A few years ago, Eliška Kubinová went abroad as an almost unknown graduate of the School for Apprentices at Prague Velká Chuchle. It was some time before she got a licence to ride in the USA, but when she started riding in Oregon she very soon developed into a massively successful jockey. Many Czech girl riders dream of following in her footsteps. Lenka Helmecká is just starting out.

Some people remember you as a work rider and a groom at the Rabbit Trhový Štěpánov training centre. But that was some time ago!
I’ve been in England for three years now. I’ve been working for trainer Mick Channon for the last three years.

Did you plan to spend the winter abroad and then come back to the Czech Republic, like a number of your colleagues, or was your case something different?
It literally happened overnight. I’d never planned to go abroad. I was fine in the Czech Republic. What was the impulse? One day I just decided I wanted to try something else.

The UAE and France are the “in” places that young people in racing dream about. Was England your first choice place from the beginning?
No, but at that time my friends Michal Demo and Martin Laube were working in England. They helped me to get there.

In the Rabbit yard, you worked mainly with flat horses, and there were just a few jumpers. What’s your situation now?
Mick Channon also has mainly flat horses, and a few jumpers so that we don’t get bored in the winter (laughs). We have more than 100 horses in the yard, and about 60 yearlings are put under the saddle each year.

When did an offer to ride in a race come along?
After about half a year. They asked me if I wanted to get an amateur licence. I turned it down, because my English was still pretty bad, and more or less all I knew how to say was “No, thank you.”

Then there was a turning point, which is something that typically happens in your life!

After two years, when I’d worked a bit on my English, I told the trainer I wanted to ride in races. Not as an amateur, but as a professional. And he agreed.

What had to be done to get a professional rider’s licence in the British Isles?

I took a one-week course at the British Racing School. I had my first ride in March 2017 at Wolverhampton racecourse. I finished 9^th out of 11 on P C Dixon, and considering that my saddle slipped on to his neck right after the start, I didn’t enjoy the race much. I haven’t ridden a winner yet, but it should go better this year. I believe it will.

It isn’t so easy for a girl who’s a foreigner to get on to a decent horse!

You’re right. There’s a lot of competition, and above all it’s easier for a boy to break through into good races. But I don’t want to give up. I’m keen to carry on. I’ll do everything I can for that.

A number of Czech yards are currently looking for staff. If you were to receive an offer from a very prestigious yard, could you resist it?

Right now I don’t have any plans to go back, so I’m not thinking about offers. But, of course, anything can happen.

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Photo: from Lenka Helmecká’s collection. This interview first appeared in the Czech-language pages of Dostihový svět. Written by Jana Šejnohová, translated by Robin Healey.