April 2017 provided some fine, sunny Sunday afternoons at Prague Velká Chuchle early in the month, but turned mainly wet and chilly later on. In last month’s April newsletter, I called an end to the Czech skiing season prematurely.
Nikas, disqualified for failing a drugs test after being first past the post in the 2015 Velka Pardubicka, has moved to a new trainer.
Two goals had been set for a short business trip to Ireland.
After his extraordinary series of winners over jumps in Italy in the first three months of the year, trainer Josef Váňa snr is continuing to sweep up win after win. Le Moulleau won a small race for him at Treviso on April 1st. A day later, Staffetino won at Milano.
The Czech horseracing season got under way on Sunday, April 2nd at PragueVelká Chuchle. It was a lovely, sunny spring afternoon, and a very good crowd turned out.
We sadly report the death on March 28th of former amateur rider Irena Rosenfeld. Her cremation will take place at 2 p.m.
Countess Maria Immaculata Brandisová, the first and until now the only woman to have ridden the winner of the famous Velká Pardubická steeplechase, lived through the [Austro-Hungarian] Monarchy, the [first Czechoslovak] Republic, two world wars, and several regimes.
I am writing this the day after the British prime minister informed the EU that Britain will leave the union. It is of course an act of folly, and we are being led into it by a team of incompetents. Paddy Ashdown, in the Independent, put it quite succinctly
The 127th running of the Velka Pardubicka will be held on Sunday, October 8th, 2017.
Open Day at Václav Luka junior’s stable at Bo
