The October newsletter should be mainly about the upcoming Velka Pardubicka meeting, which will be held this year on Saturday, October 10^th and on Sunday, October 11^th (Velka Pardubicka day). Of course, I do intend to whip up a bit of Velka Pardubicka hysteria here - or at least offer some words of encouragement and advice for visitors from abroad considering travelling to Pardubice for our biggest race day of the 2015 season.

However, I am writing this the day after the European Jockeys Cup day at Prague Velka Chuchle, which deserves some detailed comments, and even priority over the famous Velka.

The idea of the EJC began in a discussion, in which they key figures were trainer Václav Luka, jnr. and one of his owners, Milan Kříž, of LERAM, a pharmaceuticals distribution company based in Brno. The topic was how to promote Czech racing, how to put on a larger number of high-quality races, and how to make a realistic and feasible proposal for some major races. Václav Luka nowadays takes quite a lot of horses to run in France, and often engages top French-based riders. He and others invite top international jockeys to ride here, mainly in the Czech Derby. Luka considered that he was therefore in sufficient contact with French-based jockeys, and that they might listen to him. He could talk to them about a trip to Prague, and suggest to them that it might not be an unattractive or distant location for a special day of racing, if he could get the right sponsorship.

He got a positive response from some jockeys, and plenty of enthusiasm from Czech jockey Václav Janáček, who has been champion jockey in Spain for the last two years. The EJC seemed worth trying. Of course, it would be necessary to find a date on which top international jockeys and our top horses might be available. That is, if the top Czech-based owners could be persuaded to enter all their best horses, and if sponsors could be found for half a dozen races worth EUR 20 000 each. Then of course it would be necessary to get some television coverage, and to pray for good weather.

To cut a long story short, it all worked out really well. Strictly speaking, not everything was perfect. UK jockey Martin Dwyer suffered a nasty fall in the last of the EJC races, when his horse lost its legs. He was concussed and broke a collar bone, according to information given on television. In addition, we do not have enough good sprinters and we do not have a straight 1 000 metre course, so we were not able to on an adequate Listed sprint. In the sprint race that we did have, German-based Czech jockey, Filip Minarík, lost concentration after he had the race won, and somehow managed to get beaten by a nose on Mikesh. And the coverage of the meeting on ČT Sport was long and dreary. The presenter, who I think is called Petr Kubásek, interviewed several of the international jockeys, but could think of nothing cleverer to ask each of them than whether he liked Velká Chuchle racecourse and the EJC. You don’t need to be a top jockey to know the correct answer to that question, and each of them gave it, one after the other! Wow!

Nevertheless, the EJC was a marvellous event that suggests there are (just about) enough good horses in central Europe to support five Listed races on the same afternoon. There is certainly some real commitment to the idea of a day in autumn when Czech-based owners get their top horses together, and attract horses from the region and from western Europe, and put on a day’s racing that announces to Europe that we nowadays have some serious racing here, some good horses and, of course, a good, regular racecourse in the suburbs of a city that anyone should be looking for an excuse to visit.

I admit that I had had my doubts about the EJC, as many others did. It was a very ambitious project, and it only remains to congratulate Václav Luka, jnr. and Milan Kříž on putting such a big undertaking together and on bringing it to a successful conclusion. It is hard to think anyone would be against trying again next year. The existence of an EJC meeting would encourage more wealthy Czechs to invest in high-quality bloodstock, and to run their good horses in races at Velká Chuchle.

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After our hot, dry midsummer period, we have enjoyed a mild month of September. There was a single day in the middle of the month, I remember, when it was extraordinarily hot in Prague, over 30˚C. The month was again very dry.

What kind of weather can we expect for the Velka Pardubicka, on October 11th? We have had a lot of warm, sunny Velkas in recent years, but the weather in the Czech lands usually changes abruptly just about the second or third weekend in October. Have in mind that the grandstands at Pardubice racecourse face north and are not glassed in. Definitely bring a warm coat – you will need it in the evenings, and also probably on the race days.

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The entries have been announced for both days of the meeting at Pardubice. Two of the races that have been run on Velka day in the past have been moved to the Saturday. These are the Crystal Cup, over hurdles, and the 3-y-o hurdles race. The rest of the day consists of low-class races, none of them on the crosscountry course. There is a hurdles race for amateur riders, a flat race for amateurs, a flat race for lady riders, and an oval track steeplechase for riders that have ridden less than 50 winners. I am not sure this is a good innovation.

The two races moved from Velka day to the Saturday are replaced on the Sunday by a new crosscountry race for mares only, and by a split in the crosscountry race for young horses. This year, there will be one race for 4-y-os and one for 5-yos.

It will not become clear which horses will run in the Velka until Friday, October 2nd. It is expected that the two French horses recently supplemented for the race will run, and will be joined by 23 Czech-trained and Slovak-trained horses. 25 is the maximum allowed number of runners, and is more than enough. The horses that are eliminated, on the basis of their low rating, will all be no-chancers.

There will be plenty of time to discuss the races on Velka day over the next two weeks. Suffice it to say now that Registana’s two oldest progeny, 7-y-o mare Regine and 6-y-o gelding Reaper, will both be well-fancied in their races on October 11th, as will her son, 3-y-o gelding Reki, in the 3-y-o hurdles championship on the Saturday. Each of these three won their last race in some style!

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Among the Czech-trained horses in the Velka Pardubicka, two trained by Josef Váňa won qualification races impressively, and are well fancied: Zarif and Rabbit Well. The winner of the first qualification race, Universe of Gracie, has been consistent this year, and finished 4th in VP 2014. Ribelino has once beaten Universe of Gracie this year, and twice finished close behind him this season. Klaus and Kasim have both twice been placed in the VP in the past. Nikas was 2nd in the race in 2013. Many decided a year ago, when he ran Orphée des Blins so close in the Velka, that Al Jaz was the one to support for the 2015 VP. He has not done much since then. And of course, there is Trezor. I’d better mention French-trained Pasquini Rouge and Torpille d’Ainay. And maybe Váňa-trained Hipo Jape. At least one of these twelve should get a place.

I am told that Josef Váňa, snr is not going to ride this year, as the horse he might have ridden “needs a younger rider”.

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A visit to the Czech Republic for the Velka can be arranged at very short notice. It may be difficult to book a hotel room in Pardubice at the last moment, but a hotel near the main station in Prague and a one-hour train journey on the Sunday morning is a very satifactory option. Don’t go by road! Grandstand tickets are more or less sold out, but you can get into the course without a seat, and will be fine (as long as it is a dry day).