The traditional autumn festival meeting at Prague Velká Chuchle has been brought forward by a few weeks so that horses can run in the major autumn festival meeting and also in the much-awaited European Jockeys’ Cup meeting, which will be held on Saturday, September 26^th at Prague Velka Chuchle.

The two main races this Sunday are the first major confrontations between our best 3-y-os and the older horses, and they are run over the classic distances, 2400 metres and 1600 metres.

Both races have attracted fields of moderate size, but of a quality rarely seen in the Czech Republic. Trainer Arslangirej Šavujev has for several years received very high-quality horses owned by Ramzan Kadyrov that have been hard raced in Dubai and elsewhere. has had good success in getting at least some of these horses back into shape and sending them out for further achievements. Meandre won the Graded 2 Preis von Europa at Cologne in 2013, during a period when he was being trained by Šavujev, but since then he has had a series of tough races in France and in the UAE. At 7-y-o, he is probably past his best. He is now owned by Said Shaptukayev. In the Conseq Czech Turf Grand Prix, Meandre takes on last year’s top staying 3-y-os, Aztek and Cheeky Chappie, as well as Autor, which finished 2nd in a very good field in the Mercedez Benz Steherpreis at Baden Baden a year ago. On his 2013 form, Donn Halling, too, might stand a chance.

In the Martin Tour Prague Grand Prix, over 1600 metres, Zazou is an 8-y-o Kadyrov-owned horse that made a comeback recently, winning a Category II race at Karlovy Vary. 7-y-o Chardonney Tcheque has won 15 of his 29 races, including the Czech Two Thousand Guineas in 2011 and many other good races, including all his three runs this year. Dashing Home, owned by Ramzan Kadyrov and trained by Arslangirej Šavujev, may be the best of the 3-y-os. He won a Category I race at Most very impressively at the end of May. The other 3-y-os, Tamarind Cove (3rd in the Czech Derby) and Ideal Approach also have to be beaten.

The first race at Prague Velka Chuchle is at 2 p.m., and there are eight races on the card.