On April 15th, the Council of the Jockey Club gave the green light to a project for a series of big steeplechases backed by a group linked with Josef Váňa.  Between the end of June and the end of August, there is to be one race each at Karlovy Vary, at Pardubice and at Most. Each race will offer prize money of CzK 1.05 million, an unheard-of sum in Czech jumps racing, outside the Velka Pardubicka. That’s our plan, and I believe we can pull it off, ” Josef Váňa declares, adding that most of the costs of the project are already covered.

 “We wanted to show to some owners that it is possible to organise races here for which owners don’t have to pay absurd import fees,” the trainer says. Váňa has again this year not succeeded in the Council of the Jockey Club with a proposal to drop this controversial fee. However, he is not giving up the campaign, and believes that the summer steeplechase series can be a step in the right direction. [An import fee of about EUR 1 000 was introduced several seasons ago for all racehorses not registered here as foals or yearlings. This is probably against EU law for horses purchased in an EU country, though the president of the Czech Jockey Club claims the import fee is technically not an import fee.]

“We have an agreement with Mr Janatka about organising these races. That is, with the organisers at Pardubice. It will be a long-distance classical steeplechase [i.e. not cross-country]. At Karlovy Vary, there is basically no other option than a classical steeplechase, and the same thing at Most, where the race will be on the diagonals. We’d like to announce an overall series winner in rider, owner and trainer categories,” Váňa explains. The idea of  a “Váňa” Cup first emerged last year in discussions about taking over the management of Pardubice racecourse.

At the present time, nothing seems to stand in the way of this project. Unlike the position it takes on import fees, the Council of the Jockey Club has given its support to the project. “In general, I have mixed feelings about the Council’s dealings,” Josef Váňa says. “However, I am very glad that we’ve been able to get rid of the veterinary inspection before the Velka Pardubicka. I’ve always considered that to be nonsensical, some kind of hangover from communist times, and it was time to bring it to an end.”

However, Váňa is not yet ready to celebrate the fact that the Council approved the proposal.  “We’ve had cases when some Council of the Jockey Club approves something and then the next day it revokes the decision or modifies it. I’ll just wait till I see it officially, in writing, then we will know for sure,” states Josef Váňa, representative of the Trainers’ Association on the Council of the Jockey Club.

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Translated from the Czech language pages of Dostihovy svet.