The Vocásek family, who train and breed racehorses just outside Pardubice, achieved remarkable success in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. With a yard mainly filled with Category IV and Category III horses, they managed to win our flat trainers’ championship in 2016 and then, even more remarkably, in 2017 they put an end to Josef Váňa’s 22-year reign as our champion jumps trainer. Of course, the Vocásek family successes were based on numbers of winners, and not on prizemoney won. And, of course, our top trainers, Josef Váňa over fences and Václav Luka on the flat, nowadays send their best horses to run mainly in Italy and in France, respectively. Luka has owners who want to win the Czech classics, and they are major supporters and sponsors of European Jockeys’ Cup day. Váňa and some of his owners remain committed to racing at Pardubice, and to putting the living legend’s multiple records in the Velka Pardubicka even further out of reach. Váňa is a proud Moravian, though he has been based in west Bohemia since the 1990s. He always appears with horses at the most distant outposts of steeplechasing in the eastern parts of the Czech Republic, to the delight of local racegoers. 

The achievements of the Vocásek family are truly remarkable, and I was pleased to find Jana Šejnohová’s recent interview published on the Czech language pages of the Dostihový svět webpages with the notoriously elusive Helena Vocásková, which is translated below. Photo provided by Helena Vocásková from her own collection, translation by Robin. 

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The year before last, she won the flat racing trainers’ championship. Last year, quite sensationally, she added first place among our jumps trainers, displacing Josef Váňa from his throne after a period of 22 years. Helena Vocásková is a lady who avoids the limelight, and is a kind of Mrs Columbo of Czech horseracing. What things does she like, and what is her role in the family team, which runs as smoothly and as precisely as a Swiss watch?

What brought you to horses? 
I’ve liked horses since I was a child. Even as a child I used to go to the stables for workhorses in the village we lived in. 

I assume you can only have met your husband through horses!
Of course. We met at showjumping and eventing meetings. 

Is your entire extended family involved with horses, or are there some standouts?
We’re a big family, and we’re all into racehorses. We set out with my husband, me, and our two sons. 

For a team to function well, it is necessary to divide out the tasks properly. What’s your role? 
I have a number of roles in the family team. I deal with the accounts and with the breeding documentation, and I assist at all births. And in addition I sort out all kinds of things in connection with the household and the yard. 

Which of your current or former horses do you like most? 
My main favourites are our home-breds. I follow the horses that we’ve bred here in their races, whether or not they’re still with us, and I’m happy when they run well and are in good shape. One of my favourites was Cesort. We brought him from the Napajedla stud, and we had him for 12 years. Then there are Barateus, Artaban and I mustn’t forget our stallion Pop Rock. I really appreciate the fact that he has travelled much of the world, he won and was placed in some major races, and now he’s with us, in a small village near Pardubice! He’s a personality. 

Do you prefer jumps racing or the flat? 
When we set out, and for many years after that, we ran only in jumps races, mainly at Pardubice. Then we started having flat horses too, and now our horses run mainly on the flat. I like steeplechasing, but at every fence I’m anxious about the rider and the horse.

Which Czech racecourse do you consider to be the best prepared, and why?
All the courses are well prepared, as long as the going isn’t firm.

What do you consider in the long term to be the biggest success of your stable?
We’re happy about our home-breds, for example Apart, Apartman, Nikan, Nikas, Artaban, Zugor, Sicilie and Player, which have done well on the racecourse. Our big success the year before last, when the filly Krasava, owned by Mr Stanislav Chudáček finished second in the Czech Derby, also brought us a lot of joy.

Now we come to what is a key topic for most trainers. How about your owners?
We have no problems in our relations with our owners, and I’m very happy that we have such owners. 

You’ve won the champion’s title on the flat and over fences. Which of these titles do you rate more highly? 
I rate both titles very highly. They are a reward for everyone who looks after the horses every day, and who cares for them with devotion.

Your whole family makes its living from horses. Would you be happy for your grandchildren to continue in the family tradition and devote themselves to racing and breeding? 
Probably not, but we’ll see how things turn out. By the time they grow up, who knows what horseracing will be like. Life with horses is a lot of hard work, but if it is what they really want, then, of course, why not.

Even though you scarcely have any free time, what do you like to do when you do have a spare moment? 
When I find a bit of time, I like to take care of my grandchildren, Láďa and Nikola, and play with them.