December 2012 newsletter

November 2012 has been a comparatively mild month in the Czech Republic. Here in Prague, we have scarcely had any frost, though the forecast predicts a cold spell with snow to begin in the first weekend in December. In fact, as I write to you on November 29th, there is snow in the mountains of west and north Bohemia.


 The last race meeting of our 2012 season, at Prague Velka Chuchle on October 28th, was cancelled because of a snowbound/waterlogged course after a snowstorm on the previous day. Velka Chuchle decided not to try to hold the meeting on the following weekend, although the weather forecast was for mild weather and, in retrospect, it can be said that the meeting could have been held in quite good conditions.


 Turf Praha, organizers of racing at Velka Chuchle, lost some money as a result of the original cancellation, and was afraid of the possibility of a second cancellation. I suppose a meeting on a November afternoon is not an exciting or potentially profitable prospect for the organizers. Nevertheless, owners and trainers had had their horses ready for a race, and the main race on the final day of the season, the President of the Republic’s Prize, is nowadays a fitting way to end the season. It was disappointing to lose this race day mainly because it was not of any particular interest to Turf Praha, a.s., while owners, trainers, jockeys and racegoers would have been happy to turn out.


In the course of the season, we thus lost 4 days, or about 6% of our programme (the meeting at Svetla Hora was lost because of a fire, and the two-day meeting at Mimon because the grandstand was plundered by ‘scrap’ metal thieves). The non-essential cancellation of the final day seemed to me to show wrong priorities. In entertainment, the principle should be that ‘the show must go on’, and I thought the president of the Jockey Club might have pointed this out to Turf Praha. Ideally, there should be a contingency fund ready to support race days at the beginning of November and in April. I guess any contingency funds our Jockey Club may have had will already have been claimed long ago for other emergencies.   


 An article by Petr Guth on the Czech language Dostihovy Svet website asks why we do not race here in November, on ground that tends to be soft, whereas we do not hesitate to race on rock hard ground in midsummer. It is partly tradition.  Another important consideration is that there is virtually no off-course betting on Czech racing, and therefore no betting industry that wants meetings in November for punters to gamble on. As Petr points out, Dresden racecourse, which is not far away and has a similar climate to Prague Velka Chuchle, holds a meeting at the end of November. Another consideration that he points out is the lack of an all-weather racing trackin the Czech Republic, and of all-weather training tracks.


 Our 5-month winter break has begun, but several of our horses have been abroad to race. Most notably, Velka Pardubicka winner Orphee des Blins made her way to Cheltenham. She did not run badly, but she ended up well beaten by Uncle Junior, which she had been beaten out of sight in the VP. Perhaps the race was too long for her, and perhaps the going was too soft - but she had won over a similar distance and on similar ground at Pardubice. Who can tell? Racehorses are a mystery, and Orphee des Blins will be 11 years old before we can learn whether she is better over two miles on hard ground, or over four miles on soft ground. All we can be sure of is that, on her day, in October 2012, she was a fine winner of the Velka Pardubicka.


 Some of our horses are now based for part of the winter at Roma Cappanelle racecourse. Josef Vana complained that his horse could not prepare properly because he was not allowed put him over the local fences. Like Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger, Josef Vana notices plenty of injustices and does not suffer them in silence. Like Ferguson and Wenger, he feels entitled to advantages and is aggrieved on those few occasions when a decision goes against him. However, Vana is a much more attractive personality than Sir Alex or Arsene. He has earned a very special position as a national hero which, as far as I am concerned, entitles him to some special treatment. 


 Jaroslav Myska has been taking a more relaxed view, enjoying the change of scene, enjoying preparing his horses in the mild November weather in Rome, and just hoping the horses that Stepanka Sedlackova and he have taken to Italy will pick up a bit of prizemoney.


Several trainers have taken advantage of the mild weather, and have kept some horses in training. Since the end of our season, Czech-trained horses have run at Treviso, Bratislava, Milano, Halle, Paris St Cloud, Budapest, Ebreichsdorf, Krefeld, Grosseto, Cheltenham, Frankfurt, Pisa, Dresden and Roma Cappanelle. Radek Holcak's horses finally ran into form after the end of our season!


Josef Bartos has left the Vana stables at Chyse, near Karlovy Vary. He intends to ride in Italy and the Czech Republic. In Italy, he will be second jockey for the predominant Italian jumps trainer, Paolo Favero. In this role he seems to be gradually taking over from Josef Vana jnr, who is returning to Chyse to take Bartos's place and work with his father. Josef Bartos will be working as assistant trainer to his own father at Nebuzely, which I htink is north-east of Melnik. He and is hoping to be able to make the yard into a leading institution. It will be no surprise if Josef Bartos is able to fulfill this ambition. I am not sure who he will be riding for in the Czech Republic next season, but he will surely not be short of offers.


 There are three Czech jockeys riding abroad that we are particualrly proud of. Vaclav Janacek is now established as the top jockey in Spain, and Filip Minarik is one of the best in Germany. Eliska Kubinova, who never rode a winner as an apprentice here, rode winner after winning in Oregon last winter, and is now riding successfully in California.


 Most readers live in countries where the racing industry, in one form or another, runs for 52 weeks of the year. Here, we have a 22-week winter break. It would be nice to think that we will use these winter months to refresh and regenerate ourselves, and to be ready for better things when April 2013 and the new Czech horseracing season come around.