Thirty-three-year-old Czech jockey Václav Janáček rode his 1 000^th winner on Friday, August 10^th, when he won the last race of the afternoon at the traditional three-day meeting on the beach at Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a resort in southern Spain. He is only the second Czech jockey ever to have reached a four-figure number of winners, and he reached this mark on a 6-y-o gelding, Mind the Gap. 

He did not ride his first winner until his 41^st ride, on Verior at Karlovy Vary on 5 July 2003. Since then, he has ridden winners ever more frequently. When he rode his 50^th winner and gained his title as a “jockey”, on April 17^th, 2005 he was the youngest Czech rider ever to reach that mark (19 years, 268 days). He was also the youngest to reach the 100, 500 and 1 000 winners mark (21 years, 27 years, 33 years) and he still holds each of these records. 

The most successful jockey in the history of Czech horseracing is Filip Minařík, who has won the German Jockeys’ championship four times. He has currently ridden 1 673 winners, and Václav Janáček is in second place.

Jiří Zlámaný

***

This article first appeared on the Fitmin - Turf website. Written by Jiří Zlámaný. Translated by Robin.