“Foreign” jockeys come out on top at Mimoň and Lysa

Four race days have been held so far this season in the Czech Republic, and on each occasion flat races have been won by jockeys who have set up camp for this year outside the Czech Republic. Polish jockey Szcepan Mazur won a couple of races on opening day at Prague Velká Chuchle, including the feature race, the Gomba Handicap. On the second day, French jockey Stéphane Breux had two winners, and in addition, Bauyrzhan Murzabayev won the Category I Erste Factoring Grand Prix, on Father Frost. Bauyrzhan is now based in Germany, and recently rode the winner of a big race at Berlin Hoppegarten.

The easter weekend brought visits from leading Czech jockeys who are now based abroad. At Mimoň, on easter Sunday, Milan Zatloukal, currently based in Switzerland, rode two winners. On easter Monday at Lysa nad Labem, Václav Janáček, now based in Spain, rode three winners, including Tamarind Cove and Timekeeper in the main flat races.

Janáček flew in after riding at La Zarzuela in Madrid on easter Sunday, and dealt in a typically professional manner with a 20 degree drop in temperature, and with hail and rain. Lysa is a very decent small racecourse, not far from Prague, but there is little shelter and it is quite a long walk back to the railway station when you are soaked through. Janáček was more exposed than we spectators, but he was, as expected, living proof of the saying that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Before and during Timekeeper’s race, it rained hard and cold, but the smallish crowd stood out in the rain and admired a sure performance by the best Czech jockey. He took Timekeeper straight to the front and was never seriously challenged. Our top trainers will be pushing owners to fly him in whenever he is not committed to riding in Spain – or, rather, our owners will be instructing their trainers to get him, at any cost and without fail, for our big races.

Based on an article by Petr Guth that appeared on the Czech language pages of the Dostihový svět website.