Dear Horseracing Fans

In recent days, things have been bubbling in Czech horseracing, and not just because the season is in full flow.

It took just a single sheet of paper to start up a whirl of debates, telephone calls and emotional discussions – last Thursday’s entries for the meeting at Pardubice. These entries include the names of winners of first category races entered for the third and fourth category events. Many of us thought that there was some kind of mistake in understanding the race conditions, but then we found out that it had been done intentionally.

At the first meeting of the season at Pardubice, some of us ran our horses in races that were lost before we began, because fourth category horses were up against category one horses, sometimes without any weight difference, and any money they might have won was gobbled up by the high-class superstars. It went so far that the Irish Bank was left out of one of the Category III races that was set up to confirm whether horses were ready to go for the Velka Pardubicka qualification race.

In addition, let us say that a feature of this season is the increased number of Category IV and Category V races, at the expense of Category III races. The only explanation that occurs to us trainers is that there is someone who does not want to pay out Owners’ Prizes [not offered for Cat IV and Cat V races], because he is not interested in Czech-bred horses. This is a comprehensible viewpoint nowadays, but the participation of Category 1 horses in Category IV races is inexcusable!

Since this unfair situation has arisen in a branch of sport, the outcome is much worse than if it had been in the field of politics.

In the name of most trainers, owners, riders and people employed in horseracing, I therefore address a request to the Jockey Club and to the Steeplechase Association for an extra-ordinary general meeting, or some public meeting, to be called as soon as possible, where the race conditions can be adjusted with immediate effect for jumps races, so that they do not meet the requirements of individuals and there is no conflict of interests. It is incredibly sad that, in our big family of horseracing people it has come to the position that the smell of money and of trophies is stronger than our relation to the horses themselves and to fair play. 

With sincere greetings

Martina Růžičková

Translated from the Czech language pages of Dostihový svět, where it appeared on May 19^th. Martina Růžičková, a major personality in Czech racing, rode a number of times in the Velka Pardubicka, and finally got round the course for the first time in 2014, on Rubín. She has been a trainer for many years, and currently has almost 30 horses in her yard, most of which are genuine Category IV / V contenders.   

This open letter raises a number of issues. I will discuss several of them, including some of the coded references, in the upcoming June 2015 newsletter. It has always been a problem that well-established top chasers making a comeback after being out for several months have been able to qualify for Category IV races. I was myself a bit shocked by the number of top horses entered for Category IV races at Pardubice this weekend. I then read the race conditions, and, yes, horses that had recently won a top hurdles race and had won several good chases in the past were qualified for a little cross-country race at Pardubice.

The efforts of the new leadership of the Jockey Club to raise the image of Czech racing by providing more support for top races is felt by many to be at the expense of the small owners, trainers, breeders and stable staff. At a time when the rich are getting richer, and the rest of the world is not, Martina suggests that the rich owners who have taken control of the Jockey Club are slanting the playing field even more towards themselves.