Turf Praha joint stock company has announced that, as of January 1^st, 2017, Ondřej Nádvorník has taken over from Petr Drahoš as manager of TMM s.r.o., organizer of events at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse, the headquarters of flat racing in the Czech Republic. Petr Drahoš will be a member of the supervisory board of TMM, and will be responsible mainly for strategic development of the racecourse area and for supervising its activities.

Petr Drahoš managed TMM from the end of 2001 until now. Before that, as president of Dostihový spolek Pardubice, he headed the association that runs events at Pardubice racecourse. He celebrated his 60th birthday last year, has been looking for a successor for some time.http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/cs/node/6011

Petr Drahoš collaborated very closely in senior positions with former long-term president of the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, Václav Luka senior, and has been sidelined since Václav Luka was ousted three years ago.

Petr Drahoš has been known to want to move on for some time. His difficult relations with the new leadership of the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic have brought him no pleasure. His long daily commute from the far side of Pardubice to the far side of Prague is no longer attractive. He has a number of business interests inside and outside horseracing that he can now devote more time to, and he has wanted to move on while he still has time to enjoy new scenery. It is good to know that he will not be walking away from Prague Velká Chuchle altogether.

Ondřej Nádvorník’s professional experience is in the field of sponsoring, marketing and event management. I think horseracing is a new field of activity for him. I hope it will be a good move for him, and that he will be able to benefit from Petr Drahoš’s broad experience of Czech racecourse management and, of course, bring in some ideas of his own. It is also to be hoped that he will be able to warm up the relations between the headquarters of Czech flat racing and the head office of the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, which share the same office space.