For the first time since June 23rd, Czech horseracing returns to the capital city on Sunday. Despite the efforts of Karlovy Vary to put on some fairly good racing in the last two months, the best option for most of our best horses in the midsummer period has been to race abroad.

There will be some good racing at Prague Velká Chuchle in the coming weeks, beginning with Sunday, August 28th. The 71st running of the Agrofert Czech St Leger is of course an event to be looked forward to. None of our three-year-old stayers has yet made a very big impression this year. Bauyrzhan Murzabayev gave Gontchar a good ride to win the Czech Derby, but they only finished about three lengths ahead of the 10th placed horse, and Gontchar has not raced since. Timekeeper won the main Czech Derby trial and then won the Slovak Derby. However, he finished only 9th in the Czech Derby. Gontchar and Timekeeper will be the favourites on Sunday.

 The other major race will be the 2^nd Agrofert Velká Národní Steeplechase for the Josef Váňa Cup. This is a classical steeplechase over 4 500 metres. With one million Czech crowns of prize money, it is the richest classical steeplechase of our season. Last year’s winner, Fafintadenient, trained by Josef Váňa, snr. and ridden by Josef Váňa, jnr, will be a hot favourite.

There are eight races on the card. Please note that the first race is earlier than usual, at 1 p.m.  2. AGROFERT VELKÁ