On Wednesday morning, the odds offered on the Czech Derby, to be run at Most racecourse on Sunday June 23rd, reflected the extreme uncertainty about how good the horses are, whether they stay the Derby distance, whether they will take to Most racecourse, and last but not least, what will happen on the day.

The loss due to flooding of the main Derby trial at Prague Velka Chuchle meant that most major contenders missed their preparatory race, and have never run over much more than a mile. Not one of them has yet run over the full Derby distance.

The provisional favourite,  Mister Westminster, had his only run this season in the Czech Two Thousand Guineas, over a mile, where he finished a good second to Talar. His preparation was not disturbed, as it was not intended to give him a race between the Guineas and the Derby. He is trained by Josef Vana and will be ridden by Steve Drowne.

Always on Sunday and Tozan got a trial race at Ebreichsdorf, in Austria, on June 9th, finishing 2nd and 3rd in the Großer Preis der Österreichischen Lotterien, over 2 000 metres. On the strength of this performance, Always on Sunday is currently joint second favourite.

The other joint second favourite is Bathyrhon, which finished 2nd in the Dr Frankenberger Memorial over 2 000 metres at Most in May, behind Little Rakti (which also runs in the Derby but is less fancied).       

Jockey Jiri Chaloupka, fancies his chances on Two Thousand Guineas winner, Talar, but admits that the horse is far from certain to stay the distance.

2400 metres is a distance that is not normally run at Most. The race will start on the bend at the top of the course, where the now unused straight 1 200 metres course crosses the circuit. It is not an ideal starting point, with 16 runners, but it should be OK.

Betino’s ante-post odds on the Czech Derby:

3,5: 1     Mister Westminster      5,5:1      Always on Sunday, Bathyrhon   7,7:1 Mister Aviation, Talar

8:1          Reglisse               10:1 Barateus                    11:1       Beryaska             12:1 Ley Percy, Tozan

13:1       Little Rakti, Maestro Quercus    16: 1  Absolyut  25:1 Rabbit Motivman, Sapsiree, Taggerton

30: 1 Feraclos, Al Bustan (below the line)