Misfortune and crosscountry steeplechasing are close companions, and worse things can happen than failing to win the Velka Pardubicka on three occasions. Nevertheless, Marek Stromský has had a remarkable run of misfortune in the race, and it could not have happened to a more popular and more likeable jockey.

Now that it has been confirmed that Nikas’ urine sample contained banned substances, his jockey, Marek Stromský, has announced that he is retiring and turning his back on horseracing.  

On October 12th, 2008, Stromský was first past the post on the grey gelding Amant Gris, beating the grey mare Sixteen fair and square, in record time for the Velka Pardubicka. This was the first time the race had been run in less than 9 minutes. However, there had been an incident before fence 10a, in which Stromský, UK jockey, Keith Mercer, on Ivoire de Beaulieu, and Jan Faltejsek, on Klip, all missed a marker. Replays on television indicated that it was Stromský himself who was furthest off course and had led the others off course. The decision to disqualify Amant Gris and Stromský was uncontroversial.

On October 10th, 2010, Stromský, on Amant Gris, fought out a finish with Tiumen, ridden by Josef Váňa, snr. Inside the last 200 metres, Váňa took Tiumen into the lead, and appeared to have the race won. It then appeared that Váňa eased up. Amant Gris came back, and was beaten by a nose in a photo finish. Amant Gris’ connections protested that Tiumen had interefered with Amant Gris’  late run. The stewards ruled that Váňa had failed to keep a straight line, and he was fined. However, the stewards decided that the interference had not affected the result of the race. In my opinion, the stewards reached the right decision on the wrong grounds. Horses do not necessarily run straight in the final metres of a 6 900-metre steeplechase. Váňa no doubt tried to stop Amant Gris passing him – that was his job. He certainly did not wave Stromský past. We do not want the toughest steeplechase in continental Europe to be decided in the stewards’ room, and what Váňa did on that day was not bad enough to cost him the race. In my opinion!

On October 11th, 2015, Stromský was first past the post, winning the Velka Pardubicka clearly on Nikas. This time again, they broke the course record. However, Nikas was tested for banned substances, as every winner of the Velka is. In mid-November, it was announced that he had tested positive for two stimulants, caffeine and theobromine. The connections asked for the B sample to be tested, and it was sent to the FEI Central Laboratory (LGC Limited), in Newmarket. Two months later, a 30-page report from the laboratory was received by the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, confirming the presence of theobromine and caffeine. It was only a matter of time before the disqualification of Nikas would be announced.  

Over the course of 26 seasons, since 1990, Marek Stromský has ridden 183 winners in 1172 races over fences, plus 30 winners in 289 races on the flat, including the Czech Two Thousand Guineas in 1993. A jockey like him, who rides 60 – 80 races in a season and tends to finish somewhere between 5th place and 10th place in our jumps jockeys’ championship, has to train hard and keep a diet, and makes a very modest living. Stromský lives near the Albertovec stud, northwest of Ostrava, where Amant Gris is spending his retirement, a long way away from major training establishments and racecourses.

It is easy to understand the bitter disappointment that he feels. The Velka Pardubicka and Czech horseracing have taken much more away from him than he has received. He will be remembered very fondly - as a good horseman and as the unluckiest jockey in the history of the race.