Pardubice, 24 June 2023 – The second richest race of the season over fences in the Czech Republic, after the Velka Pardubicka, was the second VP Qualification race, which was run as the Slavia Insurance Cup, with prizemoney of exactly one million crowns. The race  was won by 10-y-o Lodgian Whistle, which was never headed. He beat off a late run by Sacamiro, with Santa Klara, one of the fancied runners, finishing in third place. The qualification conditions were met by all nine horses that got round the course.

The series of four qualification races for the 133rd running of the Velka Pardubicka with Slavia Insurance has got under way. The hero of the first act is Chelmsford, a 7-year-old chestnut, ridden by Jan Kratochvíl and trained by Josef Váňa senior. All seven finishers fulfilled the new qualification criteria. From this year, the first five past the post qualify for the big race automatically, but there is now a time limit of 20 seconds behind the winner for any other finishers to qualify.

Declarations to run in the 132^nd Velka Pardubicka with Slavia Insurance, and also declarations of riders, close on Friday, September 30^th.

Santa Klara ran at Merano last weekend. She finished lame and is not expected to be declared to run in the Velka.

Jan Faltejsek, who has ridden 5 winners of the Velka Pardubicka – Orphee des Blins x3, Charme Look and Tzigane du Berlais – is injured, and is not expected to be among the jockeys.

Pardubice racecourse, 100 km east of Prague, is the home of the Velka Pardubicka steeplechase. This famous race, the oldest annual sporting event in the Czech Republic, has been run annually at Pardubice racecourse since 1874 – except for a considerable number of breaks in years when weather conditions, wars and political changes intervened and caused a cancellation.

Numbers of races run at racecourses abroad by Czech-trained horses in 2000 - 2021

Runners and riders for the 131^st Velka Pardubicka were finalized on October 1^st. The race will be run on Sunday, October 10^th, at 3.45 p.m. All 19 entered horses were declared to run.

An introduction to each of the declared runners and riders

(Dostihový spolek press release0

Three past winners will meet in the Velka Pardubicka

Stcc L - 6+ - 6900 m - 3 000 000 Kč, Přihlášeno koní: 19

Congratulations to the team of enthusiasts who organized the EJC meeting at Chuchle Arena Prague, which is now the official name of Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse. Many thanks also to the generous sponsors, and, of course, to the 10 international jockeys who made their way to Prague, and to the owners and trainers who sent good numbers of horses to run in the races. EJC day was blessed with a lovely sunny late September afternoon.

Leram is again the general partner for the seventh edition of the European Jockeys' Cup (EJC), which takes place on Saturday, September 25 at Chuchle Arena Prague.