Trainer Martin Bělka is taking a newcomer to his stable to Lysá nad Labem for the First of May Steeplechase. Terebesz ended last season with a win in Italy for Radek Holčák’s stable at Velké Karlovice. Then he changed owners and went to a new trainer. This gelding, which has usually in the past headed  south to run in Italy, is now being prepared to head north. Trainer Bělka explains the reason: 

“We bought the horse for a Swedish owner, and his main target for this year should be to run in the Swedish Grand National.  That is on June 16th, and when we looked for the best way to prepare for the race in the Czech Republic, it seemed to us that the ideal warm up was at Lysá nad Labem. I did not know at the time that the First of May chase has had an Irish Bank and some other jumps added to it,” Martin Bělka added, on behalf of owner Hugo Racing. “We don’t have an Irish Bank in Sweden, but I don’t think it will be an insoluble problem for Terebesz …”  As far as race tactics are concerned, there is not much choice for Terebesz. “The horse likes to takes the lead, and there’s not much you can do about it. So I suppose it will be the same at Lysá,” says Bělka. 

The season began for his horses at Brno last Saturday, where they took one third place. What worries the trainer more is their physical state. “They came home covered in bruises, and they’re only so-so.  We hope Terebesz will come back in good shape,” says Bělka. The race will have an interesting subtext for him, as one of Terebesz’s rivals will be the mare Godea, which used to be in his stable and also ran in Sweden.

“Of course I wish trainer Popelka well. Our split with the previous owner had nothing to do with the horse. She will be ridden again by Josef Bartoš, and she’s usually gone well for him. Godea could have a reasonable chance in the race.”

The favourite for the First of May steeplechase will be DS Pegas’s Kamelie, trained by Greg Wroblewski. Her stable companions shone over fences at Brno last Saturday.