March 2016 was no doubt a bad month for Czech horseracing. The first two race meetings of the season, due to take place on April 3^rd and April 10^th, were cancelled because of the lack of an agreement on race conditions between the racecourses and the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic.

Bad relations within the Czech horseracing community have done a lot of harm to the business of Czech racing. Trust and confidence are at a low level. The racecourses have not been able to finalize their plans and negotiate with their business partners. The Jockey Club has not been able to start implementing its short-term, medium-term and long-term projects. How bad the harm is will depend on efforts to bring us all together. If the lesson has been learned that we are all one community and should talk and find ways to pull more or less in the same direction, the future need not be as bad as the recent past.

It is not easy to report what has been going on. Firstly, I am not fully informed because it is now five months since I spent an afternoon with racing people. Discussions and pronouncements have been made on various web sites, blogs, facebook pages, etc., that I do not necessarily follow. Above all, my normal best and most reliable source of information has been silent. The editor of the Czech language Dostihový svět web pages has completely ignored the more recent parts of the stand-off between the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic and the racecourses. He decided that he is more interested in the ice-hockey play-offs, in which his team, Sparta Prague, is currently engaged in a semi-final series. Our Czech pages do not need to report on the stand-off, because plenty of others have been writing more than enough about it in Czech language. However, the main motivation for these English pages is to report on the main events in Czech racing, in English, for the international horseracing community, and I will therefore try to explain what led to the cancellation of the first two racing days of the 2016 season.

For the sake of clarity, I have divided the events leading to the cancellation of our race meetings in Prague on April 3rd and April 10th into four stages.

In stage one, a group of leading owners became increasingly discontented with the way the Jockey Club and the racecourses were operating, and in particular with the lack of prioritization for top-class racing (and the failure of the JCCR and the racecourses to treat those owners who purchase high-class horses as VIPs).

In stage 2, three years ago, this group organized itself to take control of the Jockey Club by getting its supporters elected to leading positions in the organizations that supply members of the Board of the Jockey Club. The Board of the JCCR has 15 members:  the Czech Association of Thoroughbred Breeders and Racehorse Owners (ČSCHPMDK) has 5 seats; the Czech Steeplechase Association (ČASCH) has 5 seats; there is one seat for the Czech Association of Professional Trainers and Riders, and there are 4 seats for the organizations that run the racecourses (1 seat for TMM Prague Velká Chuchle, 1 seat for Dostihový spolek Pardubice, 1 seat for Most racecourse with Karlovy Vary racecourse, and 1 seat for a representative of the Category C racecourses. An obvious anomaly is that the Steeplechase Association is well repesented, but there is no equivalent organisation or representation for flat racing. Under the previous leadership of the JCCR, the Board was packed with loyalists of Václav Luka senior, president of the JCCR. In a fairly straightforward coup, the leadership of ČSCHPMDK and ČASCH was taken over three years ago by the group led by leading owners. They and their supporters were then elected to the ten seats that give ČSCHPMDK and ČASCH the majority on the Board of the JCCR. Václav Luka, who had been president of the Jockey Club for 17 years, was voted out, and most of his closest allies had already lost their seats on the Board. However, TMM Prague Velká Chuchle retained its seat, and the racecourses as a whole formed an opposition group on the Board. For further background about TMM, click on to http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/2109

In stage 3, from 2014 onwards, the new Board of the JCCR set about implementing reforms, on the basis of its domination of ČSCHPMDK and ČASCH, and as a result, its domination of the Board of JCCR. It should be pointed out that everything was done by a majority vote - but these majority votes had been achieved, their opponents point out, by packing the relevant boards with “putschists”. The key battle between the “putschists” and the racecourses has been over the insistence by the Board of the JCCR that, from 2016 onwards, the amount paid by owners for entry+declaration to run was to be reduced from 5% to 3.5%. That is to say, the owner of a horse entered and declared to run in a race with prize money of CzK 100 000 could no longer be asked to pay CzK 5 000, and the (combined) charge must be reduced to CzK 3 500. Now, it is generally agreed, even by the Czech racecourses, that 5% is a lot of money, and is the highest amount charged by racecourses anywhere in Europe. 2% is more like a standard amount, and in some administrations there is no charge at all. The “putschists” considered this to be a promising issue for them: after all, if you were to ask Czech racegoers whether they would prefer to pay 35 crowns or 50 crowns for half a litre of best lager, the popular vote would surely be in favour of 35 crowns. The decision to reduce this major source of income for the racecourses was presented to them as a fait accompli, a valid decision of the JCCR, with which they must comply. Then there was a long stand-off. The JCCR said it was an order. The racecourses said nothing. After a long time delay, the JCCR confirmed the order, and the racecourses said nothing. Then, in February, the racecourses posted their own race conditions on the www.dostihy.net web site, stating 5% charges, so that owners and trainers could plan their preparations for the season. The JCCR continued to insist that its orders must be obeyed.

In stage 4, which set in around the end of February, the question ceased to be mainly whether owners should pay 5% or 3.5%. It became, Would the racing season begin as planned on April 3^rd, or would the JCCR continue to fight the racecourses and risk cancellations? In March, the JCCR continued to stare at the racecourses. The racecourses stared back. Prague Velká Chuchle anounced the cancellation of the meeting on April 3rd. After a delay, the JCCR finally blinked, and made an offer of about 4%, plus supplementary money from an Owners’ Fund that it says it administers. The next day, Prague Velká Chuchle’s response was to cancel the race meeting on April 10th. It finally became clear to the president of the JCCR that he had been outmanoeuvred and must capitulate. At the end of March, the following press release was issued  http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/6094.

The show must go on – that was the desire of almost everyone. All professionals making their living out of horseracing want the season to start. Even the angriest “putschists” have had to concede that a further battle over the difference between 5% and 3.5% cannot be won at the present time, and that further cancellations would be too painful. In any case, the conflict is not really about money!  

I will not attempt to predict what stage 5 will be. The wealthy owners have plenty of options for punishing Prague Velká Chuchle, if they want to continue the war. Alternatively, they can take up yachting or golf, though they should know that there is no prize money at all for owners in those sports. My hope is that fine racehorses, which totally ignore this kind of dispute, will work their magic and bring the community together.

I think that is a good point to stop. The weather forecast states that we will have a lovely warm afternoon in Prague tomorrow - Sunday April 3rd -  when we should have been spending an enjoyable afternoon at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse.