At a breakfast meeting on September 18th at the Hotel Mamaison, which is on the opposite end of the bridge, facing the Dancing House, the press was informed about arrangements for European Jockeys’ Cup day. EJC day is Saturday, September 28^th, at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse.

There will be four major races, headed by the EJC Million, Graded 3, over 1400 metres. This carries prizemoney of CZK 260 000 (EUR 100 000), the biggest prize of the year for a flat race in Central Europe. The other three major races are the EJC Middle, Listed, over 1800 metres, with prizemoney of CZK 750 000 (EUR 30 000), the EJC Long, Listed, over 2400 metres, with prizemoney of CZK 750 000 (EUR 30 000), and the EJC Gerscha Memorial, for 2-y-os, Listed, over 1400 metres, with prizemoney of CZK 750 000 (EUR 30 000). In addition, there will be four ‘ordinary’ Category III and Category IV races, and a race for Celebrities.

This will be the fifth annual EJC day, which features a competition among jockeys from all over Europe. The big news is that Christophe Soumillon has told trainer Václav Luka that he will ride on EJC day. [Soumillon rode Nagano Gold into second place for Václav Luka in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot this year. However, he is not able to ride the same horse in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on October 5^th.]

Václav Luka explained to us that he is very hopeful that Christophe Soumillon will be able to come to Prague. However, when top owners and top trainers want a top jockey to ride for them, even at the last moment, he may not be in a position to say that he would prefer to take his planned nice trip to beautiful Prague!

The organisers of EJC day have a difficult task finding sponsors, horses and jockeys, and trying to ensure that every international jockey gets a reasonable number of reasonable rides. Exactly how it will all be arranged cannot be decided until the declarations to run are published, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 24^th, and even then the organisers will be very relieved when all the jockeys, and their suitcases, arrive as arranged, in good order. The organisers have done a brilliant job on the previous four EJC days, providing the best and most memorable days of flat racing in each of the last four seasons in the Czech Republic.

On the basis of the entries, it seems reasonable to hope that there will be at least 10 runners, maybe even 12 runners,  in each of the four major races, and probably in at least one of the other races. It would then be possible for each of 12 jockeys to have rides in any five out of six races. Or something like that! My bet is that the organisers will again find a good way to organise the competition – however, it would of course be impossible to ensure that each jockey gets equally good rides. We have been invited next Wednesday to witness the draw for each of the races.

EJC is a highly-recommended afternoon of flat racing.