All of the efforts that went into European Jockeys’ Cup day at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse on September 22nd were rewarded by a wonderful afternoon of horseracing, certainly the best raceday in the modern era of flat racing in the Czech Republic. Despite the discouraging weather forecast, it was a pleasantly warm, dry afternoon.
Trainer V
The draw for starting gates and for the allocation of jockeys for European Jockeys’ Cup day (Saturday, September 22) were made today at the Clarion Old Town Hotel in Prague. The list of horses and jockeys, and the starting box numbers, can be found on http://www.dostihyjc.cz/startky.php – click on to 22.9 Praha, on the left.
The first race on EJC day, Saturday September 22nd, will be at 13.30, and it will be the celebrity race, featuring Josef Váňa senior as a rider in a flat race.
This September newsletter has caused me some trouble. I normally begin the newsletters with comments on the weather in the last four weeks, and with events that took place within that same period of time. After that, there is usually something about coming events.
Thirty-three-year-old Czech jockey Václav Janáček rode his 1 000th winner on Friday, August 10th, when he won the last race of the afternoon at the traditional three-day meeting on the beach at Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a resort in southern Spain. He is only the second Czech jockey ever to have reached a four-figure number of winners, and he reached this mark on a 6-y-o gelding, Mind the Gap.
The raceday at Karlovy Vary on July 22nd was highly successful for Martina Havelková, our most successful female jockey in recent years.
As usual, there is some controversy about the horses that have got places in the field for the Czech Derby. Qualification is on the basis of the ratings awarded by the official handicappers.
Only a total of 5 steeplechases, hurdles races and crosscountry steeplechases were run in the Czech Republic in the six-month period prior to May 1st when, all of a sudden, eight jumps races were run at Pardubice. After a five-week period of hot weather and no rain, the going was firm (official going, 3.0 good) and clouds of sand and dust rose up whenever the horses crossed the ploughed fields that are, for better or for worse, a feature of Pardubice racecourse.
I have set myself the task of posting this newsletter not later than 11 o’clock on Monday, April 2nd, as that is when I will be getting ready to go to Lysá nad Labem for the long-awaited opening day of the 2018 Czech racing season.
