Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse is putting on eight days of racing in its autumn season, which begins with Czech St Leger day – Sunday, August 30th, first race at 2 p.m. There will be meetings every Sunday afternoon until Sunday, October 25th, with two important exceptions.

Firstly, the European Jockeys’ Cup meeting will be held on Saturday, September 26th. This will be the most ambitious and most innovative day of flat racing attempted in recent years at Prague Velká Chuchle.

Secondly, the Velká Pardubická will be run on Sunday, October 11th, at Pardubice racecourse, so there will be no racing in Prague on that day. The two-day Velká Pardubická meeting will be held on Saturday, October 10thand Sunday, October 11th.

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The feature race on Sunday, August 30th, the first day of the autumn season at Velká Chuchle, will be the Czech St Leger (Listed), the last of the five classic races for 3-y-os in the 2015 season.

The autumn festival meeting has been brought forward to allow our top horses to run on Sunday, September 6th and also, three weeks later, on European Jockeys’ Cup day. The autumn festival meeting provides the first major encounter of the year between our top 3-y-os and older horses. The feature races are the 37th running of the Martin Tour Travel Agency Prague Grand Prix (Listed), over 1600 metres, and the 37^th running of the Conseq Czech Horseracing Grand Prix (Listed), over 2400 metres.

In autumn, Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse puts on a small number of hurdles races. The main race on Sunday, September 13th is the EŽ Praha, a. s. Gold Cup (Hurdles, 4200 metres, National Listed), the richest hurdles race of the season in the Czech Republic. The 94^th St Wenceslaus Prize (Category I, 1200 metres) will also be run on that day – a couple of weeks before St Wenceslaus’ day, due to the European Jockeys’ Cup arrangements.

Sunday, September 20th does not offer anything more than a Category II race. It often seems that attendances at Czech racing depend as much on the weather as on the quality of the races. If the weather is fine, as it often is here in the second half of September, there will be a good crowd and an enjoyable day of racing.

The high point of the autumn flat racing season Prague Velká Chuchle will be the European Jockeys’ Cup, which will be held on Saturday, September 26th. There will be six races on the card, each with very good prize money by our standards. We hope that the prize money and the interesting enterprise will, perhaps, be enough to attract some distinguished international jockeys and also some German-trained and other foreign entries. The main event is a Listed race for 3-y-o+ over 1400 metres, for prize money of CzK 165 000, equivalent to € 60 000. Then there are three Listed races, all for 3-y-o+, over distances of 1 000 metres, 1 800 metres and 2 600 metres. Each of these races has prize money of CzK 550 000. Finally, there is a race for 3-y-o+ fillies and mares over 1400 metres, for prize money of CzK 550 000, and the Gerscha Memorial, Category I, 1400 metres, for 2-y-os, for prize money of CzK 150 000.

We hope that all our top horses will run on European Jockeys’ Cup day. The main event on the following race day, Sunday, October 4th is therefore a Category II race.

After Velká Pardubická day, there will be just two more race days at Prague Velká Chuchle before the end of the season. On Sunday, October 18th, the feature race will be the 77th running of the Charvát Winter Favourite Prize, for 2-y-os over 1600 metres. This is a good opportunity for Derby hopefuls for 2016 to make an impression.

The traditional main race on the final race day of the season at Velká Chuchle is the 95th running of the President of the Republic’s Prize, over 3200 metres. This race recovered some of its gloss when previous president Václav Klaus came to the race more than once, shook many hands and clearly enjoyed the occasion. Efforts are being made to persuade current president Miloš Zeman to honour his race with his presence.  

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The standard time for the first race at Velká Chuchle is 2 p.m., and the standard number of races on the card is eight. After the beginning of October, the first race is at 1 p.m., and when the clocks are put back, the first race is at 12 midday.

Everyone is welcome at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse. There is plenty of shelter inside the grandstand without any extra payment for everyone enters the racecourse, and we enjoy our racing even if the autumn afternoon is cold, wet and overcast.