April 2017 provided some fine, sunny Sunday afternoons at Prague Velká Chuchle early in the month, but turned mainly wet and chilly later on. In last month’s April newsletter, I called an end to the Czech skiing season prematurely. In fact, even at the end of April, I am told, some diehard skiers are still practising their sport on slushy snow in a few of our high-lying resorts, or have headed for higher-lying resorts in Italy, France and Austria, or are still doing crosscountry skiing out in the fresh Czech air. The local television news is still reporting or forecasting plenty of quite heavy snowfall at night on the high land and up in the hills. On Easter Monday at Lysá nad Labem, there was hail and sleet, and quite a lot of cold rain. This is April weather. Climate change deniers are no doubt saying “I told you so”. Sadly, these are good times for those who want their mere beliefs to be given as much respect as is rightly awarded to evidence-based scientific knowledge. Climate change is here. They only question is What is to be done about it?

Our racing season got off to a slow start. Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse used to put on races every Sunday in April and May, but this year there are two empty Sundays in April. With the One Thousand Guineas and the Two Thousand Guineas on their traditional dates early in May, with wintery weather persisting in parts of the country and a serious lack of preparatory races on proper racecourses, the task of preparing 3-y-o milers for the greatest race in their Czech career has been rendered even more challenging than usual. Our classic races over 1600 metres are run at least three months before the horses are ready for them.

Our steeplechasing season usually suffers from the long wait for our natural fences to grow a bit before they are exposed to racing. This year however, our jumps trainers, most notably Josef Váňa, but also Greg Wroblewski and Štěpánka Myšková, have already won a remarkable number of races, including some good ones. Each of them has already won a really nice race in France in 2017. Lysá nad Labem put on a meeting on Easter Monday, which featured a Category I steeplechase. The winner, Sundara, owned by race sponsor Státek Blata Český raj, trained by Josef Váňa and ridden by Jan Kratochvíl, won really well, and looked as if he could be a really good chaser. There is another race day at Lysá on May Day, featuring the Category I First of May Steeplechase, and a week later, on the May 8th public holiday, Pardubice racecourse will have the first of its 10 race days in the 2017 season.

It is a nice custom in the Czech Republic to commemorate the 50th win of a rider, on the flat or over fences. With the 50th win, she or he is awarded the title of Jockey, which is marked with the letter ž. before the name, for example in the race day programme. In the circumstances of Czech racing, it is a major achievement to reach 50 winners. In plenty of cases it is achieved, or even narrowly missed, towards the end of a long career.

It is a fairly rare event for a female rider to become a jockey, but Kateřina Hlubučková hit the target with a win on Eowyn at Prague Velká Chuchle on April 23rd. Kateřina has only been riding in races since 2010. She gets a lot of rides, but many of them are at low weights in low-category handicaps. She has not yet ridden a winner in a Category I race. She is able to ride at 49 kg, and experienced and capable jockeys are scarce, so she will continue to get plenty of rides after losing her allowance. In general, our riders’ opportunities are little affected by the loss of allowances.

I am ashamed to say that I failed to note that another of our female riders has gained jockey status. On 22 October 2016, at Dresden, Natalie Arendson (picture) rode Izidor to victory at Dresden. This horse is trained in north Bohemia, near the German border, by Helena Voršilková. About five years ago, Natalie went to work in Germany. She had been working for quite a long time for trainer Filip Neuberg, but when he told her that many of his owners did not want to put a female rider up, she decided it was time to move on. Well done, Natalie, both for achieving your 50^th win, and for leaving Mimoň.

Although female jockeys get some opportunities here, it is mainly on account of their light riding weight. Plenty of trainers are prepared to give a ride on an outsider to a girl who works for the stable, but look around for a man to ride their better horses. This is not shocking or scandalous. In all sports, it is generally accepted that the best available performer should be selected.

Both of our two top current female jockeys have never ridden a winner in the Czech Republic. Eliška Kubinová has ridden 356 winners near the west coast of the USA, mostly in Oregon. Hana Mouchová has ridden 316 winners while based in Germany. Next in the list of current lady jockeys is Martina Havelková, who has ridden 126 winners, mostly in the Czech Republic. Martina is the leading current Czech-based female rider, but she is closely followed by Vendula Korečková, on 122 winners. Lucie Herková has 111 winners. I think she is still based in the USA. According to the figures available to me, Zuzana Vokálková comes next, with 75 winners. She is based near the Slovak border, and many of her winners have come at Bratislava. She has enjoyed the confidence of trainers František and Radek Holčák, and as a result her winners have included five at Category I and above. Romana Neslerová has ridden 73 winners, and nowadays concentrates on training. Olga Laznovska (Lažnovská) has ridden 71 winners in Germany. Ingrid Janáčková-Koplíková has ridden 70 winners, and is now again based in the Czech Republic, but has been riding some of the horses that her father, Zdeno Koplík, sends abroad, mainly to France. The addition of Natalie Arendsen and Kateřina Hlubučková to the list of female jockeys is very welcome. We hope to be able to add Jiřina Andrésová (née Vodehnalová) to the list before the end of this season. According to our web site, she has ridden 44 winners, but it is possible that there are some wins abroad that are not recorded there.

