The month of July in most parts of the Czech Republic can be summed up in two adjectives: hot and dry. Not quite as hot and dry as last year, perhaps, but hot enough. Now that the end of the month is coming, there is rain around, and hailstorms threaten.

 At the last race meeting in July, at Benešov, the official going was 1.0, which is known here as “beton”, i.e. concrete – not really suitable for steeplechasing, or for any racing. Prolonged, non-violent rainfall would be very welcome, especially to those many young people here who would usually go canoeing in the summer months, but there is not generally enough water in the rivers this year.

 The eight-week period between the end of June and the end of August is a period of up-country race meetings here. Prague Velka Chuchle racecourse takes a complete summer break, while Pardubice now puts on just one summer meeting, without any races at above Category II.

 Major races are run at Most and at Karlovy Vary, and the smaller courses make admirable efforts to put on race days that are local festivals. Svĕtlá Hora and Benešov both put on very enjoyable race days in July, their only days of racing this year. Benešov celebrated 60 years of racing on its 1200-metre circuit with its very tight last bend, which produced a couple of racing incidents. A lot of work had been done to put the grandstand in reasonable order. Svĕtlá Hora is a somewhat more regular course, though also with a 1200-metre circuit and with a back straight that is quite a lot more elevated than the home straight. The racing there is mainly over fences and therefore over long distances – nothing like the 1400 metre dash at Benešov.

 There are nowadays only three racecourses in the Czech Republic that offer just a single day of racing this season. The third is Netolice, in South Bohemia, where there will be a meeting at the end of August. This claims to have a longer circuit, just over 1400 metres, but the straights are not very straight.

 The good news is that some of the courses that used to offer a single day of racing each year in the past are not definitively closed. According to an interview in the local newspaper, the new owners of the stud and the training facilities at Mimoň want to put on a meeting next year, though they are not interested in reviving racehorse breeding there. Mimoň is to concentrate on being dude ranch, and on carriage driving, but a day or two of horseracing seems to be in the plans. Radslavice could hold races again one day, but probably not in 2015. I have not seen any mention of a revival of racing at Albertovec, where the last meeting was at 2012. I think that the Albertovec stud is still functioning, but it has never, or at least not recently, bred thoroughbreds. The Albertovec website does not exclude the possibility of future races there. Tochovice, south of Prague, remains a training centre, but last put on a race meeting two years ago.

 In addition, we have some small Category C racecourses that put on a limited number of meetings each year. Lysa-nad-Labem, thirty kilometres east of Prague, Kolesa, which is adjacent to the Kladruby stud, and Brno and Slusovice in Moravia.

 All courses, big and small, report that it is very hard to make ends meet, even after their outgoings were reduced when it was decided, in March 2014, that they would no longer have to pay special prizes to owners of Czech-bred horses placed in middle- and high-category races.

 As usual, there were plenty of Czech runners abroad in July. Our horses ran in France, at Montier-en-Der, Compiègne, Vittel, Divonne, Chantilly, Dieppe and Maisons Laffitte; in Germany, at Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Bad Harzburg, and Berlin Hoppegarten; in Italy at Merano; and in Slovakia at Topolčianky and at Bratislava. The biggest success was that of Love Me, which won the Slovak Derby, very narrowly from two German-trained horses, at a very long odds. Love Me is Czech bred, by Egerton, a stallion that raced in Germany and is now attracting a lot of interest here, at least among Czech breeders. Trip to Rhodos, owned by Jiří Charvát, finished a close second in a Listed race at Maisons Laffitte last weekend.

 Vaclav Janáček, five times Czech champion jockey before he went to Spain, where he took just two years to become champion jockey, and then won the Spanish championship again, came to Bratislava to ride Honzik Chipera, which had finished a close second four weeks earlier in the Czech Derby. However, Honzik Chipera had a slight setback and was withdrawn from the race. There was much discussion about which Czech rider would be stood down to make way for Janáček in the Slovak Derby, and it was widely expected that he would take over the ride on Love Me. However, owner and trainer were in the end loyal to young stable jockey Jan Verner, who celebrated his first classic win.

 The standings in the Czech jockeys’ championships so far this year are as follows. On the flat, Jiří Chaloupka, has ridden 17 winners, Jaromír Šafář 16, and current champion Bauyrzhan Murzabayev 13. Jiří Chaloupka has ridden some excellent races, especially his waiting race to win our Derby narrowly on Cheeky Chappie. He has won a total of 365 races, more than any other jockey currently based in the Czech Republic. His minimum riding weight is 58 kg, however, and one of the younger and lighter jockeys may well catch him before the end of October.

Over fences, the top three are currently Josef Váňa jnr, 9 wins; Jaroslav Myška 7, and Michal Kubík 7. At long last, some young riders are coming along. Slovak rider Lukáš Matuský has had 6 winners, Jan Kratochvíl 5, Jakub Kocman 5, and Ondřej Velek 4. Michal Kubík and Jan Kratochvíl are both based in Josef Váňa’s yard, where they are protégés - probably not exactly the right word - of the great man. Jakub Kocman is based at Kolesa, where he rode three winners in successive races at the recent meeting, and was then only narrowly beaten in the following race. Ondřej Velek is now based in Switzerland, but he gets back here quite frequently, mainly on days when there are 9 or 10 jumps races at Pardubice.

As far as Czech steeplechasing is concerned, “young riders” has gained a new meaning in the last couple of years. All bumpers, and now also a number of Category IV races, have been declared “for young riders only”, but anyone who has not yet ridden 50 winners is qualified as a “young rider”. One of the beneficiaries of these extra opportunities has been Martin Liška. He is in his 22^nd year as a race rider here, and had never previously won more than 4 races in a season. This year, he has already ridden 5 winners here, plus two at Wroclaw. He is at last getting better horses to ride, and he looks fine on them

Our out-of-town summer season continues until Saturday, August 23^rd, when the third Velka Pardubicka qualification race will be run at Pardubice. Eight days later, Prague Velka Chuchle will reopen with a meeting featuring the 69th running of the Czech St. Leger.

 Goodness me! It is getting late.