Twenty-eight horses are currently entered and qualified for the Velka Pardubicka, to be run at Pardubice on Sunday, October 14^th. Two other Czech-trained horses, Hegnus and Eldorado, have qualified by finishing at least one of the four qualification races run at Pardubice in May, June, August and September, but have not yet been entered for the big race.

Irish trainer Tom Hogan says that it is all systems go for Gordon Lord Byron to run on EJC day at Prague Velká Chuchle on Saturday, September 22nd. The horse will fly out on the Friday and fly back after racing on Saturday evening.

It is understand that one of the owners, Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, has factories in the Czech Republic.  

After an excessively long 10-week summer break, racing returns to Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse on Sunday, September 2^nd. There are two feature races, each with attractive prize money of CzK 550 000 (EUR 20 000). The Martin Tour Travel Agency Prague Grand Prix, 1 600 metres brings together a good field of milers, several of which will be fancied. In the Czech St Leger, Blessed Kiss will be a hot favourite after her winning run in the Czech Derby in June, followed by a close second place winner in the Slovak Derby at Bratislava in July.

Josef Váňa is an 8-time winning jockey in the Velka Pardubicka. For most Czechs, it is as a jockey that he is still recognized, although he has been a top trainer since the early 1990s.

The third of the four qualification races for the 2018 Velka Pardubicka was run at Pardubice last Saturday - like the previous two qualification races, in hot, dry conditions. The racecourse was a strange sight. The racing line of the parts of the crosscountry races that are run on grass had been watered enough to be green.

The 4^th European Jockeys Cup meeting will be held at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse on Saturday, September 22nd. The following jockeys are  on the provisional invitation list:

There are nowadays three particularly important steeplechase race meetings in Central Europe in September and October. Each of them is a remarkable event, the highlight of the steeplechasing season in Poland, Italy, and the Czech Republic. EU passport holders can travel very easily to enjoy central European steeplechasing, in which, by the way, Czech-trained horses and Czech jockeys will feature prominently. 

There has been an unusually large number of reads of A Conversation with Martin Pecka, Manager of Prague Velk

At the end of last year, the family of leading Czech developer and real estate magnate Radovan Vítek bought a majority holding in Turf Holding. Turf Holding is the majority shareholder of Turf Praha a.s., which owns the main part of Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse (the remaining part belongs to the Czech state).

 This year's Simson Stakes, with only 4 runners