The Fitmin website reports that there was a fire in the jockeys' changing room building at Brno racecourse in the early hours of December 8th. Racecourse manager Josef Vymazal says that the facilities will be repaired in good time for the 2014 racing season. The photographs on the Fitmin website indicate that suggest that this was a small to medium-size fire. http://dostihy.fitmin.cz/domaci-dostihove-deni/zazemi-brnenske-drahy-poskozeno-pozarem.html

According to an article by Petr Malik on the Galopp Reporter web pages, Trezor seems to be recovering well after an operation. He suffered a broken bone in or around a hoof in the Velka Pardubicka. This happened either at Havel’s Fence, the fourth from home, which he hit hard, unseating his rider, or more likely when he put a foot into the Big Water Jump earlier in the race.

November 2013 was one of those Novembers when the weather would have permitted plenty of racing to take place in the Czech Republic, but only one meeting was organized, at Kolesa, and was held on Saturday, November 11^th.

The final meeting of the 2013 racing season was held on the second Saturday in November, a mild autumn afternoon, in front of a good crowd at Kolesa, which is a village just north of the Kladruby stud. The main event - a Category III crosscountry race - was won by Nebrius, owned by Vasury Kolesa and trained by Pavlina Surova. The owner and trainer are our hosts at Kolesa, who have kept this small tidy course running for many years.

One of the nice customs in Czech racing is that a rider of 50 winners, on the flat or over fences, not only loses his or her rider’s allowances, but also gains the title of “jockey”, which appears in the racecard as /ž/ before the name.

Slovenská sezóna sa síce už skončila, ale realizačné tímy majú v našom regióne ešte možnosť štartovať v Budapešti či v Ebreichsdorfe. To sa chystajú využiť hneď nasledujúcu nedeľu. Do Rakúska mieri početná slovenská výprava. V hlavnom bode programu Graf Hugo Henckel Memorial na 1700 metrov o 20 000 eur, teda v rakúskom zimnom favoritovi, sa predstaví trojica dvojročiakov. Trénerka Zuzana Kubovičová nasedlá pre Zdenka Šmidu Osetina zo stajne UMC a pre Zuzanu Vokálkovú Lorda Fantasyho zo stajne VILLA TROYA.

The last full weekend of the horseracing season was held in mild, pleasant weather at Pardubice, Velka Chuchle and Slusovice. At all three courses, the odds-on favourite was beaten in the main race.

Na poslednom tohtoročnom mítingu na Slovensku bolo v programe osem položiek. Hlavnú z nich, Cenu Mojmíroviec-Urmína - Veľkú októbrovú cenu na 2000 metrov o 6000 eur mala podľa predpokladov pre seba rozhodnúť dvojica Innovator z šampiónskej centrály Zuzany Kubovičovej a My Old Husband od MVDr. Čestmíra Olehlu. Triumf niekoho iného z pätice súperov by bol prekvapením. Po štarte sa na čelo pustil Innovator z OMS pod dž. Martinom Srncom, ale taktika mu na mäkšej pôde až do cieľa nevydržala. V cieľovej rovine vonkajšou stopou nastúpil My Old Husband podporovaný dž.

Posledná októbrová nedeľa prinesie záver dostihovej sezóny aj na Slovensku. Hlavnou položkou posledného mítingu je Cena Mojmíroviec - Urmína - Veľká októbrová cena na 2000 metrov o 6000 eur. Navýšiť zisk opätovnej šampiónky trénerov Zuzany Kubovičovej určite bude chcieť niekdajší Kôň roka Innovator zo stajne OMS. Po umiestnení v Pardubiciach pred dvomi týždňami patrí medzi favoritov. Cestu za víťazstvom mu budú chcieť znepríjemniť veľkokarlovickí hostia Arctic Galaxy a Jovell, My Old Husband, maďarská Heliconia a dvaja domáci Quebracho a Prime Preacher.