[After 17 years as president of the Czech Jockey Club, Václav Luka was replaced by Aleša Jakub at the election on January 14^th, in which he did not stand for re-election. This interview on the Fitmin Turf Magazine website, by chief editor Miloslav Vlček, was published the day before the election.]

For 15 years on the pages of TURF Magazine, and last year for the first time on this website, we have carried an overview of the previous year through the eyes of Jockey Club president Václav Luka. This is the 16^th renewal, and it will be somewhat different, as it will be the last. Václav Luka, who has carried out the functions of the president since spring 1997, will not be a candidate this year. Nevertheless, he has shared with us his views on the last 12 months in Czech horseracing. 

Let us begin with the traditional question that you are asked every year – What was last year like, from the viewpoint of the president of the Jockey Club?

From my viewpoint, it was one of the most complicated seasons since I began as president. The weather had a lot to do with it, including the floods, of course. But at times even without the influence of the weather there was a lot of cancellation of race meetings, times of races were changed, and there was chaos in the racing calendar. Last but not least, some kind of “stupid mood” was prevalent in the specialized horseracing public. At its source was a group of people that cast doubt on private websites on what we have been doing. There was a certain tension in the air. I think that, since we are such a small community, this divided us a lot at the racecourse, and for no purpose, and at the race meetings there was needless animosity, rather than the pleasant atmosphere that should accompany sports events.

The articles against us that appeared on tendentious websites contained a series of untruths and even lies. It was just a destructive media campaign. In its way, it was a result of the fact that among the owners there is a predominance of people without a horseracing history, and their main interests are sometimes at variance with true horsemanship. Accepting their sometimes unhealthy ambitions is a kind of levy for the funding that they put into horseracing.

Many people have asked me why I have not defended myself against these untruths, but I have always been a proponent of a different philosophy, and have wanted to bring people together rather than divide them, and I have always believed that an attentive reader will find the truth. We have never been given an opportunity to express our standpoint, and in none of the published criticisms have the authors bothered to find out the views of the other side. As an example, let us take the criticism about the preparations for meetings of the Council of the Jockey Club. From my point of view it is understandable, but until recently members of the Council knew the issues that were on the table, had mastered them and digested them, and did not need to have documentation sent to them some time in advance, so that they could study it.

And, on the other hand, what were the things that most satisfied you in the last season?

From my viewpoint, the biggest positive feature in the last season was the success of our flat horses abroad, and the fact that, in spite of all the criticism aimed at our Jockey Club, we are very well perceived in the neighbouring countries. In the final analysis, sufficient evidence that everything is not so bad as it has been presented is the fact that our operations have been relatively stable.

When you evaluate each season, what are the main criteria for you as president of the Jockey Club?

There are several of them. If I try to list them according to their importance, probably the number of active racecourses, the number of racing days, the correctness of the racing, the overall amount of prizemoney, the number of registered owners, the space given over to racing in the media, attendances, and international successes. Those are the main indicators that show the place of horseracing in society. Those are the criteria according to which I have conducted myself all along, and on the basis of which I have attempted to lead Czech racing.

A positive feature of our sport has been its stability, which has perhaps sometimes been spoken against, but I see it as something positive. Like other sports, racing is a matter of funding. The gulf between the best and the rest has been growing. If we take the successful owners in Category I races, those owners whose horses finish in the first three places, they are just a small segment of the horseracing population, and most of the interest in racing is recruited thanks to the middle and lower layers of the structure. We should keep this in mind, and also the complicated situation of more than 80% of our local trainers. All this corresponds with the overall economic situation in the whole country.

What do you consider to be the most critical sector in the whole of Czech racing?

The most painful spot is the situation of the organizers, and they are crucial for the further development of Czech racing. If we compare the data from recent years, we note that the economic crisis has not had so much impact on the number of owners or on the number of registered racehorses, but it has made itself felt much more in the community of organizers of racing. That is where attention has to be focused. In connection with this, I think that most of the racing public lives under the impression that the organizers have some kind of duty to put on races, and people do not know the real state of the financing of Czech horseracing. Years ago, we could boast 15 active racecourses. Last year, there were just 11. When one of these places disappears from the racing map, the sport loses its power to draw potential fans from that location, and I consider this a very negative matter. It may not show up immediately, but it will show up sooner or later. For this reason, I have considered support for the small racecourses, and in general support for the mass appeal of our sport, to be one of the priorities throughout my leadership of the Jockey Club.

