In the weeks before the beginning of our new season, much effort is put into visiting stables and discussing with trainers, and others, what the plans and prospects are for 2018, taking photographs and writing up articles. Most of the reports are of limited interest, and repeat the same messages of hope for the future, and gratitude to the owners and to the stable staff. I have never yet read an article saying what a bandy-legged stable of hopeless uncooperative semi-cripples the trainer has, what ghastly penny-pinching owners, how unreliable the staff are, and how suicidal the trainer feels after sleeping out in a tumbledown shed with the horses all winter!

I do not usually translate these articles for you, but this time I have extracted a paragraph about our heroine, Delight My Fire, from an article about the 19 horses that trainer Radim Bodlák has in his yard near Staré Město u Uherského Hradište, in east Moravia.

***

For four years now, Delight My Fire (Way of Light) has been the star of the Staré Město yard. She is now eight years old, and has already passed the 3.5 million crown mark [about EUR 120 000] of prizemoney won. Last year, she added a win in the Wielka Wroclawska, as well as third place in the Group 1 Grande Steeple Chase di Milano and third place in the Velka Pardubicka, in very tough conditions. With these achievements, she fulfilled her trainer’s long-time dream.

“Delinka is in such good shape that she could go out and run today,” her satisfied trainer says. “She always looks fantastic. She was even OK after the Velka Pardubicka. We had an open day here after the Velka, and a lot of fans came to see her, and television was there, and she was patient and behaved nicely all along. All season long, she didn’t get under any psychological stress, and now she has had a shorter break after the season than last year. Last year, we gave her a longer break, and for two months she didn’t have a saddle on her, and it made her sad, as if she’d somehow been let down! So this year we are alternating between the paddock and the saddle, and Delinka’s happy.”

And what plans does owner Jana Preclíková have for the star of her DS Pod Buchlovem stable? “The Crystal Cup race at Fontainebleu is on April 4^th, and that should begin her season. In May, like last year, she will be aimed at the Group 1 race in Milano. And if everything continues to go well, she should continue to copy last year’s programme. That is, the Polish Crystal Cup race, the Wielka Wroclawska and the Velka Pardubicka.”

***

Based on an article by Michaela Zemanová, which appeared in Fitmin & TURF Magazín. Translated by Robin Healey. The photo of trainer Radim Bodlák is by Petr Guth.