March 2014 has been dominated by the escalating dispute between the Jockey Club and the organizers of race meetings about “owner’s prizes”. The trouble is that this dispute is not - or no longer is - about owner’s prizes. I think noone any longer has a clear idea of what it is really about, and I do not wish to make guesses that will be only partly correct and will not help to resolve the dispute. The fact seems to be that the dispute is out of control, and has been taking on a life of its own.

As I wrote in the newsletter a month ago, I have never liked “owner’s prizes”, which are paid to the owners of up to three Czech-bred horses that finish in the first five of races at Category III level and above. This may not be an exactly formulated description of the horses that win owner’s prizes, but it is near enough. This does not count as prize-money won for penalty purposes. This type of owner’s prize is common in continental Europe, and the justification that is given is that it supports thoroughbred breeding in the home country, which is claimed to underpin the whole of horseracing in the country.

If owner’s prizes support domestic breeding they must disfavour breeding in other countries - and where these other countries are EU countries and there is supposed to be a single market, I object.

One aspect of the owner’s prizes debate is that they are discriminatory against breeders in other EU countries. A second consideration in the Czech Republic is that the hard-pressed organizers of horseracing have had to pay out these prizes, although it is the Jockey Club, and not the race meeting organizers, that decided to introduce and retain owner’s prizes. The amounts to be paid out by the organizers have tended to rise over the years, and have been unstable because they depend on how many Czech-breds happen to finish in the first five places in the relevant races. However, the Jockey Club does also distribute funding to the racecourses that is given to racing by the Ministry of Agriculture. I think that this money is allocated by the Ministry of Agriculture “in support of thoroughbred breeding”. This somewhat fuzzy link between funding from the Ministry and owner’s prizes is unfortunate, and has contributed to the dispute in the early months of 2014.

I think it is true to say that owner’s prizes have been particularly strongly supported by Václav Luka senior, who was president of the Czech Jockey Club from 1997 until a couple of months ago. Václav Luka did not stand for re-election this year, after a successful campaign led by some of our leading racehorse owners. They took control of the Steeplechase Association and the Association of Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners, which, between them, elect the majority of the members of the Jockey Club Council. The remaining Council members are representatives of the major racecourses, and one who represents all the minor racecourses (however, the racecourse representatives only amount to a minority on the Council of the Jockey Club).

It was clear that the organizers of the coup against Václav Luka could elect whoever they wanted to as president of the Jockey Club, and that they did not want Luka, so he decided not to stand again. The leaders of the coup did not themselves decide to stand for election to be the president, and put forward the name of Aleša Jakub, who is understood to be an employee of one of the key figures in the coup. I understand that the position of president of the Jockey Club is unpaid.

As president of the Jockey Club, Václav Luka was active in almost every aspect of Czech racing, personally heading committees, a part-owner of Velka Chuchle racecourse, a racehorse owner and breeder, I think on the board of Betino, our monopoly bookmaker. Negotiations about the racing calendar were also controlled by him. There were certainly potential conflicts of interest, though in my opinion there was very little evidence that Luka favoured his own personal interests. He claims, I think correctly, that he has consistently supported grassroots breeders, owners, trainers and their staff, riders, organizers of race meetings - the majority of ‘ordinary’ Czech racing people, especially racing professionals.

The coup has been headed by some of our wealthiest owners. Luka has claimed that the agenda of some of them has more to do with the ambitions of wealthy men than the good of horseracing as a whole. Nevertheless, it should be said that the board of the Jockey Club has been strengthened by the election of a number of able people whose dedication to horseracing does not deserve to be brought into question.

It has been clear in recent years that a small number of wealthy owners here have been spending more on racehorses. They appear not to have been going through the same kind of economic crisis as the professional racing community (as supported by Václav Luka) and most of the remaining 99% of the country. They have gradually become more assertive, finally leading a coup.

As so often, leading a coup has been the easy part. Disagreements over what to do next, and who will take charge, have emerged very quickly. It seems to me that the rich owners seek to have as much power as they can get without personally taking on a lot of responsibilities.

Václav Luka dedicated a lot of time and energy to being a very active president of the Jockey Club (and accumulating a lot of powers). The new leadership wants the power, but not necessarily the hard work. None of the coup leaders wanted to be the president, or perhaps they could not agree among themselves on who should be president. Aleša Jakub, whom I had never heard of, was brought in and now, it seems, after just a few weeks he is on the way out again.

The dispute over owner’s prizes was the first issue to be raised after the end of the 17-year Luka era. It has been covered in these webpages, see above, and is not worth reiterating here. Suddenly, the dispute over owner’s prizes came out into the open, and it was raised, and became an obstacle, only a few months before the racing season was due to begin, and at a time when plans for the coming racing season should have been well advanced. Until some kind of settlement is reached, however, it is not possible for the racecourses and the Jockey Club to sign an agreement on race conditions or to finalize the racing calendar even for the opening weeks of the season – which begins on April 6^th. This is really an issue that might have been resolved fairly easily, as everyone undoubtedly and unreservedly wants the horseracing calendar to appear and the season to begin.

The latest development is that the Association of Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners has, rather remarkably, voted in favour of halving the owner’s prizes, with the Jockey Club paying the whole amount for the prizes. The Jockey Club had earlier agreed to pay half of the owner’s prizes for this season. The Association told the racecourses to dedicate the money that they would have spent on owner’s prizes to improving the facilities at the racecourses. In their stormy meeting on March 29^th, the Association of Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners decided this, and also failed to elect poor Aleša Jakub to be one of its representatives on the Jockey Club board. This presumably means that he will have to resign as president of the Jockey Club, after just a few weeks in office.

Unstable situations are always unpredictable. I just hope that everyone will remember that the absolute top priority is for the racing season to start on the first Sunday in April, and certainly not to be disrupted by a needless dispute about owner’s prizes - if that is what it has all been about!

I do apologize for inaccuracies and incomplete information in this report. We amateur writers do not have full access to information, and when there is a dispute writers can both get facts wrong and annoy people by telling what they see, controversially, as the truth.

By the way, March was a wonderfully bright month, with plenty of warm sunny days. Cherry trees began to blossom a week ago, five or six weeks too early. The whole winter has been very dry and very warm – but of course April and the first half of May can still provide sharp frosts, and the water table is much lower than it should be at the end of March.

I hope we can look forward to a good horseracing season in the next seven months.