As the years pass, a month seems to be an increasingly short period of time. However, I am sometimes reminded how much new young things can pack into 30 days. It was frosty in the Czech Republic, and in much of Europe, until the end of March. We had to miss our first weekend of the Czech horseracing season, on April 6^th/7th. At the beginning of April, the course at Slusovice was covered in snow, and the grass on the course at Prague Velka Chuchle was still coming out of hibernation. Everything seemed to be several weeks behind schedule. However, nature was only waiting for half an opportunity to burst out. By the end of April, the carpet of grass is thick, and when I went for lunch I was able to enjoy the remarkable display of sakura cherry blossoms on the main campus of the Czech Technical University in Prague. No wonder the Japanese and Koreans make an annual festival out of their blooming.

Our racehorses are taking a little longer than the local flora to make up for the disruptions to their training in the first three months of the year. Every year, the Guineas races come round very early, and this year they seem earlier than ever. Our trainers have been scrambling to get their fillies ready for the One Thousand Guineas on the first Sunday in May, and their colts for the Two Thousand Guineas a week later. The good news is that these races have had their prize money raised to CzK 500 000 and CzK 1 000 000, respectively. The extra money has in both cases been put up by Rabbit CZ Holding. Rabbit is one of our biggest owners, and has made a flying start to the 2013 season. Rabbit has an entry for the 1 000 Guineas, and both of its entries for the 2 000 Guineas have won their preparatory race. I understand that many horse owners like to win the races they have sponsored themselves, so good luck to the Rabbit horses in the Guineas.  

Jumps racing does not really start here in April, as the natural hedges are given a bit of time to grow after the winter. The first major race is the First of May Steeplechase at Lysa nad Labem, on May Day. This year, the race has attracted only 6 runners, the best of which may be Kamelie, trained by Greg Wroblewski, whose horses won a couple of small chases at Brno a few days ago. A week later, on May 8^th (a public holiday), the season at Pardubice will begin. I am told that some of the trees out in the middle of the course have been cut down, in particular those at the ends of the Drop, and the course now has an unfamiliar look.

The race conditions for the Velka Pardubicka have been published (see below, on this site). The prize money has been raised to CzK 5 million, which is almost € 200 000. There will no longer be a veterinary inspection on the morning of the race. Josef Vana has long campaigned against it, and complained that it was a relic of communism. As a matter of fact, I think this is a very rare case of Josef Vana being wrong about the Velka Pardubicka – the veterinary inspection was introduced in the early 1990s, to signal the efforts that were being made to reduce the danger to the horses participating in the race. I think only one horse was ever ordered out of the race as a result of the veterinary inspection. Apericida - I have been trying to remember the horse's name. Please note that entries for the Velka Pardubicka close on May 16^th. The race will be run on Sunday, October 13^th.

Money, as well as lack of money, continues to be an issue in Central European racing. It seems that the magnificent racecourse at Merano, in northern Italy, is under threat of not having any racing this year. Merano has been told by the court in Bolzano that the new management company must pay out last year’s prize money before it can hold any more races. The new season should begin there early in May. Our top jumps trainers and jockeys would be very sad to lose Merano, for a few weeks or a few months, not to mention for ever – and the whole steeplechasing world should be rallying round. This is serious! Italy has already lost one of its four remaining jumps racecourses this year: at Roma Capannelle, the jumps on the infield have been removed to make space for a new trotting course (the old, separate trotting course in Rome has been closed down).

Considerably further north, some money seems to have appeared. A group around Josef Vana has said it will put up money for 3 classical steeplechases in the Czech Republic in the midsummer for prize money of CzK 1 million each. The idea is to run these races in July and August, at Karlovy Vary, Most and Pardubice. I have also read that a Wielka Wroclawska will be run at Wroclaw, in Poland, at the beginning of September, also with prize money equivalent to CzK 1 million. If you have information about steeplechasing in Poland, do contact me at healey@vc.cvut.cz. I occasionally try a search, but all I find is other people asking the same question, and some results of races run one or more years ago. And all the answers are in Polish.  

Czech language horseracing websites are a growth business. Many trainers now have sites, though I do not think any are in Czech language. Dostihovy svet http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/cs and Fitmin/Turf Magazine  http://dostihy.fitmin.cz/ are both very active web sites and provide a lot of reliable information. Tiparuv palec (Tipster’s thumb) makes a valiant if vain attempt to get the punter ahead of the bookmaker  http://www.tiparuvpalec.cz/. Turf.sk is a sometimes hard-hitting Slovak website http://www.turf.sk/. Martin Cap is no longer doing his Derby diary, which was for quite a few years a celebration of the run up to the Derbys in Central Europe. Nevertheless, he has that busy look when I see him at the course – I will find out what he is doing. I will listen/watch/read it and report back.

The Mimon Stud did not attract any interest when it went up for auction early in April. It continues to be available for sale, I am told.

As May arrives, we have good conditions for racing, and Czech racing seems to be in modest but reasonable shape.