This tribute to Tomáš Hurt, whose recent death on his 38^th birthday has greatly saddened the Czech horseracing community, was written by Martin C

Tomáš Hurt, who rode seven times in the Velka Pardubicka, has died suddenly at the age of 38. His biggest success as a rider was when he finished second on Decent Fellow behind Sixteen in the 2007 Velka Pardubicka. He gave up riding some years ago, and became a successful trainer, based at Benešov.

March 2020 was the month when the coronavirus burst into the headlines and ended up totally disrupting our lives. The Czech government was very quick to take action and to restrict the risk of spreading the virus. Coronavirus entered the country mainly via northern Italy, which is for obvious reasons a very attractive destination for skiing. And skiing and other winter sports are very popular in the Czech Republic.

On March 12^th, the Czech Republic was the first country in Europe to announce a state of emergency and special measures aimed at reducing and regulating the impacts of the coronavirus epidemic. According to Czech law, a state of emergency can be announced for a maximum of 30 days, after which it may be renewed.