Thank goodness for the European Union! Without it, Czech racing would have had a very thin month in July 2016. Thanks to open borders and compatible veterinary documentation, however, our horses have been able to run in a number of EU member countries. The very poor programme of meetings inside the Czech Republic in the course of this month has been supplemented by plenty of interesting races for our horses, owners and trainers to compete in at racecourses near the Czech borders with Slovakia, Poland and Germany. Plenty of horses, particularly those that qualify as French-bred, have also made successful and unsuccessful excursions to racecourses in various parts of France. Ten years ago, our successes abroad were mainly over fences. In July 2016, all of our 8 winners have been on the flat.   

I used to like the change of pace in Czech horseracing in July and August. Immediately after the Czech Derby at Prague Velká Chuchle and the 2nd Velka Pardubicka qualification race at Pardubice, both held towards the end of June, there has traditionally been a period of about 8 week before either of these two major courses holds another race meeting. During the midsummer, more or less major race meetings would be held at Most and at Karlovy Vary, and there would be picturesque low-quality mixed flat and jumps race meetings at a number of Category C racecourses. Many of the small courses would have their own Velká race over their crosscountry course, featuring a remarkable obstacle that was jumped only once in the season. Who can forget the Borec Jump at Albertovec, where sadly there has been no race meeting for the last three or four seasons. The horses used to step over a horizontally-placed tree trunk and then scamper down a very steep incline into a sandpit. The Jump into Water at Kolesa is still in use. The table at Slušovice is used in the Velká Slušovická, now run at the end of October. Other courses feature a traditional Grandstand Fence that is more demanding than the other obstacles.

This year, our racing in July has been quite a lot less attractive. There has been no midsummer meeting at Most. The only major meetings in the Czech Republic since before the end of June have been have been held at Karlovy Vary. We are currently in the midst of a four-week period with meetings only at Karlovy Vary and at Kolesa, and nowhere else. This weekend, July 30th and 31st, there is no race meeting in the Czech Republic, a situation that I cannot remember in midseason in the past. At the meeting at Mimoň, there were 6 Category V races, our lowest category, out of the 9 races on the card.

Next weekend, there is only one meeting, at Karlovy Vary. Thank goodness for KV, which is doing its best to fill the gap in the racing calendar. It took over the organization of the Czech Oaks this year, a race which has been held in July at Most in recent seasons.

And thank goodness for Bratislava and Wroclaw, which have offered offer some good meetings in Czech racing’s period of aestivation. Slovak Derby day at Bratislava is traditonally held three weeks after our Derby. Wroclaw has some midsummer jumps racing in preparation for Wielka Wroclawska day, which is September 4th this year. Our horses ran in big numbers at these courses. There were four 4 Czech-trained winners at Bratislava on Derby day, including Timekeeper, which won the Derby. Timekeeper is one of the many colts by Galileo trained by Josef Váňa snr. Like last year’s Czech and Slovak Derby winner, Touch of Genius, also by Galileo and trained by Josef Váňa snr, Timekeeper is owned by Statek Blata Český raj.

The disputes all through the last winter between the Jockey Club and the racecourse managers were patched up enough to ensure that the season began only two weeks late and ran more or less normally until Derby day. Nevertheless, there is still a severe lack of friendly communication between the racecourses and the Jockey Club. The leaky boat in which Czech racing sails is still in choppy water. Where cooperation is needed, it is not available. One of the outcomes has been a poorly coordinated set of races in midsummer.  

With the shortage major races held in the Czech Republic, apart from the Czech Oaks, a bigger number than ever of our more or less good horses have been running and doing quite well abroad. With a Friday, Saturday and Sunday still to go in July, our horses have already run on 32 race days abroad, including 12 different courses in France. The most remarkable successes were at Clairefontaine, in France, on July 7th and 8th, where three horses trained by Václav Luka and owned by LERAM all won. I read that all of these horses had been bought at auction after running in sellers in France. Each of the three winners (Wireless, Athansor and Danae Jem) won winner’s prize money of about EUR 11 000, a lot of prizemoney by the standards of Czech horseracing.The other Czech-trained winner, at Vichy on July 26th, was Delegation. Her trainer is Jűrgen Albrecht, a German who trains near Mimoň, but he nowadays runs his horses exclusively outside the Czech Republic.

There have also been some places in good races abroad for Czech-trained horses. Meandre finished 4th in a listed race at Saint-Cloud, and is still a top horse at the age of 8. Our top sprinter, Mikesh, finished 3rd in the Hoppegartener Sprint-Cup at Berlin-Hoppegarten on July 24th. At the age of 7, he can still sprint, and he has now been placed in a black-type race at Hoppegarten in each of the last three years. It seems that he is OK after his operation during the winter, and he should be ready to run in the fairly big sprints that will be run here in September. Mikesh seems to be at his best on a straight 1 000-metre track, which we do not have at any of our courses. The straight sprint course at Most has not been used for about 8 years – might the new owner be able to revive it?

I was reminded by Jűrgen Albrecht’s winner in France about the last time I was in a car with him, together with some Czechs and Chris Richner. Until Czech EU accession, we had always had to wait while the Czechs were grudgingly processed at the borders. But now it was 2004, and we all happily congratulated each other on our new equal status at the border. (Now of course, with Schengen, there is not even a border post in that place).

How could David Cameron gamble my EU passport away? I am haunted by the day when I will be sent to the back of the jostling queue for aliens every time I enter or leave this country.