June is always a big month in our short, seven-month racing season, with a lot of last-minute activity and talk about the Czech Derby. For those whose interest in Czech racing is mainly in jumps racing, there are two meetings at Pardubice, one headed by the Pardubice Gold Cup and the other headed by the second qualification race for the Velka Pardubicka.

The Gold Cup, the Derby and the qualification race are held on successive weekends, and are followed by an 8-week period when the focus is on our regional racecourses. In July, there will be some major races at Most, including the Czech Oaks and the Velká Mostecká Steeplechase, and also at Karlovy Vary. The Slovak Derby will be run at Bratislava on Sunday, July 19th. That will be one of the top days of racing this year in Central Europe, and most of our top Czech 3-y-os that might stay 2 400 metres will run. There is also a Thursday evening meeting at Prague Velká Chuchle on July 16th. I hope a good crowd will turn out, though race meetings on a working day do not have a good record here.

Apart from that, there will be races most Saturdays and Sundays somewhere out in the Bohemian or Moravian countryside. There will be racing again at Mimoň, on Sunday July 12th and on Sunday July 26th. It had been feared that theft of the grandstand, a few years ago, and then the sale of the stud farm and racecourse area, would put an end to racing at this modest but very charming and beautiful location. All of the provincial racecourses are well worth a visit. They generally attract good, enthusiastic crowds, and show that horseracing has strong roots here.

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The Derby was won quite well by Irish-bred Touch of Genius Galileo(IRE)-Festoso(IRE) (Diesis(GB)). This was only his fourth run, and only his second win, so we must reserve judgement on how good he is. He is entered for the Slovak Derby, and we will see what he can do there. I will not repeat what I say every June – that it is unfortunate that the key event in the lives of our horses takes place before they are mature and experienced. Why is our best sponsored race not an all-age championship event?  Tradition? I am no traditionalist.

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At Pardubice, the Gold Cup meeting had to be abandoned after a very heavy thunderstorm. Most of the races had been run before the abandonment, but not the Gold Cup itself. The good news is that this major race will be run ar Pardubice either in the August meeting or in September. In the second qualification race, there were 16 finishers, and Zarif won well, as he had four weeks earlier at Pardubice. He is clearly a top contender for the big race on October 11th. He was ridden by Josef Bartoš, who will surely be offered the ride in the VP, and will presumably accept it. Josef Bartoš rode four winners in the afternoon, reminding us with his finishes that  he was a good flat jockey before he gave up the struggle to ride at 59 kg.

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In the run-up to the Czech Derby, Josef Váňa headed a campaign to have the horses owned by Ramzan Kadyrov banned from racing in the Czech Republic. Váňa has been taking horses abroad for over 20 years, and since EU entry in 2004, he has travelled abroad with his horses several times per month. He knows well enough the feeling that the playing field can be tilted against foreigners.  For him to try to ruin the business of our leading Czech-based foreign trainer, Arslangirej Šavujev, and to deny us racegoers the pleasure of seeing not just Aldar and Aldzarb, but also Dashing Home and other Kadyrov-owned horses, is, to put it mildly, very disappointing.

Šavujev, let us remember, has been training first in Slovakia then in the Czech Republic (first at Most racecourse, then at Mimoň and now at Krabčice) since the early 1990s. The two best horses ever to have been based here, Darsalam, which  ran respectably in the English St Leger and the Ascot Gold Cup (when the race was run at York),  and Shamalgan, which finished 3rd in the French Two Thousand Guineas, were expertly trained here by Šavujev. Both of these horses were owned by Kazakh film director Ardak Amirkulov.

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The race conditions have been published for the European Jockeys Cup meeting, to be held at Prague Velká Chuchle on Saturday, September 26th. There will be five Listed races, one for prize money of CzK 1 650 000, and the others for CzK 550 000. All of this is serious money for Czech racing, if not for the very big name jockeys who are said to have been invited to come to Prague. Olivier Peslier, Maxim Guyon and Ioritz Mendizabal are three jockeys who have been approached. I am not sure that they will be free on that day.

