Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, born in Kazakhstan, has completed his fourth season riding at Czech racecourses, and has won the Czech flat jockeys’ championship for the third time. On December 14th, he flew home for a one-month holiday, and a few minutes before take-off he shared his impressions on the recently-ended season.

“I’m extremely happy. I won 46 races, the biggest number in my career. I won ten Category I races and two classics,” he says. I rate my win on Aldar in the Czech 2000 Guineas most highly, and on the filly in the Oaks [Amga River]. It was very close, but we made it [the first three fillies were separated by short heads].” 

From being an unknown youngster, he has within four seasons become a respected jockey. This year, he rode in 209 races on Czech courses, and won 42 of them. He also had four winners outside the country. Murzabayev won almost 4 million crowns in prizemoney. “I’m very happy about the season, and I’m pleased to have done better than in previous years,” he says.

Murzabayev continues to work with [trainer] Arslangirej Šavujev. “I’m happy at Mr Šavujev’s stable, so if he’s happy too, I’ll be pleased to work for him.” Šavujev is looking after 17 horses at Krabčice, the same number as he had in the season that has recently come to an end. “Sixteen or seventeen horses is the ideal number for four people. There are not a lot of high-quality staff here, so Mr Šavujev doesn’t want to have more horses than that.”

Murzabayev will be spending exactly a month at home in Kazakhstan. “I’ll be home in 10 hours. I’m flying via Frankfurt. I didn’t want to fly via Russia. I’ll be back on January 14^th, and I’ll go straight back to work. The trainer gave me exactly one month off.”

What awaits the successful jockey at home is above all a rest and meetings with friends. I’m planning to go skiing and skating with friends at Medeo [the famous outdoor high-mountain skating rink and ski resort not far from Almaty. Medeo is also the name of the Kazakh-owned 2007 Czech Derby winner, trained by Arslangirej Šavujev]. We’ll see how it works out. A month passes terribly quickly,” he adds. Of course, he was taking some Christmas presents with him. “I’ve bought a few things, but I’ll have to buy the rest in Kazakhstan. There’s a weight limit on the plane, so I can’t take that much with me.”

Murzabayev does not yet have a signed agreement for next year. “I’ve been speaking with Mr Luka [leading flat trainer Václav Luka, jnr.]. I have a number of offers, and it is still open who I’ll be riding for next year.I’d like to have a bit more freedom. I have offers from Germany, where I could ride, and also from Hungary. The trainer told me I could ride our horses abroad, so I must work on myself to be able to ride,” says the triple Czech champion jockey.

While he is at home, Bauyrzhan Murzabayev will not be watching his weight. “I haven’t been watching it since the end of our racing season here, and I won’t be watching it at home either. It can’t be done. However, the moment I get back I’ll start working on myself. I’ll start swimming and getting myself ready. The trainer wants to go racing abroad before the beginning of the Czech season.”

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This interview was made by Petr Malík, and first appeared in Czech language on the Galopp Reporter website