The 127^th running of the Velka Pardubicka was a muddy event. The turf was only on the soft side of good, after good amounts of rain in the weeks, days, hours and minutes before the race. However, the ploughed fields had pools of water on them, and by the end of the afternoon they were muddy rather than very deep. Be that as it may, these were tough conditions.

The seven earlier races had left the underfoot conditions challenging. Jockey Jan Faltejsek had become unable to ride in the race with a painful back, and French trainer Guillaume Macaire withdrew well-supported Virtus d’Estruval in the course of the afternoon, rather than look for a replacement rider. In any case, the conditions did not suit the horse. Lukáš Matuský was also unable to ride, and Petr Tůma took his place on Nikas.

Templář and Pareto came down at the Taxis, and then at the Irish bank Songe d’Estruval lost his rider. This meant that Gillaume Macaire’s interest in the race was over, but the third French-trained runner, Urgent de Gregaine, was still there, and he ran prominently. Between Fence 10 (a) and Fence 11, there is a long stretch on grass without a fence, and the riders were busy cleaning their goggles. There were no more fallers, but the tough conditions took their toll. Some horses made mistakes, dropped back and were pulled up, others had just had as much as they could take, and were pulled up. Several disputed the lead early on, but when things settled down, Jaroslav Myška sent Bridgeur into the lead. Ater the Big Water Jump, not much more than half way round the course, Urgent de Gregaine took over the lead. As they entered the grass track with 600 metres to go, he established a clear lead, and as they came over the 2^nd last he looked like the winner.

Three Váňa-trained horses, Ange Guardian, No Time To Lose and Zarif, and also Delight My Fire, seemed to be the contenders for the places. However, as they approached the last, Jan Kratochvíl sent No Time To Lose in pursuit of the leader. No Time to Lose found unexpected strength and less unexpected determination, and went past Urgent de Gregain. However, the French horse fought back. These two tough horses put on a rousing finish. No Time to Lose got home by a one-and-a-half length margin. Delight My Fire put in a fine performance to finish 3rd, eight lengths further back. Zarif was 16 lengths behind in 4^th place, followed by Ange Guardian a further 11 lengths back in fifth place. Universe of Gracie struggled over the line for 6^th place, and Bridgeur plodded on to take the prizemoney for seventh place. There was no prizemoney for weary 8^th-placed Kasim. All the rest were pulled up.

English jockey Felix de Giles agreed that Urgent de Gregain might have won the race if he had not gone to the front so early, and had not run so freely across the muddy fields between the 6^th from home and the 3^rd from home, but he explained that the horse was pulling all the time, and it would not have been productive to keep fighting with him.

This was Josef Váňa’s tenth winner in the race as a trainer, but 26-year-old Jan Kratochvíl was adding his first win in the Velka Pardubicka to an impressive list of major races that he has won in the past year or so.

Petr Guth’s outstanding photos of a muddy Velka Pardubicka

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27889831@N05/sets/72157687623769694/show

Video of the Velka Pardubicka

https://dostihy.fitmin.cz/domaci-dostihove-deni/skvely-finis-no-time-to-lose-rozhodl-velkou-pardubickou.html

Six hours of coverage of Velka Pardubicka day on Czech Television

http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/11940228446-velka-pardubicka-2017/217471291200001-127-velka-pardubicka-s-ceskou-pojistovnou/