One of the nice customs in Czech racing is that a rider of 50 winners, on the flat or over fences, not only loses his or her rider’s allowances, but also gains the title of “jockey”, which appears in the racecard as /ž/ before the name.

Twenty-two year-old Alma Ata-born Bauyrzhan Murzabayev gained his title on Saturday October 27^th, with his 30^th winner of the season, on Yes Man at Prague Velka Chuchle.

With just three more races on the flat this season, Murzabayev will win our flat jockeys’ championship provided Jaromir Safar does not win all three of those races at Kolesa on Saturday. In fact, he would have won the championship at Slusovice on October 28^th, if the race over 900 metres had not been annulled. Murzabayev won the race on Tullum, but it was annulled in accordance with our rules because one of the starting boxes did not open correctly.

Bauyrzhan Murzabayev speaks Czech impressively well when interviewed on TV. He is universally described modest and hard-working, and it has been impressive how quickly a number of our trainers started using his services. There is a lack of talented riders able to ride at 53 kg, and it was good to hear Murzabayev say that his forseeable future lies in the Czech Republic.

He is not the first Kazakh jockey to win our jockeys’ championship. Ramil Demidov won our flat jockeys’ championship in 1995, 1996 and 1997.

Our course, it is a bit odd, and not really fair, that a rider claiming an allowance for almost the whole season should win the jockeys’ championship. Loss of the allowance will have no impact at all on the number of rides Bauyrzhan Murzabayev will get next year, but it will of course make all the difference in some close finishes.