Two winners at Merano on Saturday were bittersweet news for trainer Greg Wroblewski. It was a third win over hurdles for his talented mare Terapena, but her future racing career will be without Wroblewski. Greg is leaving the Nieslanik family’s facilities for Mimoň, and the owners’ horses will not be moving with him.

“There’s nothing to be done about it. That’s racing!” Wroblewski points out. “I won’t be training the three horses on loan from SK Krasne, in Poland, any more. Terapena showed in Merano that she’s a real talent over jumps, and she got on very well with [jockey] Jan Faltejsek, although she’s not easy to ride. But now she’s going somewhere else,” Wroblewski says. He will also not be training Fangoria and Florentina.

In his new yard, he will not have all of the 21 horses that are currently on his list. The present number won’t necessarily be the final number. “We’ll see how many horses there’ll be. The sales are coming round, and there should be some reinforcements. Of course, it is not exactly ideal to move with horses in mid-season, and to get used a new environment and new conditions, but I don’t think our move should have a big impact on the horses and their performances,” Wroblewski considers. He has already had 18 winners this season, which is more than he had in the whole season in 2015 and 2016. He left the Pegas training centre after winning the Velka Pardubicka for the third time with Orphée des Blins, in 2014.

Tarant, the other winner at Merano on Saturday, will be remaining with Wroblewski. The trainer commented: “In his previous race, at Pardubice, he didn’t run well, and I wanted to make sure how he’s doing. At Merano, he showed that he can do something. It was a valuable win for him,” he said. This 8-y-o gelding won two top races, the Czech Winter Favourite Stakes and also the Slovak Winter Favourite Stakes, as a 2-y-o.

While Tarant completely satisfied his trainer at the weekend, Wroblewski was less than thrilled by the performance of Palazzo Corsini at Pardubice. This closely followed 3-y-o, one of the early favourites for the 2017 Czech Derby, finished second in his first run over hurdles. However, he ran unimpressively. “It wasn’t a disaster, but more was expected,” Wroblewski admits. “He showed that jumping isn’t a problem for him. He jumped fine. Unfortunately, he’s a horse that doesn’t want to fight much. He tucks in behind the other horses, and that’s fine for him. He’s got some class, but he doesn’t want to show it,” the trainer considers. From this week onwards, Greg Wroblewski will be motivating his horses in Mimoň.

This article, written by Petr Guth, first appeared on the Czech-language pages of Dostihový svět. Translated by Robin Healey.