On Saturday, September 9^th, Pardubice holds its last race day before the Velka Pardubicka meeting. The main event is the September qualification race for the Velka Pardubicka. This race has attracted a poor field, and none of the runners seems to be a serious contender for the Velka itself. However, there are a number of preparatory races for the other good races that will be run on Velka Pardubicka day. The first race tomorrow will be at 1 pm. Pardubice racecourse nominates a recommended colour to wear on each race day. I understand the colour is yellow or gold this time.

The Velka Pardubicka meeting will be a two-day meeting. The main day, featuring the Velka Pardubicka and seven other races over fences, is on Sunday, October 8th. The meeting on Saturday, October 7^th, has eight races, three of them over fences, four over hurdles, and one on the flat. The main races on the Saturday will be the Crystal Cup, our champion hurdle race, and the Gold Brooch, which is our top race of the year for 3-y-o hurdlers.

All our top flat horses turned out for last weekend’s European Jockeys Cup meeting. Prague Velká Chuchle therefore has the 11^th running of Elektrizace Želznic Praha Gold Cup as its feature race this Sunday. This is the best hurdles race of the season in Prague, and it has attracted an interesting and good-quality field.

Also on Sunday, Wroclaw racecourse in Poland holds its top meeting of the season, featuring the Wielka Wroclawska Steeplechase and the Wielka Partynicka Hurdles. Our top jumps jockeys are equally split between Wroclaw and Prague this Sunday.