Congratulations to the team of enthusiasts who organized the EJC meeting at Chuchle Arena Prague, which is now the official name of Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse. Many thanks also to the generous sponsors, and, of course, to the 10 international jockeys who made their way to Prague, and to the owners and trainers who sent good numbers of horses to run in the races. EJC day was blessed with a lovely sunny late September afternoon.

An international jockeys day in Prague is not an easy thing to arrange, even for a team that had organized 6 previous EJC days. The organizers dealt with a lot of problems pretty successfully. Organizing anything has been difficult in 2021 because of the unpredictable pandemic. Getting to Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse was also very problematic. The mainline railway station right across the road from the racecourse was closed, and a vast one-way road system on Radotin road (which runs between the railway line and the racecourse) made it difficult for drivers to get to the racecourse car park. Users of city bus no. 244, which normally stops at the entrance to the racecourse, had a medium-length walk to and from the temporary racecourse bus stop.

Velká Chuchle railway station, which is a great asset to the racecourse, is being moved 200 metres, and the idea seems to be that it will become a Park and Drive station, where people arriving from the south can join the Prague integrated public transport system. The new railway station is due to open early in 2022.

The favourites in each of the 4 major EJC races were beaten. The top race for 2-y-os went to a filly, Porcinella, trained by Helena Vocásková and ridden by Italian jockey Antonio Fresu. The favourite, Archangelsk, ridden by Gerald Mossé, made all the running, but was caught close to the end of the race.

The EJC Million, over 1400 metres, went to an outsider, Rabbit Breath, ridden by Slovak jockey Jaroslav Línek, with Jir Sun, ridden by Sybille Vogt, representing Switzerland, in second place.

Everybody had been looking forward to the return to Velká Chuchle of 7-year-old Nagano Gold, which has been the best Czech-trained horse in the last four years. Nagano Gold had last run in the Czech Republic when he won the St Leger four years ago. However, it was not Nagano Gold’s day in the EJC Long, over 2 400 metres, and he finished third behind Wellunca. Wellunca, ridden by Antonio Fresu, beat Nagano Gold’s pacemaker, Premier Lion, ridden by Arie de Vries, representing the Netherlands, by a short head.

The EJC Middle, over 1 800 metres, produced the most surprising result of all. Outsider Australien, trained by jumps trainer Stanislav Popelka and ridden by Swedish jockey Per-Anders Graberg, won from the favourite, Billabong Cat, ridden by French jockey Eddy Hardouin. I had been hoping that Billabong Cat would win, as he is owned by EJC main sponsor LERAM, and is trained by Václav Luka, who has been a key element in the organization of all seven EJC meetings. A win in this race would have been a fit reward for Milan Kříž, director of LERAM, and for Václav Luka.

One of the problems with EJC day is that is usually possible to persuade owners to enter sufficient numbers of horses for the major races, but only if the entries include horses that are strictly speaking not good enough. This year, legendary Greek jockey Panagiotis Dimitsanis, drew the short straw. In each of his four races, everything seemed to have been done perfectly until his horses entered the finishing straight. However, each of them had had enough at that point in the race, and there was nothing more that Dimitsanis could do with them.

Another problem was that the racecourse had been very heavily watered in the week before EJC day – against the instructions of the EJC organizers. Although the official going was given as 3.8 (good), the track was quite muddy in places by the end of the afternoon (after 9 races). The strange ground may have contributed to the strange results of the races.  

The winner of the EJC competition was Antonio FRESU, representing Italy. Second place went to Adrie de VRIES, representing the Netherlands, though he does his riding in Germany. Third place went to Swedish jockey Per-Anders GRABERG, who has competed in 6 of the 7 EJC competitions. Despite drawing moderate horses, Graberg had a well-deserved successful day. Sybille Vogt, representing Switzerland, took fourth place. She is the first woman to have ridden on EJC day. Sybille Vogt drew attention to herself by winning the male-v-female international jockey challenge the day before the Saudi Cup in Riyadh in February 2020, and she now gets a lot of respect from top trainers in Germany.

The organizers of the event have again worked hard and skilfully to give us a raceday that attracts positive international attention to Czech horseracing.