The European Jockeys’ Cup meeting will be held at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse (Chuchle Arena Prague) on Saturday, September 25th. The first race is at 2 p.m.

The last of the four qualification races for the 131^st running of the Velka Pardubicka was run at Pardubice racecourse on Saturday, September 4^th. This year’s September meeting at Pardubice was held 36 days before the big race (Sunday, October 10^th).

Over the last 13 years, the number of riders has dropped by almost 40%, and the number of new rider’s licences issued has dropped from 41 to just 14

In response to Sottovento’s fatal fall at the Taxis in the 2020 running of the Velka Pardubicka, a group was set up to propose ways to reduce the danger of this obstacle for horses and riders. The Taxis was last redesigned in the early 1990s, when the depth of the ditch on the far side of the fence was reduced.

The 101st Czech Derby was won comfortably enough by the favourite, Hazarder‎‎, owned by Jiří Charvát and trained by Pavel Tůma, with Václav Janáček in the saddle.

The upcoming weekend offers a good range of horseracing in the Czech Republic. We begin on Friday evening, when there will be three races on the flat followed by three races over hurdles. A few years ago, we experimented with ‘bumpers’ at Pardubice, but they did not attract a lot of interest.

In October 2020, all the COVID-19 indicators for the Czech Republic went up and up, until we were informed that our figures were the worst for any country in Europe, perhaps with the exception of Andorra, and then the indicators just kept on going up. Finally, in the last couple of days of the month, the figures went down a little. The way back down will take longer than the way up.

Josef Bartoš’s injury at Merano has cost him not only his ride in this year’s Velka Pardubicka but also his leadership in the Italian jumps jockeys’ championship. The defender of the title has lost his lead in this year’s championship to his fellow countryman, Jan Faltejsek.