Dostihovy Svet (and the other horse-racing websites) are full of interesting interviews these days. Kateřina Jupová recently interviewed Pavel Slozil for the Dostihovy Svet Czech language pages. Pavel has been a major personality in Czech racing for a long time. As a trainer and rider, his biggest moment was when he finished a close second in the Velka Pardubice, on Marketplace in 1997. He was one of the first Czech trainers in recent times to take horses to run at Merano and at Cheltenham. He has also been a successful presenter of horseracing on Czech television. For several years he organised a race meeting at his training facilities in Radslavice, near Prerov. Pavel Slozil only has six horses in his yard at the moment, but they include the useful mare Loire, which won a Category II race at Pardubice last Sunday. Pavel does not exclude riding again in races in future, but admits he would have to lose at least 4 kg. He points out that his 15-year-old son has just obtained an amateur rider’s licence.  

The good news is that Pavel Slozil is hoping to be able to hold meetings again at Radslavice, perhaps as soon as next year. See his answer to Kateřina Jupová’s  question:

You are known for organizing race meetings at Radslavice, but there have not been any meetings in recent years. Why not, and do you perhaps have some good news about a return of racing to Radslavice?

All that we’re waiting for at the moment is an end to the political wrangling that has been putting a brake on the construction of the motorway six kilometres away from us. We need some clay to make a banked turn into the finishing straight, and we’ve been counting on getting the clay from this construction project. We’ve tried to get clay from elsewhere, but we have not been able to find any other solution. Then we’ll need to sow some grass and wait for it to grow. I’m afraid it doesn’t look promising for the first half of the 2014 season, because the road-building is unlikely to start soon. Apart from that, we’ve been maintaining the racetrack, though the floods [in June] affected us. The fences are trimmed and prepared. All we are waiting for is an opportunity to repair the last bend. I think we’ll get it done as soon as we can, and that racing will soon return to Radslavice.