September 2015 newsletter
In these newsletters, I usually mention the weather in the past month, and quite often I begin with it. August has been a month of dramatic weather. We began the month with two weeks of extraordinarily hot and dry weather over the whole country. The water levels in the rivers, already low, got a lot lower, and the soil was very dry. Racing was by no means the most badly affected activity in the Czech Republic, and by no means all aspects of life and the economy suffered. The important local tourist industry has generally reported a very good season.
Swimming pools have been crowded. Companies producing non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beverages have reported record sales. Cereal crops have produced fairly low yields, but at least they were very easy to harvest and no artificial drying was needed.
The organizers of racing at all courses, especially those with racing scheduled in August, hoped there might be a long period of steady rain that would deposit the right amount of rain in the right place at the right time. Remarkably, these hopes were met in full in the middle of August by a 72-hour period of continuous steady rain all over the country. In most places, there was not much wind or hail, just steady rain and leaden skies, so that the precipitation got everywhere. The rain came at the beginning of the week, and had time to sink in before the meetings at Pardubice on the Saturday and Netolice on the Sunday. From Thursday onwards, the sun came out again. For the 3rd VP qualification race meeting at Pardubice, the ground staff got the racecourse into very good condition, and a very good crowd turned out for an outstanding day’s racing. The following day, at Netolice, there was also a large crowd, and the course was also in much better shape than had seemed possible a week earlier.
Now, as the month is coming to an end, we have had some more very hot days, including Czech St Leger day, and we still need a lot more rainfall. According to the medium-term weather forecast, we will are going to get some. Soon after the kiddies go back to school, on September 1st, cool rainy autumnal weather will set in.
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On August 7th, we were shocked to hear that Luděk Mikulecký had died suddenly and totally unexpectedly, at the age of 50. I did not know him, but everyone spoke well of him, during his lifetime and after his untimely death. His horses ran in the BORS Břeclav colours. Many of them have a name ending in “of Gracie”. Luděk Mikulecký had worked for years on restoring the Nový Dvor, in the middle of the beautiful Valtice – Lednice UNESCO heritage site. This area reverted to the ownership of the royal family of Liechtenstein after 1989, and Luděk Mikulecký restored the magnificent Nový Dvor to its previous function, for stabling horses. “Of Gracie” is a reference to the statue of the Three Graces, which stands in or adjacent to the Nový Dvor estate.
In May, one of Luděk Mikulecký’s horses, Universe of Gracie, won the first of the four qualification races for the 2015 Velka Pardubicka. Universe of Gracie also won a small Category IV race at the August meeting at Pardubice. The horse finished fourth in last year’s Velka, and is clearly a major contender for the Velka Pardubicka on October 11th. He will probably be ridden by Jan Faltejsek, who won the last three VPs on Orphée des Blins.
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Jan Faltejsek, by the way, is back in England, after spending the last two or three years with Guillaume Macaire in France. Jan was not getting enough rides in France, and so he accepted an offer to return to the Northumberland stables of George Charlton. At present, the stable is preparing for the coming season. The stable’s star, Knockara Beau, on which Jan rode in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and on which he won the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham, defeating Big Buck’s, remains in training. Jan gets to the Czech Republic for most of the meetings at Pardubice. He has ridden five winners here this year, as well as four at Merano and one in France.
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The European Jockeys’ Cup, to be held at Prague Velká Chuchle on Saturday September 26th,is a new venture and an important event in the attempt to put on a greater number of high-category flat races in the Czech Republic. In recent years, Czech owners have been investing enough money in bloodstock to buy horses capable of running in high-level races. However, outside the classic races for 3-y-os, we have a very limited range of top races for horses to run in here, and there are still only a handful of really high-class Czech-trained horses, good enough to compete in black type races abroad. At the same time, the prize money we have been able to offer has been too low to attract, for example, very good German-trained horses to run here. Our trainers have increasingly been sending their flat horses to run in attractive races abroad, mainly in Italy and France. (Only a few have run in Germany, where there is nowadays comparatively poor prize money, and there are plenty of good horses competing for it.)
I understand that the main organizers of the European Jockeys’ Cup have included leading trainer Václav Luka, jnr, and Tomáš Janda, bloodstock agent and organiser of the Central European Bloodstock sale, which will be held again this year at Pardubice racecourse, on Friday, October 9th. Very many other people have been contributing their time and effort to the European Jockeys’ Cup race day.
It was clear that it would not be possible to offer a special day’s racing with spectacularly high prize money, but that it might be possible to attract some top jockeys to Prague, and to draw attention to our headquarters for flat racing in that way. The date, Saturday September 26th, was chosen because French-based jockeys are likely to be available on that day.
The most successful Czech jockeys working abroad are Filip Minařík, who has been among the German elite for many years, and Václav Janáček, who has been the champion jockey in Spain for the last 4 years, and before that repeatedly smashed all records for flat jockeys in the Czech Republic. He reminded us of his skills with a masterful front-running ride to victory on Sanok in the Czech St Leger on August 30th. Both of these leading Czech jockeys are expected to be here on European Jockeys’ Cup race day. It remains to be seen how many other top jockeys will come. A number of top French-based jockeys have expressed interest. However, they are retained by top trainers and top owners, who may insist that they must ride elsewhere.
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 bring some German-trained entries, and there are even rumours that some Spanish trainers and owners might come. The main event is a Listed race for 3-y-o+ over 1400 metres, for prize money of CzK 1 650 000, 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 55 000, equivalent to € 20 000. Finally, there is a race for 3-y-o+ fillies and mares over 1400 metres, for prize money of CzK 55 000, and the Gerscha Memorial, Category I, 1400 metres, for 2-y-os, for prize money of CzK 150 000, equivalent to about € 5 800.
