A Greek jockey and a Cypriot jockey ride here on Saturday. What are their chances?

The draw for starting gates and for the allocation of jockeys for European Jockeys’ Cup day (Saturday, September 22) were made today at the Clarion Old Town Hotel in Prague. The list of horses and jockeys, and the starting box numbers, can be found on http://www.dostihyjc.cz/startky.php – click on to 22.9 Praha, on the left.

In the races over 1 600 metres and more, especially when there are not many runners, the gate number is not very significant. However, in the three races over 1 400 metres, a low draw (on the inside) is desirable, as the bend comes fairly soon after the beginning of the race. In the big race, the Leram EJC Million, there are 16 runners, and the jockeys on the outside will not have an easy task. In fact, the task will not be straightforward for any of the jockeys trying to get their horse into the ideal position. As it happens, the three well-favoured foreign horses, including Gordon Lord Byron, got the least-favoured gates, numbers 14 – 16. I witnessed the draw, and can assure all concerned that the draw was correctly done!

All jockeys have rides in at least four of the seven EJC races, and a draw was made to decide which three jockeys will have a fifth ride.

For the cheerleaders of the Greek and Cypriot jockeys, Panagiotis Dimitsanis and Konstantinos Kapodistrias, here are some comments on their rides on Saturday.

1.30     Legends’ race, all horses will be ridden by Czech trainers (unfortunately, and to his own considerable disappointment, Josef Váňa is not able to ride in this race)

2.00     Neither jockey has a ride

2.30     Dimitsanos rides Née l’Amour, and Kapodistrias rides Dodybud. This is a Category III handicap race, and all have a more or less equal chance. Both Née l’Amour and Dodybud are very experienced. In fact, they are quite old - the second-oldest and the oldest of the seven runners. For the EJC competition, there are points for the riders of the first five finishers. Either Dimitsanos or Kapodistrias, or both, could collect some points from their first race of the afternoon.

3.00     Kapodistrias rides Markos. Markos will be one of the outsiders in a 6-horse race – but the jockey can collect some points by finishing in the first 5 places.

3.45     Neither of the jockeys has a ride in this race.

4.30     This is the EJC Leram Million, with prizemoney of CZK 2 600 000, the biggest prize for a flat race in central Europe in 2018. There are 16 runners in the race, over a distance of 1 400 metres, and each of the jockeys in the EJC competition has a ride in this race. Dimitsanos has a nice ride in this big race, on Beau Massagot, owned by Leram, the sponsor of the race and trained by Václav Luka, our top trainer. The most favoured horses all have bad draws (high numbers), and Beau Massagot, on his best form, has a chance. Kapodistrias rides Rabbit Havana, which is a big outsider.

5.10     Dimitsanos rides Kihnu, a 3-year-old filly that won a Category II race at Bratislava three weeks ago. However, this race will be against stronger opposition, and Kihnu will do well to finish in the first four or five.

5.50     This is a Category IV race, for quite lowly-rated horses. Very likely the EJC competition will be decided in this race, which has 12 runners. Dimitsanos will be on Nelissa, which has not yet achieved much, to be honest – but neither have the other horses. Her best result was in her most recent race, two weeks ago. Nelissa has the same owner as Last Opera Song, on which Dimitsanis won this race last year in EJC 2017. Last Opera Song runs in the race again this year, but with a different jockey. Konstantinos Kapodistrias will ride Aeracura, which has also been a disappointment to her owner and trainer until now. Earlier this year, they had had quite high hopes for this filly. It sometimes happens that 3-year-old fillies improve in the autumn. If this happens, either Aerocura or Nelissa might get a good result.  

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Panagiotis Dimitsanos has a nice ride in the big race, and his other three rides are OK. Konstantinos Kapodistrias will ride an outsider in the big race, and in the other races his horses might get a place in the first five. Neither of these jockeys is among the favourites to win the EJC competition, but anything can happen, and both jockeys are certainly good enough to take any chance that they get. Everyone in Czech horseracing is very happy that they will participate in our big raceday on Saturday.

Panagiotis Dimitsanos, the long-term top jockey in Greece, made a very good impression last year, both as a jockey and as a horseracing diplomat. Konstantinos Kapodistrias, who still counts as a young jockey and has already won the jockeys’ championship in his own country several times, is making his first visit to Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse.

Czech racing has a 5-month winter break here, beginning early in November. Both in Greece and in Cyprus, the horseracing season continues through the winter (and there is a midsummer break). Spending the winter working either in Greece or in Cyprus would be a very interesting prospect for our riders and other horseracing professionals. I do not think it is an opportunity that any Czech rider has taken up in the past.