The 2016 Velka Pardubicka on Czech Television
I normally spend a lot of time in the week after the Velka Pardubicka watching the television coverage of the race, reading what others have written and listening to what they have said. And then, I write my reflections on the Dostihový svět webpages.
The television coverage on Velka day consists of almost 7 hours of non-stop coverage on Czech Television’s Sport channel. The later part of the afternoon, with the biggest races, is also shown on CT channel 1. We are proud that the Velka Pardubicka is considered to be the only sports event that is a significant enough national event to deserve to be broadcast live on such a serious news channel.
Vast numbers of people and vast amounts of equipment are sent to the course, and preparations are made long in advance. Films are made of visits to the stables that are home to each of the runners in the Velka. Most of the stables are in the spectacular hilly countryside of Moravia and Bohemia that are considered ideal for training the toughest of the tough long-distance crosscountry chasers.
This year, there were more films that had been prepared in advance, and fewer speaking heads. In previous years, there has been a team of eight experts and interviewers. This year, there were only six. The two bores that I have consistently criticized in the past were missing this year!
Marek Svačina was the racereader, for the 25th successive year, and Pavel Fučík did the interviews on the course and in the parade ring, with the jockeys, trainers and owners. This year, Pavel gave special attention to one of the grooms, Barbora Málková - more about that later. Marek is a full-time multi-sport commentator with Czech Television, while Pavel has been interviewing on VP day for almost twenty years. Both are big fans of horseracing, and are integral parts of our small horseracing community. Marek is experienced and knowledgeable. Pavel is never tempted to upstage an interviewee. He knows when to ask about key issues, but is never unkind or impolite. We viewers benefit from his good access to all key personalities in Czech racng.
The resident expert was Libor Šimůnek. This was only his third appearance on Velka day, but he is very well established. Libor was the kind of jumps jockey who rode in the VP just twice in quite a long career, and he narrowly missed ever gaining his “jockey” title, which is given to riders after their fiftieth winner. Libor got to 49 before retiring! In earlier other years and on other racedays, he has been a bit more light-hearted, and he has smiled more. This year, I thought he was rather earnest, and tended to look worried. Czech racing on television tends to be presented rather seriously – I would like the see some bantering ex-jockeys, a flashy tipster, some more light-hearted stuff. From the average viewer’s point of view, it is only an afternoon out, and it should be fun. Libor nevertheless did very well, and his knowledge of people, horses and the whole racing game is well communicated.
Questions were fed to Libor by Petr Kubásek, a professional presenter at Czech Television, who I think does not often find his way to the racecourse. Nevertheless, he is pleasant, competent and well-prepared – but a bit bland and not much fun for the viewers.
The other pairing was upgraded this year. Barbora Černošková was in the past just the token female, but this year she was given star status, which suited her well. Trainer Martina Ružičková taught her to jump an obstacle on a horse. She assisted farrier Václav Ráliš. She learned how to lead a horse around the parade ring. She was taught how to clean out the stables. She was also partnered was Martin Šabata, who can tell anything anyone might or might not want to know about the history of horseracing at Pardubice. Barbora managed Martin with charm, and gave him numerous opportunities to tell us all kinds of things about how things were at various times since the first Velka Pardubicka, run in 1874, and maybe earlier than that.
Every year, when I return from Pardubicka racecourse on Velka Pardubicka day, I watch the television coverage video, I say to myself, Why don’t I just stay at home next year, and watch it all on television!.
The 126th running of the Velka does not merit a lot of analysis. Rabbit Well cleverly resisted Josef Váňa junior’s best efforts to make him run in the race. Hr actually took several strides in the right direction bfore deciding to dig his heels in, after all. The only faller was Reaper, which hit the Taxis hard. The two unseatings were a bit of a mystery. Neither Marek Stromský, on Nikas, nor, particularly, Vladislav Korytář, on Universe of Gracie, came off for any apparent reason. Maybe the horses slipped, or maybe there was some equipment failure. I have seen some still pictures in which Nikas appeared to be taking measures against slipping after the Taxis. Apart from that, the race was so slow that all of horses were able to keep up, even if they made small mistakes, until the pace began to pick up as they raced accross the course after the Hangar Fence. A mistake at the second last allowed Ange Guardian to move up on Charme Look, but after the last, Charme Look went away to win comfortably.
It was definitely a substandard Velka. Charme Look was not challenged, and apart from him, only Ange Guardian added to his reputation. If it had not been the Velka, we would have called it a boring race.
After the race, there was plenty to talk about. Charme Look’s trainer Martina Růžičková, his owner Mrs Dušková (of Orling), and his jockey, Jan Faltejsek were interviewed, but we viewers were waiting for was the interview with Charme Look’s groom, Barbora Málková. Since Barbora’s win on Charme Look in the Labe Stakes in 2015, the lady owner and lady trainer’s dream had been to win the race with a girl, Barbora Málková, in the saddle. However, Bára suffered a broken vertebra in a fall at Pardubice in August, and she was not able to ride the horse that she had been preparing so carefully. Instead, she was his proud groom, and the most important interviewee after the race.
Czech Television did pretty well, as it usually does on Velka Pardubicka day. There was plenty about the long history of the race, about horses, trainers and training establishments, and there were plenty of interviews with owners and organisers. What I missed, however, was something about the jockeys. It was almost as if the two absent riders - Josef Váňa senior and Barbora Málková - left a vacuum behind themselves. The major achievement of Jan Faltejsek, who won the race for the fourth time in the last five years, was made very little of. Jan is now the joint-second most successful jockey in the history of the race. Next year, I hope, Jan and our other jumps jockeys will be properly featured on TV on Velka day. Barbora Černošková, the star of this year’s VP coverage, would know how to present them in an entertaining manner.