January 2018 was a remarkably mild month in the Czech Republic. The main way for residents of Prague to see snow or even a proper frost this winter has been to get into a car and drive up into the mountains. Personally, I would not dream of going in search of snow and frost, in a car, on narrow, icy mountain roads. Nevertheless, I do think I might enjoy a ride in a nice warm train through snowy uplands on a bright sunny day!

The autumn and winter months here have featured not just mildness, but also frequent rainfall. No extreme rains, but enough to form puddles most days or, rather, most nights. After years of low precipitation, this frequent steady rain is much needed here. The water table has dropped worryingly in most areas of the country over a number of recent years, but this winter’s rains may have done a little to improve matters.

This winter, like the last two winters, has been so mild that the fruit trees have budded and blossomed far too early. Sharp frosts will surely come sooner or later. They often strike as late in the year as mid May in the main growing regions. A third successive lean year for local grapes, cherries, peaches and apricots, for example, seems likely.

Actual horseracing here is still some way away. Our first meeting of the season will be at Lysá-nad-Labem, on Easter Monday. Nevertheless, we do have an interest in flat racing in France and in jumps racing in Italy. Václav Luka has about 10 flat horses ready to run in France, at Deauville, at the major courses in the Paris area, at Cagnes-sur-mer, on the Mediterranean coast. Luka has mainly Czech owners, and uses mainly French jockeys. His horses are typically purchased in France, and qualify for the substantial bonuses that are paid out in support of the French breeding and sales industry. These bonuses do not seem to me to be in the spirit of free trade and the single market within the EU – but the people in Brussels have other priorities, and seem unwilling to tamper with the comparative prosperity of French horseracing.

Josef Váňa nowadays has a lot of good Italian-owned jumpers in his yard, in addition to Czech-owned jumpers and quite a few Czech-owned flat horses. He uses mainly Czech jockeys – his son, and Jan Kratochvíl, though his most recent winer, Notti Magiche, in a graded race at Pisa, was ridden by British jockey Thomas Garner.Váňa’s flat horses are typically aimed at the Derby and then at jumps racing. He has been a fan of horses by Galileo, but it seems to me that only some of them jump well. Váňa sends jumpers to Italy all year round. These are mostly Italian-owned horses, though there are also a few Czech-owned horses that act best on soft ground and also run in Italy in the winter months. There is only a limited amount of steeplechasing in Italy in January – just three one-day meetings at Pisa. Váňa sent out 17 runners (15 different horses), and had 6 winners and 3 second places. He is already well clear of his rivals in the 2018 championship in Italy. There can be no doubt that he aims to remain at the top for the next 11 months,and to  retain his trainer’s championship in Italy. Young Josef no doubt also aims to be champion jockey there again this year.

I know that some readers spend what we may call idle hours following Czech racing at a distance, while others take a professional interest. Whichever category you belong in, you may be interested in http://www.dostihyjc.cz/vysledky.php?stat=3. Výsledky means results, and zahraniční means from abroad. Next to the result, there is normally a video link. Another link for you is http://www.dostihyjc.cz/aviza.php. This link shows Czech trainers’ entries for upcoming races abroad. The Czech Jockey Club’s website has always been extremely well set up, informative, promptly and accurately updated, and a great resource for everyone interested in Czech racing. Currently, most of the entries for races abroad are trained by Václav Luka or Josef Váňa. Greg Wroblweski is planning to send a couple of jumpers to Pisa. He has been running some horses abroad all winter, but he does not have as many good horses as this top trainer deserves. Filip Neuberg seems to have a single horse that is currently being aimed at races in Germany. Stanislav Kovář has two horses entered at Pisa.

There is a growing tendency for horses, mainly with foreign owners, to be trained here to be run abroad. There is a levy of about EUR 1 000 for registering imported horses other than foals to race in the Czech Republic. This levy is not payable if the horse runs only abroad. Josef Váňa is a vocal opponent of the levy, and has many horses that are not registered or raced in the Czech Republic. In my opinion, the levy is against the spirit of the single market and is therefore deplorable. An owner who wants to run an imported horse in the Czech Republic, but is unwilling to pay the levy, has the option of having the horse trained in Slovakia!

The Luka and Váňa yards are the biggest in the Czech Republic, and are nowadays fully set up for year-round racing abroad. Early mornings are nothing unusual in the world of horseracing. However, sending horses out before dawn so frequently to such distant locations, and getting them back after dark several times a week, in addition to all the feeding, caring and training, requires good facilities, advanced management skills, and a staff of dedicated and reliable professionals. Not least of the assets of both Luka and Váňa are their wives, who are key team members. In Váňa’s case, his son, Josef junior, is also invaluable - a top jockey, a speaker of Italian and English, and quite simply a worthy bearer of the most famous name in Czech horseracing. Luka has had two successive fabulously successful years in France, and it would be hard for him to do even better in 2018. Váňa, however, has a very powerful stable of horses. All being equal, he will be a mighty force in Italy again, and in the Velka Pardubicka. No doubt, he will have some good prospects for the Czech Derby, too.

I found some time at the end of December and the beginning of January not only to write a newsletter but also to translate some articles that I hoped readers might find interesting. I now have some more articles that I would like to share with you. Martin Cáp, who writes with insight and with love about major racing events in Central Europe, wrote a notable article about the revival of racing at Freudenau racourse in Vienna. The raceday was in September, but I have only just spotted the article. It includes some fine photographs by Václav Volf, so I will give you a link, if only to enjoy the photos.http://derbyzapisnik.martin-cap.cz/2017/09/fotoblog-vv-freudenau-po-letech-ozila.html. Martin’s prose deserves much better than google translate, so I will try to make time to translate the article. Another article of interest was by Petr Málik, on the Galopp Reporter web pages. Petr likes gathering, collating and processsing figures, and his article gives the number of races run at each of the Czech racecourses since, I think, 1945. It is in two parts, http://www.galopp-reporter.cz/aktuality/ceske-povalecne-dostihy-i-dil and http://www.galopp-reporter.cz/aktuality/ceske-povalecne-dostihy-ii-dil, and google translate will have to do, if you want to delve deep into the facts and figures. My idea is to rewrite the text in a much shortened version, and, how shall I put it politely, sort the wheat from the chaff. There is also an interview by Jana Šejnohová in Dostihový svět about Lenka Helmecká, a recent graduate of the school for apprentices in Velká Chuchle, who is now working for Mick Channon in the UK and is hoping to get some rides.

It was good to see Martin Pennington again on his recent visit to Prague. We visited the O2 arena and saw Sparta lose a hockey match against Kometa Brno, and then we went on to Rocky O’Reilly’s and watched Arsenal lose at Swansea. Oh, Petr Čech!