Town of Pardubice Stakes – EURO EQUUS – 4^th qualification race for the 129^th running of the Velka Pardubicka with Slavia Insurance
Crosscountry steeplechase National Listed - 5800 metres, stakes, 5y-o and older

Josef Váňa senior always has a number of well-fancied runners in the Velka Pardubicka. This year again he expects to have four good runners on October 13th. 

One of his five entries for the race, 2017 VP winner No Time To Lose, is a non-runner, as he has had a setback. Ange Guardian and Zarif were qualified for the big race before the September qualification race at Pardubice on September 7th. Theophilos and Mazhilis finished 2nd and 3rd in that race, and are now expected to run on October 13th. 

The last of the four qualification races for the 2019 Slavia Insurance Velka Pardubicka has attracted an interesting field. There are nine declared runners, only four of which are already qualified for the big race on Sunday, October 13^th.

This is a translation of an interview by Martin Cáp,

I translated an interview with Czech jockey Martin Laube not much more than a year ago  

On August 8th, Dostihový spolek, organisers of events at Pardubice racecourse, announced a new race-naming partner for the 129th running of the Velka Pardubicka. The Slavia pojišťovna insurance company, which has operated in the Czech lands for 150 years, will cooperate with Dostihový spolek for at least the next three years. This year’s race will carry the name 129. Velká pardubická se Slavia pojišťovnou (129th running of the Velka Pardubicka with Slavia Insurance).

Martin Korba (photo) completed his service as manager of Pardubice racecourse at the end of July 2019. The racecourse lost two major sponsors, Česká pojišťovna and Agrofert, last year, and replacing them has proved difficult. Responsibility for this had to be placed on somebody.
The new racecourse manager, Jaroslav Müller, has started work at the racecourse. I understand that his background is in managing racehorse breeding. His wife, Veronika, worked at Pardubice racecourse for a couple of years, a dozen years ago.

In these newsletters, I usually report on the weather in the previous month. That used to be easy enough, but two years ago my workplace was moved into a prizewinning new office building with a grey plastic sheet wrapped round its exterior.

The second of the four Velka Pardubicka qualification races at Pardubice was run on Sunday, June 23^rd. As in the first qualification race, the field was rather small, but the quality was fine.

The Czech Derby was run at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse on Saturday 22 June, which was a mild, rainy day