February 2015 has been another very mild month. This is our second successive year without a proper winter, though of course it is far too soon to start writing the history of winter 2014/2015. Here in Prague, there has been spring in the air during the daytime, though at night we have had light frosts. We have had almost no snow, slush, mud or any of the other aspects of winter that I object to.

Two horses trained by Pavel Tůma are to run in the main hurdles race on the frozen lake at Sankt Moritz this weekend. The original plan was to take 5-y-o Cruel Mole Joe, whose best performance so far is a win in a small race over hurdles at Lysá nad Labem. He will be ridden by Josef Borč. However, Jockey Club president Jiří Charvát later persuaded his wife to run Khalshani, also trained by Tůma.

Two Czech-trained horses are being prepared to race on the ice at St Moritz. They will be the first Czech runners on the White Turf for several years.

Italian racing has received the go-ahead this year, at least as far as European rated pattern races are concerned. These are no longer under threat, though they were to have been taken away last year without replacement, in connection with the non-payment of prize money.

The top Czech horses of 2014, based on a questionnaire organized by the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, were announced at the 20^th Czech Horseracing Gala Evening, held in Prostějov on January 17^th.  There were no surprises in the results. Orphée des Blins, winner of the Velka Pardubicka for the third year in succession, was duly voted steeplechaser of the year and horse of the year. Other prizes:  

Pardubice racecourse has announced its ‘conception’ for racing in 2015. The Velka Pardubicka will be held on the second Sunday in October, its usual date. There will be 10 racing days.

Josef Bartoš is celebrating his first jockeys’ championship title in Italy. However the postponed decision on a disqualification at Milan may turn out, his win on Barnabo in the last race of the jumps racing season on December 17^th means that the Czech jockey does not have to wait any longer.

No horseracing planned for Ebreichsdorf in 2015

Czech owners, trainers and jockeys have for some years thought of France as a land of opportunity, and more and more of them have done their reconnaissance work and are ready to cash in. There is nowadays considerable interest in the provincial courses in northeastern France, which are not too far away, and offer winnable races with good prizemoney, by our standards.

V nedeľu sa v budapeštianskom Kincsem Parku predstavilo aj osem koní zo slovenského tréningu. Najviac sa darilo reprezentantovi tohtoročnej šampiónskej stajne AUTOOPRAVOVŇA Strnisko Wandukemu, ktorý zvíťazil v dvojkovom Soroksári hendikepe na 1400 metrov o 600 000 Ft. V konkurencii 11 súperov ho navigoval Róbert Šara. V rovnako teste na poslednom mieste prišla Geny Bey zo stajne ALEJ.