The long-awaited first PMU raceday in the Czech Republic took place last Friday. There was a remarkably good crowd by the time of the first race, which was 11.10 a.m. The first five races on the card were covered by PMU. There were good fields. Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse was in good order. The television coverage and the technical equipment worked well, and the handicap races were competitive. There was confirmed totalizator turnover of EUR 786 676 for the five races - I have no idea whether or not PMU considers that an impressive sum for five races in the Czech Republic in the middle of the day on a Friday.

The Saturday meeting at Pardubice was held on a very pleasant sunny afternoon that was not too hot. From the top of the Town Stand, there were remarkable views of the mountains 90 km away, including Sněžník, right beside (behind) the Paramo chimney. The main race was the Speaker of the Czech Parliament’s Gold Cup, classical steeplechase over 4 500 metres. There were just 6 runners, but the quality was good. Dangerous Gleam, expertly ridden by Josef Bartoš, made almost all the running and won impressively from Monsieur Bachir and Kifaaya.

On Sunday, our jumps horses, trainers and jockeys were again busy. Czech-trained, Czech-ridden horses were dominant at Merano. Le Moulleau and Toward Glory won for the trainer Josef Váňa snr/jockey Josef Váňa jnr combination. The most interesting race brought together Mazhilis, winner of the Gran Premio at Merano in 2016, and 8-y-o Sergeant Thunder, winner of the Wielka Wroclawska and all his four other races in 2016. Sergeant Thunder, trained by František Holčák and ridden by Marek Stromský, impressively continued his unbeaten run since arriving in central Europe from the UK more than a year ago.

On the same day, the first crosscountry chase in the Crystal Cup series to be put on in Poland was run at Wroclaw. Delight My Fire was a hot favourite, and appeared to be in control when she moved away from Reki in the last kilometre. However, Reki is a son of Registana, and his dam would have approved of the way he fought back to win the race. Delight My Fire faded, and only just held on to 2nd place, ahead of Pareto. Reki, owned by Wrbna Racing, was formerly trained at Světlá Hora by Čestmír Olehla, but is now trained in Poland.

Please note that the meeting scheduled for Slušovice next Saturday has been cancelled, and the only meeting next weekend will be at Karlovy Vary on Sunday.

The weekend after that is one of the top weekends of our racing season. On Saturday, June 24th, there will be a jumps meeting at Pardubice. The main event will be the second Qualification Race for the2017 Velka Pardubicka, and Sunday, June 25th is Czech Derby day.