Nagano Gold is expected to run at Royal Ascot

Following Subway Dancer’s third place in the Group I Champion Stakes at Ascot in October 2018, another Czech-trained runner is being prepared to run at Ascot – this time at the royal meeting. Trainer Václav Luka, who has achieved a lot of success in France in the last four years, is preparing to send Nagano Gold, which is probably the best horse in his training centre. Nagano Gold won the Czech St Leger in 2017 and a couple of Listed races at Longchamp, in 2018 and 2019. The horse is entered for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He could be a serious contender at Ascot.

According to an interview that Dostihový svět editor Petr Guth conducted with Václav Luka, preparations for Nagano Gold to run in the Royal Ascot meeting are in full flow. “People from Ascot have already been here for the doping test sample, and everything is going ahead according to plan.” Luka will probably not be going to Ascot in person: “It’s the same time as the Czech Derby. It looks as if I’ll be in charge of the horses here, and my wife, Martina (photo), will go, and she will surely represent our training centre better than I could,” says Václav Luka.