Flat jockeys train hard and starve and dehydrate themselves, and take plenty of knocks. Jumps jockeys may be able to eat and drink just a little more, but painful injuries are a part of the job. Josef Vána jnr, for example, is currently riding with a broken toe and various other stretches and strains. He tells us that his injuries are more painful when walking than when riding, and so he is continuing with his series of successful rides, mainly in Italy, on horses trained by his father.

Our Czech jockeys can only make a modest living inside the country, but the best of them can make bigger percentages of much higher prize money when they ride abroad. However, it is not easy to break through abroad, and in Italy, in particular, owners, trainers and jockeys should not assume that their due share of the prize money will be deposited promptly in their account. Josef Vána jnr., Josef Bartoš and Jan Kratochvíl are presumably owed considerable amounts (unless the owners of winners that they have ridden in Italy have been recompensing them out of their own funds while still waiting for the prize money to be paid out).

In mid April, I translated a press release issued by Dostihový spolek, organizers of events at Pardubice racecourse http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/7075. Martin Korba, racecourse manager, and Jiří Janda, racecourse groundskeeper, made a trip to Ireland, which included a good look at Easyfix fences and hurdles. These fences and hurdles are widely used in the main countries where jumps racing is flourishing. They are very durable, and are designed to be as safe as possible for horses to jump. Martin Korba is still new to horseracing. Jiří Janda has spent his life with horses, is a qualified vet and was for many years a top trainer and a media expert on horse racing. They clearly returned from Ireland keen to introduce these fences to Pardubice. All racecourse managers and groundskeepers want racing at their course to be safer for horses and riders. We all know that the number of injuries and fatalities at Pardubice and at our other jumps courses is too high. The natural obstacles produce dangerous stab wounds and scratches. The range of obstacles is too challenging. Switching between turf and ploughed fields can lead to strains and injuries.

However, I am not sure that Easyfix can provide an easy fix. Firstly, would not Pardubice with fences with all-artificial materials lose its uniqueness as the racecourse most like Aintree was in the 19th century? Would Pardubice not become just a provincial racecourse in central Europe, and with low prize money? I presume the idea is to install the artificial fences on the oval track steeplechase track, and not to destroy the traditional Velka Pardubicka crossscountry course.

Secondly, the danger to horses and riders does not come only from the state of the fences and the state of the track. Easy, straightforward fences are taken at greater speed, as riders bid for victory. Speed tends to lead to worse falls. As jumps racing offers better turf and easier, standard fences, robust jumping horses have been losing out to, and are being replaced by, more delicate but faster flat-racing types. And these more delicate horses are more likely to break down. Is the idea of a world of safe jumps racing more than an illusion?

Dostihový spolek released another press release a few days ago. Dostihový spolek press releases are too frequent and too long, and like the rest of the press release genre, they have a cheerful self-congratulatory tone that is irritating. This time, I have decided not to translate, but I will see if there is anything you should know. Richard Benýšek, chairman of the supervisory board of Dostihový spolek, makes a statement that is no more than a few platitudes. A ‘popular priest’ with a Polish name is to be Pardubice racecourse Patron of the Season. The payments for entry+Declaration to run have been reduced to a maximum of 4% (from 5% in recent years). The system for entering and running horses in the Velka Pardubicka has been simplified, and, in particular, late entries will be much less expensive than in the past. But this was already known and has already been reported here. The stabling for horses and the conditions for spectators are being improved, which is something we hear at the beginning of every season. The trouble is that, as time passes, the rate of natural deterioration and decay can be greater than the rate of refurbishment. The midsummer meeting in July will feature the Pardubice leg of the Josef Váňa Cup, on the oval track steeplechase course. Some charity events on race days. Entertainment for the kiddies. Some LED closed-circuit television screens. There is a new Dostihový spolek logo, which has strangely been announced but not launched. All I have found is a photo where the unremarkable logo can be seen in the background.

All-in-all, it does not look as if anything special is happening at Dostihový spolek. That is fine. Since Martin Korba took over as racecourse manager, there seems to have been a marked reduction in unhappiness and open conflict in the association that runs events at Pardubice racecourse. That, in itself, is a good start.