1. RABBIT WELL – In his favour, he is very talented, and won the August QR here very impressively, and his jockey, Josef Váňa jnr., and his trainer Josef Váňa snr., are great assets. Against him, he has frequently refused to cooperate, has limited crosscountry experience, and no-one can know well he will stay the distance.

  2. RIBELINO – Since Pavel Kašný started riding him at the beginning of this season, he has been a transformed horse. All of his runs this year have been very sound. Probably the best of the younger horses in the race.

  3. SHERARDO – This one appears to be out of his depth here, though he would be a popular winner in the press box, as his owner is equine photographer Zenon Kisza. 

  4. NIKAS – This horse has several really good performances on his CV over the years, including 2nd place in VP 2013 (very well beaten), and then winner of the May 2014 QR. Since May 2014, he has got round only twice in six starts, through a combination of bad luck and bad jumping. Marek Stromský is a veteran jockey, twice unlucky not to win this race on Amant Gris. First, they were disqualified for missing a marker after dominating the race and passing the post in first place. Two years later, when they were beaten by a nose by Tiumen, a protest against the winner found that there was interference in the final metres, but that it was not sufficient to have affected the result.

  5. UNIVERSE OF GRACIE – He had only moderate form before finishing 4^th in VP 2014. This year, however, he has produced a series of good performances, including his win in the June QR. He is to be ridden by Jan Faltejsek, who has won the VP in each of the last three years, on Orphée des Blins.

  6 MODENA – On VP day in 2014, this 7-y-o mare won the Labe Stakes, considered a preparatory race for  the VP, and she has run quite well in three QRs this year. This will be Dušan Andrés’ 21^st ride in the race. 

  7 TEMPLÁŘ – He has not yet shown that he can be a contender win a race at this level, and he will be ridden by a French jockey with little experience of this course. Nevertheless, if a big outsider is to come good today, this young horse with some fairly good form might be the one.

  8 PARETO – Showed plenty of promise a long time ago, over hurdles and in classical steeplechases, but nothing recently, or in tough crosscountry chases. There is no reason why he should show in the race today.

  9 HIPO JAPE – Promising as a young hurdler and classical steeplechaser, and his performance in the June QR here this was pretty good. Definitely the 3rd choice of the Váňa stable, but not a rank outsider.

 10 AMARAGON – Plenty of the others have beaten this one repeatedly. He is not a bad horse, but most of the field would be expected to beat him.

 11 AL JAZ – Support for this horse comes from his outstanding 2nd place in VP 2015. Some pundits think this was a blip, and that his moderate performances this year have been a return to his real form. Other pundits claim that he has shown promise both before and after VP 2014, and is a strong contender this year. In any, event, this horse has shown that he can produce a really strong performance over this course and distance on VP day Josef Sovka rode Al Jaz in the race last year.

 12 KLAUS – There is plenty of support for this one. He has finished 3rd in both of the last two runnings of this race, and his 2nd place in the September 2015 QR here indicated that his preparation is coming along well. Raffaele Romano is multiple Italian champion jockey over jumps, and has ridden in the VP before.

 13 PEINTRE ABSTRAIT – Finished 5th in this race in 2013, but was very well beaten. This was the big day in his career, and it is hard to see anything better than that ever  happening to him. UK jockey Tom Cannon will be having his first ride in the race. He need not worry about losing his way, as there will surely be plenty for him to follow.

 14 ORIX – If only two finish the course, and Orix is one of them, he will finish 2nd. It is hard to image circumstances in which he might be a contender in this race.

 15 TER MILL – This horse finished 3rd in the May QR, which would be quite good if it were not his lifetime standout performance. His rider Ondřej Velek is a decent young rider. However, Ter Mill is a rank outsider.

 16 GAUNER DANON – He normally turns in moderate performances, but he did well in the August 2014 QR, and he won a classical steeplechase at Lysá in July. His 8th place in VP 2014 was not bad. His rider, Sertash Ferhanov, is from Bulgaria started riding here this year. His main claim to fame is his extraordinary achievement in pulling himself back into the saddle on Barateus at Pardubice in May (about 6 min 20 second into the video)https://www.facebook.com/anglogermanracing/posts/936564303041868

 17 KASIM – Placed 4th in VP 2013 and 5th in VP 2014, and won the August QR in 2014. He stays, and he has a good record in the race. Marcel Novak, tough and experienced, rode him in his good VP races in 2013 and in 2014

 18 SOKOL – Had a very good record on the flat, over hurdles and in oval track steeplechases. However, the transition to crosscountry this year has not gone well, and his name among the declarations to run was a surprise. If he has suddenly morphed into a 6900 metre crosscountry chaser, and if young UK rider Thomas Garner, riding in his first VP, has better orientation skills than some of his countrymen, this might be the outsider we are all looking for.

 19  LORAIN – Was a promising hurdler a long time ago, but is nowadays just a decent Category III crosscountry chaser. Top Czech jumps jockey Jaroslav Myska is riding this one only because his wife is the trainer and the owner is her best client.

 20 NEBRIUS– This one has never shown any signs that he might be a contender for the VP. His owner keeps Kolesa racecourse going, and the trainer is his daughter. It would be nice if their horse gives them his best today – though even that would not be enough.

 21 ZARIF – This one is trained by Josef Váňa, and runs in the same colours as Tiumen did. He took two very good 2^nd places, not far behind Trezor and not far behind Orphée des Blins, in QRs in 2014. He was well backed for the VP, but only finished 6th, which was widely considered disappointing. Either Zarif or Rabbit Well, also Váňa-trained, will start as favourite.

 22 PASQUINI ROUGE – This is the only foreign-trained horse this year. His trainer, Patrice Quinton, and also his owner, Ecurie des Dunes, are practically certain to be winners of this year’s Crystal Cup Challenge series of crosscountry chases (the VP is a race in this series). The horse has won this year at Argentan, in France, and also in the Crystal Cup race at Frauenfeld in Switzerland. He has also twice run well on the crosscountry course at Cheltenham. This will be his jockey, Jordan Duchêne’s first ride in the Czech Republic.

Conclusions