This was an outstanding renewal of the race, with the toughest horse winning. No Time To Lose found a bit extra after the second fence from home, and set out after Urgent de Gregain. At that point, the French-trained horse paid for pulling to the front with 11 obstacles to go, and put in a weary jump at the last fence. When No Time To Lose went into the lead, Urgent de Gregain tried to rally, but No Time To Lose was able to hold off his challenge quite easily.

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Third-placed mare 8-y-o Delight My Fire also put in a fine performance. When her Swedish jockey Niklas Lovén was asked about the mare’s performance at the press conference after the race, he said he was “Delighted”.

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Well-fancied French-trained contender Virtus d’Estruval was withdrawn just an hour before the race. His engaged jockey, Jan Faltejsek, rode with back pain earlier in the afternoon, but was not able to continue. Trainer Guillaume Macaire was not at the racecourse. When his representatives contacted him, he told them to withdraw the horse, as the available replacement jockeys were unknown to him, or were not considered good enough. It had been quite widely rumoured that Virtus d’Estruval would not have been suited by the muddy ground, and that an excuse not to run him was not unwelcome. However, bloodstock agent Chris Richner was in touch with the trainer, and reports that this rumour is untrue: there was every intention to run the horse, and Virtus d’Estruval has run well on soft ground. However, no acceptable rider was available, and that is the reason why the horse was withdrawn.

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Jan Faltejsek, winner of the VP three times on Orphée des Blins (2012 – 2014), and on Charme Look in 2016, was of course in great demand as a jockey in the race this year. It was understood a year ago that Charme Look was “Bára’s horse”. Barbora Málková cares for Charme Look in Martina Růžičková’s yard, and she rode him to victory in the Vltava Stakes on VP day 2015. However, she was injured and could not ride the horse in VP 2016, and Jan picked up the winning ride. Jan spent two years working at Guillaume Macaire’s yard in France, and attempted to persuade the trainer to run a horse in the VP. Macaire said he would do so, when he had a suitable horse for the race. This year in about April, Macaire decided to enter Virtus d’Estruval for the VP, and engaged Jan Faltejsek to ride him in the race. Barbora Málková rode a few races at the beginning of our season, but in mid-May she had another bad fall, and she has not ridden since. When it became clear that Bára would not be able to ride Charme Look in the Velka, Martina Růžičková told Jan Faltejsek that the ride was his, and was shocked when he told her he had already been engaged by Macaire. Marek Stromský was then engaged for the ride. For Jan Faltejsek, this embarrassing situation - no one wants to upset Martina Růžičková - ended up with no ride at all. He suffered bad bad back pains when riding in a couple of races earlier in the afternoon on VP day, and he knew that he would not be able to support Virtus d’Estruval properly if he attempted to ride him in the VP. 

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There was concern that, since Josef Váňa was not riding, there would be a small crowd and a reduced television audience. In the event, there was a good crowd, despite unattactive weather, and the television audience of three million viewers in the Czech Republic was a record. The race was also shown on television in more countries than ever before.

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PMU for the first time accepted bets on the VP in their betting offices all over France and in several other countries. Over EUR 308 000 was staked on the race with PMU, three percent of which is to be ploughed back into Czech racing.

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Josef Váňa celebrated his 65th birthday a week and a half after the race. In the past, he used to announce his retirement every October, after the race, and then announce his comeback in the spring, or keep the media waiting for definite news, while teasing them with hints that he might ride, after all. Nowadays, he tells the press that he has not yet retired, but that he was not able to find the right horse/get into adequate shape this year.

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Marek Stromský is no doubt a strong contender for unluckiest jockey in the history of the VP, but the race abounds in hard-luck stories. This year’s unlucky rider was Slovak jockey Lukáš Matuský. After missing the VP in 2015 and in 2016 through injury, he broke a collar bone earlier in the afternoon on VP day, and his place on Nikas went to Petr Tůma. Nikas was pulled up about half way round. Slightly luckier was Jan Odlozil, who twice fell and twice pulled his horse up in the course of the afternoon, before riding Ter Mill in the Velka. Ter Mill ran towards the front of the field in the Velka, but in the end he ran out of steam and he, too, had to be pulled up.

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Diane Hill again donated prizes for the Best Turned Out horses for each race on VP day, this year, together with James Fry. James works for the International Racing Bureau (IRB), though I should point out that both Diane and James provide the prizes out of their own pockets. IRB, which is based in Newmarket, provides a comprehensive service that helps owners and trainers to run their horses abroad. Most of the Irish, UK and French horses that have run here on VP day for the last 20 years and more have been linked with James. Both Diane and James have also provided a lot of support for the community of Czech stable staff that work in British racing. Both are big and long-term fans and supporters of Czech steeplechasing, and both have visited the Czech Republic a remarkable number of times.

