July 2018 newsletter

As usual in Czech racing, the end of June marks the turning point between spring racing and summer racing. The second of the four qualification races for the 2018 Velka Pardubicka was run on June 23rd, and the following day was Czech Derby day.

For July and most of August, Pardubice racecourse and Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse take a break from racing. Karlovy Vary and Most will put on some interesting meetings – the Czech Oaks will be run at Karlovy Vary on Sunday, July 21st, and the Velká Mostecká steeplechase will be at Most on Saturday, August 25th. Pardubice has decided not to have a meeting at the end of July this year – the July meetings held in the last two or three years have not been a success. The next meeting at Pardubice is on Saturday, August 18th, and will feature the third Velka Pardubicka qualification race.

Up-country racing in July and August is generally in decline. During the last decade, racing at Albertovec, Radslavice, Benešov and Tochovice has closed down, though not necessarily for ever. The raceday at Netolice has been moved to September 1st this year. More and more owners and trainers are not sure about running their horses on hot summer afternoons, on narrow 1 200-metre circuits with tight bends, hard ground and dubious turf. They may decide that it is a good time to give their horses a rest, or to send them to run abroad. No doubt, plenty of Czech-trained horses will run in France, Italy and Germany in July and August, and the Slovak Derby meeting at Bratislava on Sunday, July 15th will also draw a lot of good-quality Czech-trained runners. Nine runners in the Czech Derby are entered for the Slovak Derby, plus Mount Q, which was below the line for our Derby. 

The Czech Derby produced a fairly rough race on both bends. At the first bend, the pacemaker, Golden Alighieri, caused some confusion by not wanting to turn, and on the last bend there was a lot of jockeying for a good position, with the winner, Blessed Kiss coming round the outside and second-placed Poldi’s Liebling getting quite a good run on the inside. Blessed Kiss then cut inside in the finishing straight, but she was well enough ahead not to have spoiled the chances of any of the beaten horses.

Blessed Kiss is trained at Velká Chuchle racecourse, but this was her first run at her home racecourse. She is trained by Igor Endaltsev and is owned by Yerbol Balzhasrkinov, whose name I must practice pronouncing and spelling. I think it is a Kazakh name. Igor Endaltsev has been training at Velká Chuchle for three years. His owners are from Russia and the former Soviet Union. Most of his horses are registered to run only abroad. That means that the EUR 1 000 ‘reregistration fee’ for imported horses has not been paid. This totally unexpected Derby win was a very big day for Igor Endaltsev. However, Blessed Kiss appeared to win our Derby really well. She will run in the Slovak Derby if she is OK, and German-trained Derby runner-up Poldi’s Liebling is also an intended runner in the Slovak Derby.

The appearance of a Russian trainer with owners from Russia and Kazakhstan is nothing new here. A number of very good horses have been trained in the Czech Republic over a period of more than twenty years by Russian trainer Arslangirej Šavujev, for Russian and Kazakh owners. Darsalam and Shamalgan, both owned by Ardak Amirkulov, were trained here for most of their racing careers, and are the best Czech-trained horses in modern times. In addition, several top-class horses owned by Ramzan Kadyrov spent periods with Šavujev, won races while trained by him, and are now standing as stallions here (Méandre, Mikhail Glinka, Dux Scholar).

Kazakh jockey Bauyrzhan Murzabayev spent seasons 2012 to 2016 in the Czech Republic with Arslangirej Šavujev, rapidly establishing himself as our best jockey and winning our championship four times. With his good mastery of Czech language and his modesty, and of course with his skills as a jockey, the Czech racing community is proud to claim Bauyrzhan as one of our own. We are pleased that he is doing well in Germany, and that he takes every opportunity to ride here and at Bratislava.

Bauyrzhan was to have ridden Poldi’s Liebling in the Derby for German trainer Andreas Wöhler, for whom he now works. However, Bauyrzhan was serving a suspension, and the ride went to Eddy Hardouin. Bauyrzhan nevertheless made the journey to Prague, and presumably made a major contribution behind the scenes. Poldi’s jockey will have been advised by him. In addition, the winning jockey, Wladimir Panov, and winning trainer, Igor Endaltsev, had the benefit of his Russian-language advice. I understand that Wladimir Panov, a Russian jockey who has been based in Germany for many years, has been helping Bauyrzhan Murzabayev to settle in Germany and to learn to ride the German racecourses.

