The race meeting at Prague Velká Chuchle on Easter Monday was run on a cool, sunny afternoon, on good-to-firm going. The main event, the 30^th running of the Professor Václav Michal Memorial, 3-y-o, 1 400 metres, was won by Amazing Gangster, owned by AMP Invest, trained by Greg Wroblewski (photo) and ridden by Radek Koplík. Amazing Gangster set off like lightning, and was soon 10 lengths clear. By the last 300 metres, he was just hanging on, but the other seven runners were not good enough to catch him. This race is the main trial for the Czech Two Thousand Guineas. It is hard to see Amazing Gangster prevailing over a distance of an extra 200 metres on Saturday, May 11th.

Betino continues to have no betting licence. Tipsport offered off-course betting, but it is necessary to go through an intrusive registration process to be allowed to bet with Tipsport. As I have written before, I do not consider the betting industry to be a great benefactor of the Czech nation and the Czech economy, and I generally support attempts to limit and control it.

Nevertheless, betting is for many of us an integral part of a day at the races. It might not be too difficult to find a way to arrange a tote monopoly that would provide some entertainment for racegoers, and some revenue for horseracing and for the state, without money-launderers, offshore figures and various crooks cashing in.  

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photo of trainer Greg Wroblewski, by Petr Guth