(translation of an article in the Czech language pages of Dostihovy Svet, written by Kateřina Jupová) 

 She galloped on like a machine, as if it was all so easy. She did not even seem to get out of breath. Nothing could stay with her. The others were glad just to get round. That could be the way to describe this year’s Velka which, for me and I think also for others, was a big disappointment as a race. With all due respect for the phenomenal performance of Orphee des Blins, this was far removed from what races for the Velka have been like in recent years, with high-quality jumping and dramatic finishes … There were a lot of mistakes, one fall after the other, chaos, loose horses everywhere. Was this supposed to be the climax (at least as far as steeplechasing is concerned) to the Czech horseracing season?

To tell the truth, the list of runners and riders raised some doubts about the quality of the field, and the course of the race unfortunately almost fully confirmed the doubts. I must say, when I looked at the racecard, I just had the impression that the Labe Prize and the Vltava Prize, and even some of the other races, had higher-quality fields than the Velka itself.  And while the other races were just fine, the Velka itself was, at best, unconvincing.

The riders in the race were a matter for debate – and most of the islanders who did not know the racecourse did not, indeed,  manage to get round. However, it should also be pointed out that the Josef Bartoš and Josef Váňa jnr. finished on the ground, and there is no need to cast any doubt on their quality as jockeys, or on their knowledge of the special features of the course. So what went wrong? What can be done to make things better in future? Unfortunately, it is hard to say. A positive thing is that there will be plenty of reliable chasers available for future years among those which appeared in the other races. Let us therefore hope that this year was just an exception from the general rule, as far as the race itself is concerned.

Though not everyone has to agree with his political preferences, Josef Váňa senior was right in one thing. Defensive tactics were the best thing this year (if your name is not Jan Faltejsek). It was a good idea firstly, to keep well away from the blundering field, and, secondly not to chase after HER. Both of those options were the road to hell. 

Clearly, there was one pair had that no problem with the racecourse. The two-time winners, Honza Faltejsek and Orphee des Blins. Anyone who thought that their performance last year was a once-off and unrepeatable, could not have been more wrong. She is clearly even more of a machine that we had all imagined. 

Finally, hearty congratulations to all who got to the finishing line, and thus into the prize money, in this wild renewal of the race. It was a reminder for us viewers of the fact that the most important factor for success in the Velka is just to get round, whatever changes there may have been in the race in recent years. It is still a very demanding race that not everyone is able to handle – only the best, and the best-prepared, can manage it. And the luckiest, too. Those were the horses and riders that won the prize money, and they fully deserved it.

***

If you have read my own reports and reflections, you will see that I share Kateřina Jupová’s views. The concerns raised by the list of runners and riders for the Velka were fully confirmed. Though misfortune favoured the unprepared, I think it should be added that none of the poor horses or poorly-selected riders in the race actually directly brought about more than their own downfall. Nobody has suggested that they were, in retrospect, directly a menace to the other runners. I have not commented on Josef  Váňa’s endorsement of one of the 22 parties and movements that will contest the parliamentary elections at the end of October. His favourite movement has already received far more publicity than it merits. The upcoming election can hardly lead to a worse parliament that that which it will replace,  but it also seems unlikely to produce anything much better.