This interview with No 1 Czech jumps jockey Josef Bartoš, taken by Dostihový svět editor Petr Guth, first appeared on our Czech language pages.

Three foreign horses that are unknown to us will run in the Velka Pardubicka. This information will be a breath of fresh air for some, but for others it will raise misgivings. Not just because there might be a winner from abroad, after a period of many years. Even Josef Bartoš, the jockey in the race with the most experience of riding abroad, is not thrilled by the foreign competition.

“The foreigners? It’s difficult to judge in advance, but on the basis of their past performances I'm afraid that two of them may just be coming over for an adventure. Their records don’t indicate that they are coming here to win. The main thing for us is that they shouldn’t underestimate the horses and jockeys in the race, they shouldn’t get into collisions, and that everything should go smoothly,” Josef Bartoš says.

As far as the third runner from abroad is concerned, of course, he expresses respect and recognition. “A horse that repeatedly gets round the Grand National course deserves our attention. He also has a high rating. He is clearly a high-quality and experienced horse, and if things go well for him, he can be expected to get a result.  It also depends on how the jockey approaches the race but Coko Beach is definitely a horse that we must take into consideration.”

As regards the riders who will be encountering the Pardubice crosscountry course for the first time on Velka Pardubicka day, the local participants need to know how much respect they will show for the jewel in the crown of Czech horseracing. We would like to believe that they have been preparing properly for the race.

“If experienced jockeys like James Reveley and Felix de Giles come here, we know that they are professionals and we don’t need to worry about problems arising,” says the jockey whose ride in the Velka will be on Santa Klara,  recent heroine of the Wielka Wroclawska.

“Santa Klara did some fast work over fences today, and since getting back from Poland she’s been looking really well,” he says, adding that the mare is in similar condition to last year. “I’d say she’s in the same kind of form, but that this year she has more experience.  She knows the obstacles, and it may help that we’ve been to three racecourses this year, and she’s got used to dealing with different conditions. Horses that keep going back to the same course can be deceived by some easy fences, where they get overconfident. This is what happened to us at Merano, where  L’Estran fell in the trial race for the Gran Premio because he underestimated one of the fences.”

Josef Bartoš will go to Pardubice for the greatest Czech horseracing festival two weeks after riding L’Estran into second place in the Gran Premio in Merano. They were beaten by French challenger Speed Emile. However, Bartoš has no regrets about the defeat of the four-time winner of the Gran Premio. “I think we can be well satisfied. The French had some horses there that it’s hard to compete against, especially when we make comparisons with the conditions for training that they have over there. We won a good race on the same day with Mauricius, and the second place for L’Estran was excellent,” Bartoš says.

And what result would be equally pleasing in Pardubice?

“When I go for a race like this with a good horse, I usually want to finish in the first three,” Josef Bartoš states.

And where does he see the favourites? “Godfrey is sure to do well, especially with Honza Faltejsek in the saddle, but personally I’ve always liked Star for the Velka. He seems to be a superstayer. Sexy Lord is also a good horse. I’ve liked him a lot these last two years. He’s a good, clever jumper, and he has Jarda Myška in his saddle.  Jarda’s still waiting for his first win in the Velka. He’s a jockey that I always want to win. That is, if I can’t win myself!”