After the 2018 Velka Pardubicka, Jan Faltejsek is a five-time winner of the race that makes the Czech Republic hold its breath. This year’s race had its sad moments and its happy moments, and was won by a horse carrying the colours of Dr. Jiří Charvát (the president of the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, who was winning the race for the second time). This was the first winner in the race for trainer Pavel Tůma. Winning this race is becoming a routine for Jan Faltejsek, who has only been beaten once in the race in the last seven years – last year, he was not able to ride in the race, and in 2015 he “only managed third place”!

“No, I don’t think I’m going to catch Josef Váňa,” he said with a smile, after the race. “For me, he’s an enormous horseracing personality, he’s something really exceptional. However, it’s true that I’ve had a lot of luck in these recent years with my rides in the race. Orphée des Blins was exceptional. She was the kind of horse that hasn’t appeared in the Velka Pardubicka for a long time. Winning the race on her was quite straightforward, even if no-one expected her to win that first time. Charme Look was a very handy horse, and he deserved to win. But this time I had to battle harder to win the race,” Jan Faltejsek pointed out. Nevertheless, he doesn’t think that Tzigane Du Berlais has reached his limit by winning the Velka.

“I got a good feeling from him in the qualification race that we ran in in September. He’s a horse that can adjust in the course of a race. He doesn’t get fazed, and he has a good finish. That’s something very valuable. He showed that with his run after the last fence today. I also think he’s a horse that hasn't yet shown everything he’s got. He’s still quite young [7-y-o], and he can go on improving.”

Tzigane du Berlais showed an improvement in the Velka, on a track that theoretically did not suit him. Those who said that Tzigane is a “mudlark” were well wide of the mark. “The organisers certainly deserve a big vote of thanks. They’d done a lot of work on the track,” Jan Faltejsek commented. “Early in the afternoon it was a bit slippery, but after that the track was perfect. It certainly was not as firm as we’d feared it would be.”

Jiří Charvát pointed out that Tzigane du Berlais has not had a lot of races, and it can be anticipated that he will run abroad. Jan Faltejsek, with his experience of riding in France and the UK would be the ideal partner.

 “Of course, you always like to ride a high-quality horse, and this certainly is a quality horse,” says the jockey, who took home his fifth Velka Pardubicka trophy. The same pairing could well go for his sixth victory in the race a year from now!