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It is a pleasure each year to meet old friends, including Diane Hill and James Fry, at Pardubice, and also to meet new people. It was my great good luck that Dostihový spolek, organisers of events at Pardubice racecourse, asked me to meet Charlotte Budd and her friend Rachel at their hotel in Prague and get them to Pardubice. Charlotte, who now runs a catering business in the west of England, rode her horse Bryony Fort in the Aintree Grand National and then in the Velka Pardubicka in 1977 - when she was called Charlotte Brew - and was invited to celebrate the fortieth anniversary in Pardubice. Among other things, she was given photographs of what happened at the Big Water Jump forty years ago, which proved to everyone’s satisfaction that Bryony Fort was brought down. He did not fall, and Charlotte was not unseated, as some had reported at the time. These things matter to a rider, even after forty years! There was even a photo showing her remounting. Charlotte said she could not remember it at all, but that she must have remounted, as she remembers taking a couple more fences before her race came to an end.  

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One of the nice things about steeplechases is that they are graced by tough horses that come back year after year and become a part of the history of the race. In the 2017 VP, there were three 12-year-old warriors that belong in this category. Nikas will be remembered for 2015, when he was first past the post, in record time, but was subsequently disqualified when he failed a drugs test. He has run in the Velka in each of the last six years, once finishing second a long way behind Orphée des Blins. Each year, he would win or do well in at least one of the qualification races. As a three-year-old, nine years ago, he won the juvenile hurdles race on VP day. I think it is official that he has been retired. His last two runs in the VP were disapppointing. Last year, Marek Stromský was unseated for no apparent reason some way after they jumped the Taxis. This year, he was one of the first to be pulled up when he dropped off the pace before the Drop. The two other old warriors, Universe of Gracie and Kasim, were not quite as distinguished as Nikas, but both have featured frequently in the prizemoney for the Velka and for the qualification races over a period of several years. I may be premature in presuming that these two battlers have ended their racing careers, but in any case they fully deserve a mention here. Universe of Gracie was pulled up, and Kasim was the last of the eight finishers. 

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Štěpánka Myšková also deserves a special mention. She has established herself in the last couple of years as a leading jumps trainer here. As Štěpánka Sedláčková, she rode some winners over fences in the early years of the 21st century. She and her husband, jockey Jaroslav Myška, have not been lucky with the VP. Goscater won a VP qualification race at Pardubice last year and again this year, but both times this potential VP winner was not fit to run on VP day. Reaper, a son of Registana, also did quite well in a qualification race, but was not fit for October 8th. Štěpánka sent out 6-y-o Bridgeur for the substandard 4th qualification race in September at Pardubice. The horse made all the running, and was only caught within the last 100 metres. The owner decided to run Bridgeur in the Velka. He set the pace for the first half of the race, but faded into 7th place – in the prizemoney, and still a good effort by a very one-paced young chaser. Every meeting at Pardubice, the Myšková/Myška fan club can be seen and heard. On VP day, Štěpánka was dressed in a jacket, a bow-tie and a trilby hat, together  with a long sash in Bridgeur’s green and yellow colours. The colourful sash, and perhaps the rest of this outfit, was worn, too, by members of the fan club. Štěpánka and Jaroslav (who also holds a trainer’s licence) won two races earlier in the afternoon on VP day, so it was a pretty good day for them, as even 7th place in the VP wins some nice prizemoney. A week later, at Prague Velká Chuchle, the Myškas won the Josef Váňa Cup, an oval-track steeplechase with prizemoney of one million crowns, with Capferret. This horse won two top races for them at Auteuil earlier this year, and therefore qualifies as the best Czech-trained chaser of 2017.

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As a 3-y-o, No Time To Lose was trained at Lambourn by Jamie Osborne. I read somewhere that Jamie Osborne was unaware that the gelding was going to run in the VP.

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The youngest rider in the race was Pavel Složil, jnr, aged 19. He rode Pareto, which was brought down at the Taxis, fence number 4. Pareto won the Final Steeplechase at Pardubice two weeks after the VP.

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Curiously, there was only one jockey in the 2017 VP who had won the race previously. Josef Bartoš had won on Decent Fellow and on Sixteen. This year, he finished 5th, on Zarif.