Martina Růžičková’s response to the committee of the AČTJ

Dear Oliva

I thought that you and I were on first-name terms, but I suppose that you wanted your letter to sound more official. Whatever! It is very kind of you to concern yourself about my education as regards the Journal and turning up for meetings. However, with my letter I really wanted to issue a warning about something else, and also to other organizations and above all to trainers of steeplechasers, who comprise about half of the names given in parentheses.

I won’t waste my time on a pointless discussion, and I will continue to fight for justice in steeplechasing, whether or not certain people like it. There is always something that can be done straightaway, and in this case I will never give up. You can enter your Category IV horses for Category I races if you like. It is up to you. However, those of us who like horses stand up for our horses, dear AČTJ...

With best regards

Martina Růžičková

I too will not comment at length. Race conditions can of course be adjusted at less than 10 months’ notice. It is not necessary for ­all Category IV races to have conditions that favour Category I horses. There are certainly ways and means of ensuring that some of the Category IV races this year will not be dominated by Category I horses. For example, it can be done by simply adding words such as “or in races over hurdles or fences” to the conditions for some Category IV races.