You are now leaving the office of president. What are you going to do next?

I still have racehorses, brood mares and stallions, and I have not reduced my holding. Let that be evidence of my belief in the new set up at the head of Czech racing, and its ability to bring money into racing and the new sources of funding that they have promised. I now want to concentrate more on Velka Chuchle racecourse, because I feel a responsibility toward the shareholders who, 13 years ago, responded to my urging at the time when it was necessary get Velka Chuchle racecourse from the bankrupt estate of the former owner. In this connection, I can responsibly state that my interest, and that of most of the shareholders, is in retaining horseracing at Velka Chuchle. But, of course, it will be to the extent that the association will have funding for. Fervour and enthusiasm must alternate with a rational economic viewpoint, and the extent to which horseracing operations will go on at Velka Chuchle will also depend on the responsiveness of the Jockey Club and the big owners.

For me personally, the present changes are a relief. Looking back, you surely remember that I have for many years been calling out and saying that we need to engage new, financially powerful people to help racing. The way in which this has come about seems to me unnecessarily confrontational, but their arrival is positive news.

Apart from giving up the post of president, you have also given up your place on the Council of the Jockey Club, in which you have represented the small racecourses, which will now have their interests represented by Zdenĕk Karlach, from Slušovice. Why did you also leave this function?

I feel a bit burned out, fatigued, if you like, and so I prefer to leave the place for someone else. In addition, the present structure has a somewhat different world view than mine. I went into the leadership of the Jockey Club as a horseman, for whom what mattered was that there should simply be some racing. That was at a time when the organizers regularly did not pay out prizemoney, when it was not known whether there would be any racing, and it would never have occurred to me that I would spend 17 years in the post. It was a voluntary, honorary post, but it has been quite exhausting. More than once, I have been at the races and have missed my own horse running, because I was negotiating something. I really do look forward to being able to concentrate fully on the racing.

I must also admit that I have not been happy about the most recent dealings on the Council of the Jockey Club, with its new composition. I don’t like the confrontational style and the fact that the main motivation for some people lies in interests outside true horsemanship, which is what we do everything for.

The new president will be elected this week. Who would you like to see as your successor?

For me, there is only one candidate in the present situation, and that is Jiří Trávníček. Not just because, for logical reasons, great hopes have been invested in him. He was de facto the leader of the initiative that led to the changes in the composition of the Council of the Jockey Club, and in my opinion he has a moral responsibility toward everyone who raised their hand for him. I’m convinced that a man of his stature will not hide behind some proxy, and will not play the role of Cardinal Richelieu. [In fact, Aleša Jakub was elected president of the Jockey Club on January 14, and Jiří Trávníček did not stand for the office.]

What would you wish to your successor?

Apart from the normal clichés, I would express the wish that he, and the entire new leadership of Czech racing, will manage in their decisions to suppress their personal interests and act for the good of the racing community. That is sometimes difficult. I would also express the wish that they will be able to get rid of the demonization of the Jockey Club as a whole, and, personally, that they will manage to do what we did, and mix work with friendship, because when you do that you work much better.

When you look back over your whole work as the leader of Czech horseracing, what would you consider to be the highlights, and where, on the other hand, do you have the feeling that you could have done more, or that you were not able to do something that needed to be done?

I won’t talk about the positives. I’ll leave that for the racing public to assess for themselves. If I have to talk about unfinished business, or about things that we or I were not able to do, I see three basic things. The first is that we did not succeed in setting up racing all year round, in having a sand track, which would have made it possibe to have racing all year round. The second is betting, or taking bets all over the country, where we have been far from fulfilling our expectations. And last but not least, the fact that we have not managed to introduce a large screen at all the major racecourses.  

I’d like to end by thanking everyone, from the staff of the Jockey Club, through all those who have helped us, to the organisers of race meetings, whose work has not yet been fully appreciated, in my opinion. I also don’t want to forget the older generation who sat with us on the Council. In some cases they may have been past their zenith, but they deserve to be thanked for the part they have played in the history of Czech racing.