Recent monthly newsletters have been mainly about Czech racing management, and about the standoff between the racecourses and the Czech Jockey Club. However, the season is well under way, and Derby day will arrive in less than four weeks. It is now high time to give due attention to horses, jockeys and trainers.

As had been hoped, the efforts of the horses and the people who train and ride them have made the standoff seem less than important. However, I will begin by mentioning two announcements in recent days that may well have an important impact on the management of Czech racing.

Firstly, TMM, s.r.o., organisers of events at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse, announced that it wants to appoint a new manager(ess) to start work between September 1st, 2016 and December 1st, 2016. This presumably means that Petr Drahoš, who has been managing the racecourse since the beginning of 2002, will be stepping down. The closing date for applications is June 30th.

Secondly, also a few days ago, Charvát Group won the auction to buy a majority shareholding in Most racecourse. Charvát Group belongs to Jockey Club of the Czech Republic president, Dr. Jiří Charvát. He announced straightaway that Most racecourse will be applying to put on some more racedays in 2016. The former majority shareholder Severní energetická (Northern Power) and the minority shareholder both seemed to have grown tired of horseracing, and they had only announced three days of racing for 2016. This did not include the Czech Oaks, the only Czech classic race that is not regularly run at Prague Velká Chuchle. The Oaks will be run at Karlovy Vary this year.

There are several days in our racing calendar that would be available for racing in Most, in the summer months and in the autumn. A particularly interesting option would be to announce a couple of racedays at Most in November. We will probably hear sooner rather than later what Jiří Charvát has in mind. For sure, Most will not charge owners more than 3% for entry+declaration to run, and the facilities will continue to be used for horseracing.

It would be good to be able to say something definite about the runners for the Czech Derby, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz. However, they are all more or less unknown quantities. The winner of the Czech Two Thousand Guineas, Lagaro, which also won the Slovak Two Thousand Guineas, is not entered, and few of the horses have yet run over anything like the full Derby distance. The main Derby Trial, the 61st running of the June Grand Prix, will be held at Prague Velká Chuchle on Sunday June 5th. The Czech Derby will be run on Thursday, June 23rd, in the evening, to ensure that European Nations Cup football will not force our top flat race off the television screen.

Now I will go back to the beginning of the year, and record major wins abroad by Czech-trained horses.

Feb 14   Roches Cross (IRE)           tr. Váňa, J snr      j. Váňa, J jnr        won a Graded 1 race  over hurdles at Pisa

May 21  Trip to Rhodos  (FR)         tr. Tůma, P.          j. Demuro, C        won a Listed race, 3 000 m. flat at Milano

May 22  Lagaro (CZE)                     tr. Petrlík, A.       j. Verner, J           won the Slovak 2000 Guineas at Bratislava

The major races in the Czech Republic so far this season:

Apr 17 Sedmikraska (GB)tr. Lisek, M.         j. Foret, P                           1400 m, 3-y-o fillies, Cat I, Velká Chuchle

Apr 24   Montjeu Third (CZE)        tr.Juránek, P        j. Foret, P.            1400 m. 3-y-o, Cat I, V. Chuchle

May 1    Ange Guardian (GER)       tr. Váňa, J snr     j. Kratochvíl        4200 m. CC Chase, Cat I, Lysá nad Labem

May 7    Power Zar (GER )             tr. Váňa, J snr      j. Váňa, J jnr        4500 m. CC Chase, Cat I, Pardubice

May 8    Partyday  (IRE)                  tr. Vocásková, H.j. Rája, J              1600 m 1 000 Guineas, listed V. Chuchle

May 14  Alphaeus (IRE)                  tr. Váňa, J snr      Janáček, V           2000 m. 3-y-o, Cat I, Most

May 14  Shaywan (IRE)                   tr. Váňa, J snr      Janáček, V           2400 m. Cat 1, Most

May 15  Lagaro (CZE)                     tr. Petrlík, A.       j. Verner, J           1600 m. 2000 Guineas, listed

May 21  Kasim (CZE)                     tr. Kejzlar, P.       j. Novák, M          5800 m. Nat. Listed, VP qualification

May 22  Chardonney Tcheque (FR)tr. Šatra, T.          Chaloupka, J.       1600 m. Cat I, V. Chuchle

May 28 Father Frost (IRE)              tr. Váňa, J snr      j. Rája, J                1400 m. Cat I, Most

8-y-o Chardonney Tcheque’s win on May 22^nd was notable. He has won the May Grand Prix in each of the last four years, and in his career he has won 17 of his 33 races. All of these wins have been at Category I level or higher. He is owned by Jockey Club president Jiří Charvát.

The name Váňa, J snr appears frequently as winning trainer, both over jumps and on the flat. His owners have been buying in Ireland in recent years, particularly colts by Galileo. Some of these are showing promise over fences.

In the flat jockeys championship, Jan Rája, with 17 winners before the end of May, has build up a lead. Bauyrzhan Murzabayev has won 14 times, and Jan Verner is in third place with 8 winning rides.

At the end of May, five jumps riders share the lead in the championship with three winners each: Marcel Novák, Jan Kratochvíl, Josef Váňa jnr, Dušan Andrés and Lukáš Matuský.

On the flat, Helena Vocásková has trained 14 winners already this season, and is followed by Allan Petrlík, 10 winners, and Josef Váňa snr., 6 winners.

Over jumps, only three trainers have had more than one winner this season: Josef Váňa snr., 6 winners, Radek Holčák, 4 winners, and Stanislav Popelka, 2 winners.

***

An eagle-eyed reader of the English pages of Dostihový svět will have noted that I have been paying some attention to racing in Sweden in the last eight months. This has been thanks to a flow of information from Amie Karlsson. Amie now tells me that she has been selected for the Darley Flying Start programme, recently renamed the Godolphin Flying Start programme. http://www.darleyflyingstart.com/

Darley Flying Start is a two year full-time international management and leadership training programme for the thoroughbred industry. It was founded in 2003, and is under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum of Dubai. Twelve candidates are selected annually to receive the scholarship, which includes course fees, accommodation, transport, health insurance and a monthly allowance. The programme is accredited by the University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Business School as a Graduate Certificate in Management (Thoroughbred Industry). Over a two-year period, the participants study and also do internships in leading bloodstock establishments in Ireland, the UK, the USA, australia, Dubai, and Ireland again.

Amie is the first Scandinavian ever to be selected for the programme. Isn’t that wonderful!