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The protests about top classical chasers carrying no penalties in crosscountry races for prize money won in classical oval-track chasesare rumbling on. The lawmakers claim that there is no way that they can change their rules in mid season, but a group of trainers sent a letter to the Fitmin Turf Magazine website saying that they and others would boycott a Category IV race at Pardubice last Saturday. I have quite a lot of sympathy for the small trainers. The hot favourite for the race to be boycotted was Jam Taki, which less than a year ago won the Wielka Wroclawska and also another race at Wroclaw, which are clasified as classical steeplechases. Jam Taki is an experienced crosscountry racer, and it is clearly unfair on the small trainers that he is allowed to run in a Category IV crosscountry race without a penalty for his big win in Poland. To make things worse, Jam Taki finished only 4th on Saturday, and will be able to dominate a couple more Category IV crosscountries before returning - without penalties - to classical chases next year! Broker, strongly fancied for the Velka Pardubicka less than two years ago, also ran without penalties in this race. There were 12 runners, so the boycott was less than successful - perhaps because the announcement of the boycott had given the wrong date for the race.

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Just a year or two ago, we seemed to have a critical lack of jockeys coming through, especially over jumps, but also at lower weights on the flat. The number of Czech boys able to ride below about 56 kg, even as teenagers entering the school for apprentices, is quite small and getting smaller. The school for apprentices attracts a lot of girls nowadays, who tend to be lighter, of course, but only a few are strong enough to be effective jockeys.

However, our racing is beginning to benefit from skilled incomers. Trainer Arslangirej Šavujev has brought in a few talented Russians and Kazakhs, most notably Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, who has won our flat jockeys’ championship in each of the last two years, and is leading it again this year. He is 4 kg lighter than most of his serious challengers, and takes a highly professional approach. I think every serious owner and trainer has his phone number.

Now we have two Bulgarian brothers, working at Helena Vocásková’s stable, who have made a good start. Beysim Ferhanov has won three of his nine starts on the flat, while Sertash Ferhanov has had one winner in seven rides over fences. Sertash provided one of the memorable long moments of the season, when he was riding Barateus at Pardubice at the end of May. The horse hit the second last, and Sertash found himself hanging on to the underside of the horse’s neck. Somehow, he hauled himself back into the saddle, got over the last fence, and finished in second place. Both brothers are prepared to ride on the flat or over fences, and have shown that they deserve some chances. Beysim rides at 54 kg, Sertash at 58 kg..

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Some young Czech riders are also doing well. Jan Kratochvíl has had nine winners over jumps here, plus 5 in Italy and Slovakia. He leads our jumps jockeys’ championship. He rides as second jockey for Josef Váňa, and gets plenty of chances as Váňa quite often has two good runners in a race, or sends his son to ride in Italy, or young Josef cannot do the weight. Kratochvíl, who can ride at 60 kg, also picks up a lot of rides for other trainers. No less impressive has been the rise of Jakub Spačil, an apprentice. He had ridden only 6 winners before this season. This year, he has already ridden 15 winners, 6 over jumps and two on the flat in the Czech Republic, one over fences and six on the flat in Slovakia.        

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Entries for the Wielka Wroclawska Steeplechase and the Wielka Partynicka Hurdle close on July 2nd. Wroclaw is favoured by several of our trainers, and at least half of the entries for these races are likely to be Czech-trained. The big meeting at Wroclaw is on the first Saturday and Sunday in September.

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Congratulations to trainer Stanislav Popelka and jockey Marek Stromský on going all the way to Strömsholm in the middle of June for the Swedish Grand National. Popelka took four horses, won one race and took second place in the Grand National with Hawa Bali. The German-trained winner of the Swedish Grand National, Ländler, was ridden by Czech rider, Lukáš Sloup.