Trainer Gordon Elliot has informed James Fry of IRB that Out Sam, the only Irish-trained horse entered for this year's Velka Pardubicka, is a non-runner. Due to the coronavirus situation, the complications connected with attempting to send a horse over this year are simply too great. Gordon Elliot says that he hopes to be able to send horses over to Pardubice in future years. 

At the age of 20, grey mare Sixteen, two-time winner of the Velka Pardubicka, has had to be put down. She ran in the colours of BUC Film, and she spent the last years of her life in the riding section of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague – Suchdol.

2 September 2020, Prague – This year’s season at Velká Chuchle racecourse in the suburbs of Prague is gradually moving into its second half. After the CSIO3* international showjumping competition, in which the Czech showjumping team qualified successfully for the Olympic Games in Tokio, September 6^th will feature the Czech Derby, the absolute high point of the Czech horseracing season. This will be the 100^th running of the race at Velká Chuchle racecourse, the home of the Czech Derby.

It really is not getting any easier to write these monthly newsletters. I have not been racing this year, as my wife and I are in the over 70s age group (without a pre-existing condition). Neither of us is personally awfully scared of catching the virus – but neither of us wants our partner to be infected.