It has been clear for several years that the number of Czech jumps jockeys has been dwindling. This has led to a growing problem of finding a good race rider, or any rider at all. Another problem, no less acute, is the problem of finding a work rider who is able to teach horses to jump effectively. Poorly-schooled and almost unschooled novices are a common sight. Only a few yards consistently turn out well-prepared young jumpers. Plenty of smaller trainers are poorly equipped and poorly staffed for this job.

There are fewer and fewer new amateur riders, and not many flat riders seem to fancy jumps racing when they are no longer able to ride at about 56 kg.

Very few of our established riders are much below the age of thirty. To tell the truth, Josef Vana junior is the only really well-established young rider, and he has weight problems. Ondrej Velek is shaping up well. Michal Kubik, Jan Kratochvil, Jakub Kocman and a few others have been learning their trade and are coming along.

Many of our established jockeys are veterans. Josef Vana, senior, now aged 60, may have a few more Velka Pardubickas in him, but he limits himself to 3 or 4 rides a season nowadays, all of them on Tiumen. Plenty of other major figures are well over 40 - Pavel Kasny, Marek Stromsky, Dusan Andres, and Slovak jockey Jaroslav Brecka – and several others are nearer to 40 than to 30.

The issue was brought into focus in the week before the 2013 Velka Pardubicka by the number of foreign riders brought in to ride in the race, and in particular by the steeplechasing authorities’ remarkable decision, which may yet be rescinded, to allow a British amateur rider to participate in the race although (I am told) he has not fulfilled the qualification requirements. The race conditions state that a rider must have won 10 jumps races in his lifetime, and must have been placed once in 2013, or must have been placed in at least 10 jumps races in 2013. The reason for the decision to waive the rule was that “no suitable alternative rider was available”. This given reason is perhaps not very far from the truth, but it is an exaggeration. I could name half a dozen qualified riders, most of whom will be in Pardubice on Sunday as they have rides on other horses earlier in the afternoon. Jiri Kousek is one, though he may think it is better to be unengaged, and hope to pick up a decent ride if one of the other jockeys is injured earlier in the afternoon, rather than accept the ride on a no-hoper. Michal Köhl is also a perfectly good jockey.

Some people (e.g. those who decided to waive the qualification rule) have been stating that the lack of jockeys is a threat to the existence of Czech jumps racing. I do not see things so black. As an international officer in my ‘real’job, I see a very easy solution in searching abroad for jumps jockeys. There are many countries in the world where there is no steeplechasing but where there are boys who would like to be jockeys. Russia has provided good jockeys for the Czech Republic in the past, and several winning Velka Pardubicka riders, most recently Vladislav Snitkovskij. Young Kazakh rider Bauyrzhan Murzabayev is currently leading our flat jockeys’ championship after arriving here not much more than a year ago. Steeplechasing has been successfully revived at Wroclaw in Poland, which is just 250 km from Pardubice, and is even a twin town of Pardubice. Why have their jockeys not been brought over?

I do not think that a lack of riders is an existential problem for Czech steeplechasing. It is mainly a matter of more flexible thinking – is that too much to ask from our steeplechasing community? We need an influx of aspiring young jumps riders, from abroad and/or from local sources.