Saturday May 22^nd was a pleasantly warm afternoon, after heatwave conditions over the previous 5 days. The going was good to firm, and the course appeared to be in good condition. The afternoon featured a number of good performances by established horses, and including one very good performance and one that was truly impressive. The main event, the Velka Pardubicka qualification race, was totally upstaged by the previous race, in which 2012 VP winner Orphee des Blins took on some good opposition in a Category I crosscountry race over 3200 metres. Over a distance less than half that of the VP, which she led almost all the way round, she was this time tucked in in midfield, and was brought with a late run after the final fence. It was the Czech equivalent of Sprinter Sacre – as stunning a win as she had achieved on October 13^th, 2012.

The qualification race, 35 minutes later, featured Josef Vana senior riding Tiumen, and also last year’s VP runner-up Ronino, last year’s dual qualification race winner, Trezor, and seven others. The Irish Bank (fence number 5) delayed a number of runners. At the next fence, the Popkovice Turn, a loose horse interfered with the backmarkers, and we were left with 5 in the race: Trezor, Tiumen, Tomis Cim and Cabernet, while three others managed eventually to get over the Popkovice fence and continue in the race. Ronino, Frasini and Lingarry trailed along a great distance behind, determined to finish the race and qualify for the VP, and perhaps to get some place money, if one of the horses in front failed to get round. It was an unexciting race. Trezor led all the way round, and won unchallenged. If we had not just seen Orphee des Blins, we would have been highly impressed by Trezor. Tiumen and Josef Vana senior got round very safely and soundly, and achieved their mission. Tomis ran his usual consistent race to finish third. Cim was a well-beaten 4^th, and Cabernet was distanced in 5th place. Then came the other three, which were a couple of fences behind. For the record, Lingarry was 6^th, Ronino 7^th and Frasini was 8^th. Kasim and Mr Yocker were the non-finishers.

There were also some other significant performances. 2009 Czech triple crown winner Age of Jape won a Category III race over the crosscountry course, against 17 other runners. Age of Jape will presumably now go for one of the VP qualification races, though he has yet to prove that the VP is the best route for him to take.

In the final race of the afternoon, a Category III classical crosscountry race, Dorotka ran away from the field and won by a distance. She had also won very easily here 4 weeks previously, and this stablemate of Orphee des Blins looks very useful.

Jan Faltejsek, having his first rides of the season in the Czech Republic this weekend, was on both Orphee des Blins and Trezor. It will have been a remarkable period of 40 minutes for him, winning two major races on the top two contenders for this year’s VP – which will be run at Pardubice on October 13^th.