Delight My Fire, trained by Radim Bodlák and ridden by Niklas Lovén, was beaten into eighth place in her season-opening outing in the Crystal Cup race at Fontainebleu on April 4th. She finished 35 lengths behind the winner, Virtus d'Estruval, trained by Guillaume Macaire and ridden by James Reaveley. Virtus d'Estruval was to have run in the 2017 Velka Pardubicka, but was withdrawn from the race when engaged jockey Jan Faltejsek was unable to ride due to severe back pains, and no replacement jockey satisfactory to the trainer was available to replace him.