in the blue-and-white MonteNegro colours, had only ever owned 9 racehorses. However, they had included our 2014 Czech Derby winner, Cheeky Chappie, 2013 Derby winner, Mister Aviation, and 2012 Derby winner Kadyny. Not to mention Always on Sunday, winner of the Czech St Leger in 2013. MonteNegro also won the 2014 Pardubice Gold Cup on the classical steeplechase course with 5-y-o Brog Deas, our most promising oval-track chaser since Royal Mougins. All of these horses have been trained at Velké Karlovice, in eastern Moravia, by the Holčáks.

For this season, Jiří Posád hopes that his old strategy and his exceptional good luck will again hold. He has again bought well-bred horses that ran quite well and each won a race as a 2-y-o in the UK or in Ireland. Both were bought from top owners who, presumably, considered by them not quite good enough to retain and to aim at the British and Irish classics.

Jiří Posád’s more highly rated hope for the 2015 classics is Dalewari (IRE), by Desert Style (IRE), out of Dalataya (IRE). He was formerly owned by the Aga Khan and was trained in Ireland by M. Halford. He won a nursery handicap at Dundalk in November, and has a rating of 76.    e won

Kifaaya (GB), by Intikhab (USA), out of Juniper Girl (IRE), was formerly owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum and trained by Mark Johnston. He won a nursery handicap at Bath at the end of September, and has a rating of 69.

Thanks to the mild winter weather, both horses, trained by Radek Holčák have already been through their paces at Slušovice racecourse.

As for Brog Deas, his first targets are to retain the Pardubice Gold Cup on June 13^th and to run at Merano, in Italy. If all goes well, there is talk of preparing him to run in the United Kingdom (or perhaps in France) in the autumn.