A list of participating jockeys will be drawn up, and when the declared runners are announced, the owners/trainers will be able to select the jockey that they prefer. First choice will be given to the owner/trainer of the horse with the highest handicap rating, second choice to the owner/trainer of the horse with the second-highest rating, etc. If there are more runners than competing jockeys, the owner/trainer can choose any other jockey to ride her/his horse.
It is hoped that there will be good weather, plenty of distinguished jockeys, and plenty of runners in the races. It is also hoped that our top owners will give their full support by having their good horses prepared for this special racing day: Saturday, September 26th.
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September offers not only some good flat racing here, but also the biggest days of jumps racing in the central European region. The big jumps race meeting at Wroclaw, not far away in Poland, is on September 5th and 6th. In all jumps meetings at Wroclaw, Czech horses and jockeys are well represented. More than half of the declared runners for Sunday’s Wielka Wroclawska are Czech-trained. Demon Magic, Gauner Danon and Ursan are top Czech chasers. Delight my Fire has already won the two biggest chases at Wroclaw so far this year, and she has clearly taken to the course.
The Gran Premio at Merano will be run on Sunday, September 27th, and Alpha Two, trained by Josef Váňa snr and ridden by Josef jnr, will be trying to win this race for the third year in succession.
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Josef Váňa jnr was back in the saddle racing 10 days before the cast that was immobilizing his broken anke was due to be removed, and a week later he rode at Pardubice and won the third VP qualification race on Rabbit Well. This famously moody horse won the race really impressively.
The following day, at Netolice, Josef Váňa snr’s second jockey, Jan Kratochvíl, who is well clear at the head of our jumps jockeys’ championship, fell and broke a thigh. This leaves Josef senior with a problem, as he frequently has two horses in one race, or runners at separate meetings on the same day. He has five horses qualified for the Velka Pardubicka: Rabbit Well and Zarif are likely to be first and second favourites, and Hipo Jape just might do something, while the other two, Thallium and Wild Danger, will probably not get into the field. Will Josef Váňa snr jump into the saddle again on October 11th?
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With less than 6 weeks to go before the 2015 Velka Pardubicka, the situation is different from usual. Over 35 of the entries are already qualified, and there are still opportunities remaining for more horses to qualify, especially in the 4th qualification race at Pardubice on Saturday, September 12th. This year, for the first time, there is likely to be major competition to obtain a high enough rating to get into the field. All runners in the Velka Pardubicka carry the same weight (except that mares get an allowance), and the horses that do not get into the field for the VP will be rated 12 kg and more below the most highly rated, and really would not have had much chance. However, for many owners and trainers, it is a dream to be in the VP, and they and their friends will be following the ratings closely in the coming weeks.
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There are plenty of Czech-language websites dedicated to Czech racing, and they welcome a bit of controversy. In August, a couple of interesting open letters were published in them. In one of them, Zdeněk Karlach and Radek Vraj, organizers and saviours of horseracing at Slušovice, complain that Jiří Charvát, president of the Czech Jockey Club, called each of them separately and accused them of organizing the August meeting at the racecourse in an incompetent manner, and hung up on them without listening to their defence. The going was hard, in spite of watering, and there was a bad fall at the Grandstand Fence, right in front of a large crowd. “Spectacular” Grandstand Fences are not a great idea in the 21st century, now that not everyone wants to watch horses being put down and riders getting hurt, right in front of them. Anyway, it is probably - and certainly should be - a storm in a teacup. Zdeněk Karlach and Jiří Charvát are both big contributors to Czech racing, and both are quick to express any dissatisfaction in colourful language. In both cases, their bark is very much worse than their bite. If Jiří Charvát really did accuse Zdeněk Karlach and Radek Vraj of incompetence and threaten to remove them from organizing racing at Slušovice, I hope he has apologized fulsomely.
Another open letter was from a trainer complaining about the cancellation of the meeting at Most in September, and the consequent loss of a Category II race for which he has been preparing his horse. This kind of thing is of course annoying for the trainer. It is not easy to find the right race for a horse, given that we have only 16 races each weekend, over various distances, in various categories, for horses of various ages, on the flat and over hurdles and fences. I am afraid that the trainer’s claim that heads should roll and that he should be compensated are unlikely to lead to anything.
Both of these open letters point to a basic fact: in Czech racing, the biggest shortage is of people dedicated enough to run a racecourse and put on races. We need to treat the organizers with great respect, and to be grateful for their efforts … even if, from time to time, not everything turns out perfectly.
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At the meeting at Slušovice, there was an interesting situation, where in each of the last two races the rider failed to weigh in correctly. In one case, where the first past the post was disqualified, the trainer was fined, and in the other case, the jockey was fined. Incorrect weighing in is a serious matter, without any doubt. Petr Drahoš, racecourse manager at Prague Velká Chuchle, has responded by imposing much stricter restrictions on who can enter the parade ring, and on getting the riders to go straight to the weighing room after the race. Quite a lot of informality has been the norm until now, and it is a good idea to make a serious attempt to isolate the jockeys between weighing out and weighing in.
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I hope that the European Jockeys’ Cup meeting will be a successful venture. It is a rare attempt by us to look actively for large-scale foreign participation in our racing. This website is dedicated to international horseracing - not only outgoing but also incoming - and will therefore offer full coverage of the event.