The 27^th running of the Town of Pardubice Grand Prix, supported by the Pardubice Public Transport Company, is the main race on Saturday, May 25^th. This is the first of the four Velka Pardubicka qualification races to be run at Pardubice racecourse, in May, June, August and September.

Since we have - or used to have - a fairly hard and long winter in the Czech Republic, and we do not have any racing on all-weather tracks, our horseracing season does not begin until April, and it ends early in November. Owners and racing fans can deal with the situation quite well by having other interests in their lives for the winter months, but the long off-season is a problem for our professional trainers and riders.

The April newsletter got delayed this year, as I have been very busy helping colleagues to get grant applications in, on time and in good English. Having missed my self-imposed deadline of midnight on March 31^st, my next target is to post the newsletter before the Grand National, at 6.15 pm CET on Saturday, April 6^th.

Various stories have appeared in the Czech media claiming that the failure so far to name a main sponsor for the 2019 Velka Pardubicka indicates that the race is under threat. As my earlier article indicates, http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/8390, the race is under no threat from lack of sponsorship for this year. Sponsorship will surely be found for the flagship event of the Czech horseracing season. The mass media rightly reported on the problems of finding a sponsor for the 2019 running of the race.

Race conditions for the major flat races at Warsaw and at Bratislava in 2019 have been published, in English. Note that entries close in March, though supplementary entries are also possible.

Czechoslovakia, October 1937. Europe’s youngest democracy is on its knees. Millions are mourning the death of the nation’s founding father, the saintly Tomáš Masaryk. Across the border, the Third Reich is menacing – and plotting to invade.

The 24^th Czech Horseracing Gala Evening was held on Saturday, February 23^rd in the splendid Majakovský Hall at Národní dům na Vinohradech in Prague. The evening began with a prize ceremony with awards for the most successful jockeys, trainers, breeders, owners and, above all, their most successful horses. The award for Horse of the Year went to 7-y-o gelding SUBWAY DANCER (Shamardal), owned by Bonanza and trained by Zdeno Koplík.

Press release 

The Vítek family has raised the basic capital of Turf Praha, a.s., and the old tradition of betting on races at Prague Velká Chuchle can continue

 The last two weeks of December were very quiet for me, as I was able to ‘finish with Christmas celebrations’ by about December 17^th. I was then able to catch up with the latest news about Czech racing, and to spend Christmas day translating some items that I thought you might want to click on to.