:40 – 8^th race (040801)
128. Velká pardubická with Česká pojišťovna
Crosscountry steeplechase - stakes Listed – 6-y-o+ - 6900 metres – CZK 5 000 000 Kč

Twenty-two horses have been declared to run in the 128^th Velka Pardubicka. There will be no runners from abroad, unless we count Vajgaros, trained in Slovakia by Jaroslav Brečka, who rode Quirinus to victory in the VP in 1992. Vajgaros is an outsider, and will be ridden by Leighton Aspell.

No foreign-trained horses have been declared this year. However, there are a considerable number of foreign jockeys, and also three Czech jockeys who are based abroad.

Last year’s winning jockey, Jan Kratochvíl, has not recovered sufficiently from hand, arm and shoulder injuries that he suffered at Pardubice racecourse on September 2nd to ride No Time To Lose again this year. The ride goes to Josef Váňa junior (photo).

Josef Váňa senior, who is himself suffering from a very painful hip, has had difficulty finding riders for his four good runners. Ange Guardian, winner of two of the four VP qualification races, will be ridden by Jiří Kousek, who rode the horse to victory in one of this year’s qualification races. Zarif has in the past been ridden by our top jockey, Josef Bartoš, but this year Bartoš has been claimed by owner Lokotrans, to ride Vicody, which finished close up in the September qualification race. Zarif will be ridden by Italian jockey Raffaele Romano. Theophilos is a very nice ride for Patrick Boekhout, who has been working at the Váňa stable for two or three years, but has not yet broken through.

Only four other horses seem to have much of a chance. Tzigane du Berlais was not beaten by far in the September qualification race, and might give Jan Faltejsek his 5th win in the race. Delight My Fire finished third in VP 2017, but has disappointed this year. She will be ridden by Swedish jockey Niklas Lovén, who regularly travels all over Europe to ride Deli. Sztorm, trained by Greg Wroblewski, has won both of the top steeplechases at Wroclaw this year, the Crystal Cup and the Wielka Wroclawska. He will be ridden by Marcel Novák. If 6900 metres at Pardubice suits him as well as 5000 metres at Wroclaw, Sztorm has a good chance! Hegnus is a course specialist with a good record, and will be ridden by Marek Stromský.

Some of the others used to be top VP horses but no longer are. The rest never were and never will be. OK, Pareto (Sertash Ferhanov) is the best of the rest, and Ter Mill (Jan Odložil) and Bridgeur (Jarolave Myška) are front runners that try hard. However, each of these three riders might have deserved faster mounts. Myška is riding a horse that his wife trains.

The first race on Sunday, September 14th is at 11.30 a.m. The Velka Pardubicka is the last of eight crosscountry steeplechases on the card, and will be run at 4.40 p.m.  

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Photo by Petr Guth