The race conditions for the 2014 Czech horseracing season have not yet been published, not even for the first meeting, which is due to be held at Prague Velka Chuchle on Sunday, April 6^th. A meeting is to be held on March 20^th between the Jockey Club and the representatives of the racecourses, which is likely to ensure that our season can begin on time.

At the root of the problem is that, until now, the payment of special supplementary prizes to the owners of successful Czech-bred horses has been the responsibility of the racecourses, and it has been implied that these payments should be made out of the funding provided by the Ministry of Agriculture in support of Czech racehorse breeding and contests (races) for Czech-bred (and other) horses.

At a rather late date, the racecourse representatives insisted that these payments should be made by the Jockey Club, and not by themselves. Everyone agrees that our racecourses are going through difficult times, and most think they should not have to worry about paying “owners’ prizes”. The amounts to be paid out are rather uncertain, and this is a worry for hard-pressed organisers.

The English pages of Dostihový svět have always been against the levy on importing horses from other EU countries, and against special prizes for owners of Czech-bred horses. This kind of thing is unfortunately very prevalent in continental Europe, but is totally against the idea of a single market for the EU countries.

It is particularly unfortunate to have an implied linkage between funding from the Czech Ministry of Agriculture and “owners’ prizes”. As a supporter of Czech horseracing, I do not like owners’ prizes, and as a taxpayer I do not wish to contribute directly to them. And yet, I am happy that the Ministry provides a little support for our sport, and would like the public authorities to give more in future.

The delay in publishing the race conditions, and particularly the failure to find a solution at the meeting on March 10^th has of course caused quite a lot of consternation, and some lively discussion on the chat lines.

I think that the meeting on March 20th will probably reach a solution that will enable to season to begin on time, and I hope that better ways of supporting the Czech thoroughbred breeding community will be introduced in due course.