At the beginning of July, Galopp-reporter.cz webpages invited its own strong team of writers, plus a couple of other major writers on Czech racing, to answer five questions about the first half of 2016.

What was the brightest moment of the first half of 2016? This was quite an easy question. Of course, it was the purchase of Most racecourse by Jiří Charvát’s company. This will ensure that racing at Most continues.

What was the darkest moment of the first half of 2016? The obvious answer was the loss of the first two meetings of the season at Prague Velká Chuchle. Fortunately, there has been sufficient communication to ensure that only those two days of racing were lost. The loss of Category II handicaps at Prague Velká Chuchle is also lamented. In general, there is still poor communication between the Jockey Club and the racecourses, especially Prague Velká Chuchle. The difficult task of providing as balanced as possible a programme of races on the flat over different distances, in different categories, including races for 2-y-os, 3-y-os and older horses, is made tougher by lack of agreement and cooperation among key personalities.

In your opinion, what was the Horse of the First Half of 2016? Our top older horses tend to run outside the Czech Republic, but some of us are tempted to give preference to horses that run here. Chardonney Tcheque won the May Grand Prix at Prague Velká Chuchle for the fourth year in succession. Czech Derby winner, Gontchar, of course deserves a mention, though he needs to win some more good races before we get too excited about him. Of the Czech-trained horses that have run abroad, Settler’s Son won a listed race at Chantilly, and Trip to Rhodos and Tamarind Cove have put in good performances.

Who was the biggest personality of the first half of the year? This question produced an interesting range of answers. Some suggested that President of the Jockey Club Jiří Charvát’s purchase of Most racecourse makes him the top personality. Others went for jockeys. Bauyrzhan Murzabayev has been riding with style and confidence here and abroad. Tomáš Lukášek is having a lot of success in Poland, Václav Janáček is having a lot of success in Spain, and Filip Minařík continues to be a top jockey in Germany. Interesting nominations for personality of the first half of the year were Allan Petrlík and Helena Vocásková. Both of these trainers have had a lot of success in recent years, and not only with imported horses. Allan Petrlik has been training at Krabčice for the last year and a half, and he trains Krabčice-bred Bonys, which finished in 3^rd place in the Derby. Before he went to Krabčice, he was with Rabbit Trhový Štěpánov. Three Czech-bred Rabbit Trhový Štěpánov colts ran in this year’s Czech Derby, though without getting into the prizemoney. Helena Vocáskováhas trained winner after winner this season, and her 2^nd place in the Czech Derby with Krasava, locally bred by owner Stanislav Chudáček, was a particularly pleasing achievement. There are signs that the big efforts that have been made in recent years to improve Czech thoroughbred breeding may be paying off – so I tentatively nominate Czech breeders as the personalities of the first half of 2016, and I hope their foals and yearling horses will continue to do well.

What are you looking forward to in the second half of 2016? In the Czech Republic, everyone is looking forward to the second European Jockeys Championship, which will be held atPrague Velká Chuchle on Saturday, September 24th. This was a major success last year, with top jockeys and major races. The Velka Pardubicka, to be run at Pardubice on Sunday, October 9th, will of course be a great event. The whole nation will be behind Marek Stromský, who will ride Nikas, and Josef Váňa, snr, who is expected to ride Rabbit Hawk Wing.Outside the Czech Republic, there will be so many big races and big meetings to look forward to, and also, let us hope, some good performances in major races by Czech-trained horses, and by our jockeys.