On the last day of our horseracing season at Kolesa last Saturday, there was much interest in whether Jan Rája could hold on to the narrowest of leads in the flat jockeys’ championship, and whether Jaroslav Myška could hold on to an even narrower lead in the jumps jockeys’ championship.

Neither Rája nor Bauyrzhan Murzabayev won a race, though Murzabayev came close, and veteran Jan Rája held on to win the championship.

Jan Kratochvíl won the first of the five jumps races on Saturday on Canton, to take the lead in the championship. Myška then lost by a nose on Bridgeur, in a very tight finish that Marek Stromský will have enjoyed on Woody. It did not matter that Kratochvíl was subsequently well beaten on red hot favourite Hudson Canyon.

Jan Kratochvíl retained the championship that he won for the first time last year. Jan Rája won the championship in 2004 and 2005.