UK jockey Felix de Giles will ride for the first time in the Czech Republic on Saturday, August 22^nd. He will ride three horses owned by DS Pegas and trained by Michal Lisek. He will be on the outsider Nana Angela, making her debut in the race for 3-y-o hurdlers. He will then ride Dorotka in the cross-country race for mares only. Dorotka was a top sprinter on the flat, and had an outstanding season over fences in 2013, winning 4 good races, but has not achieved done much since then. If she is back to her best, she will do well. Felix de Giles’ main task is to ride Broker in the third of the four qualification races for the 2015 Velka Pardubicka. As a 6-y-o, in this race two years ago, Broker finished impressively in 2nd place, not far behind Trezor. However, the horse was withdrawn from the VP in 2013, and then missed all the 2014 season. This year, Broker twice failed to finish, and then won a very small race at Kolesa recently. He needs to finish in quite a good position in order to qualify for the VP and earn a good enough rating to get into the field for the race.  

Felix de Giles rode 39 winners in the UK in the 2010/11 season and 44 winners in the 2011/12 season. However, since then, and after losing his rider’s allowance, he has had less success. In his career, he has ridden a total of 900 races, and 114 winners.

One of the low points of his career was at Lingfield in December 2012, when he picked up a suspension for losing his way in an oval track steeplechase. It could happen to anyone, and might serve as a warning for a young man preparing to ride in crosscountry races at Pardubice.

I have found just a couple of articles about Felix de Giles on the internet. In spite of his French-sounding name, he is born and bred in England. His father is a trainer based in Wiltshire.

https://racingnewsuk.wordpress.com/features/felix-to-de-top/

http://www.cotswoldlife.co.uk/people/jockey_felix_de_giles_1_1633524