Ange Guardian won the Velka Pardubicka qualification race handily, ridden by Jan Kratochvíl, who said the horse is a good prospect, but that he still reckons with No Time To Lose in the big race at Pardubice on October 14th. It was good to see Hegnus finish second, returning after a year off the track. Now trained by Radek Holčák, Hegnus will be a contender for the VP, if he remains sound. Third-placed Ter Mill ran another honest race. He is not fast enough to have a real chance of winning the Velka, but this front-running grey has become one of those tough long-term triers that every fan of steeplechasing admires.

The number of Czech-trained runners abroad continues to escalate. Currently, the Jockey Club website indicates that 69 Czech-trained horses are entered for races abroad to be run within the next 10 days http://www.dostihyjc.cz/aviza.php. These are mainly horses that run in high-category races. More and more trainers are giving it a try. On June 10th, Czech-trained horses ran abroad at seven different racecourses: Lyon-Parilly, Longchamp and Wissembourg, in France; Milano and Merano, in Italy; Wroclaw, in Poland; and Berlin-Hoppegarten, in Germany.

Finally, Pardubice racecourse has been making commendable efforts by to make steeplechasing less dangerous for the horses. I am afraid that jumps racing is intrinsically dangerous, and no amount of improvements to the course will eliminate all the present dangers and prevent the appearance of future dangers. However, racecourse manager Martin Korba’s efforts to support the use of leg guards seems to be a good thing. I would like to know more about leg guards for racehorses. I am told that they can protect the legs of the horse not only from bruising if they hit a fence, but also from stab wounds from a natural fence, from blows when another racehorse runs into him from behind or from the side, or when the horse kicks its own legs. Leg guards may even reduce the danger of leg strains. I assume that well-fitting lightweight leg guards can protect racehorses without reducing their performance, and the decision to promote their use by giving them as a prize for winners of certain races at Pardubice is a positive move. Should they even be required for all horses in jumps racing?

Until now, I have loyally given preference to horseracing over the World Cup. A win for Columbia against England on Tuesday would strengthen my resolve to be at the meeting at Světlá Hora next Saturday. Have a good month of July!

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There are two or three things that I forgot to include in the July newsletter. Firstly, I normally comment on the weather and matters related to it. Secondly, I had intended to comment on the football World Cup and its impact on Czech racing.

 

June 2018 was generally a mild month. It began with heavy rains, after the very hot and dry month of May, and the month also ended with some rains. There were sporadic hailstorms, but generally it was a month of sensible weather. In particular, the weekend with the VP qualification race at Pardubice and Derby day at Velká Chuchle was mild and there was good ground – a pleasant change after the very hot end-of-June weather in recent years. Readers may be interested to know that the spring 2018 conditions have been pretty good for Czech-grown cherries!

 

In June 2016, we moved our Derby day meeting onto a Thursday evening, because the sponsor wanted the race to be shown live on Czech TV. This year, fortunately or otherwise, neither the Czech Republic nor Slovakia qualified for the World Cup, and it was possible to run the Derby at 4.50 p.m. on a Sunday, and slip it into a fifteen-minute slot when the Japan and Senegal teams were taking their half-time cup of tea. Five days later, Czech television found a thirty-minute slot to show a summary of the races on Derby day. Czech racing cannot compete with European Nations Cup and World Cup matches on public television – but it has surprised me that no television screen at the various racecourses has shown any World Cup football on TV. We missed the opportunity on Derby day to watch England reserves throw the match against Belgium reserves. Sad! – as Donald Trump might tweet.

 

By the way, the new sponsor for the Czech Derby was CPI PG, the company of Radovan Vítek, the new owner of Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse. I was invited a couple of weeks ago to a press conference about plans to develop the racecourse. ‘Plans’ is probably not the right word. ‘Ideas’ would be more appropriate. It was in fact reassuring to hear that CPI PG are not in a hurry to get started with big changes, but are taking their time to decide what is best for CPI PG, and, perhaps, for Czech horseracing. I will make time to report on the press conference on this website soon.