A press conference was held by Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse at the Park Inn Hotel on April 14th to mark the beginning of the 2016 horseracing season. We were informed that in 2015, for the first time ever, the racecourse held races with total prize money of over twenty million crowns.

This year, again, the racecourse will hold most of the major flat races in the Czech Republic. Particularly for top category races, Velká Chuchle wants to reduce the cost of entry + declaration to run, if only in an attempt to stop owners of top horses running them abroad, where the fees are much lower. It is almost impossible to attract good horses from abroad to run here when the cost of entry and declaration is as high as it has been in recent years.

We were told that the 2nd European Jockeys Cup meeting will be held at Prague Velká Chuchle on Saturday, September 24th, sponsored this year by Lokotrans, in collaboration with last year’s sponsors, LERAM.

Prices for spectators at Prague Velká Chuchle will be the same as last year. However, only 17 racing days are currently planned, as against 20 in 2015, so season ticket holders may not feel particularly well treated. There are plenty of opportunies to offer more race days, particularly in July and at the end of October and into November. However, it seems Velká Chuchle is well satisfied with the loss of the racing days at the beginning of April, and points out that its rival racecourses, Bratislava, Berlin Hoppegarten and Munich all offer fewer recedays than Velká Chuchle offers.

Critics of Velká Chuchle racecourse might point out that the sponsor for the Czech Derby is a partner of the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, not of the racecourse. And that the racecourse is effectively hired out for the European Jockeys Cup meeting, and the meeting is not really organized by the racecourse. Quite a strong argument has been made that Velká Chuchle fails to find sponsors, and is satisfied with making owners pay an excessive amount to run their horses on a decent racecourse in Prague.

Nevertheless, the season at Prague Velká Chuchle begins at 2 pm on April 17th. Let us hope it will go well.