According to a press release isssued by Dostihovy spolek, which appears on the web site of the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, the flat race meeting that is usually held on the Saturday, one day before the Velka Pardubicka, will be held this year on the Friday (October 10th). The bloodstock sale will be held on the Saturday (October 11th), and the Velka Pardubicka will be held, as announced, on October 12th. 

Extremely mild winter weather continued until the last third of January, but now we have sharp night frosts, dangerous ice conditions on the roads and sidewalks, and at last some good conditions for skiing, which is a much loved sport here, in its downhill form and also cross-country. Velka Chuchle and Pardubice racecourses are converted into skiing facilities for as long as the weather conditions are suitable.

Daine Hill's filly Volcanic Dust won at Wolverhampton on Monday, January 13th. She will run again at Lingfield on Friday, January 24th.

According to an interview by Petr Guth with Hana Kabelková, trainer of Trezor, the gelding has recovered well from his operation last autumn, after he suffered a leg injury in the Velka Pardubicka. He is about to go back into training. Although he has won all 4 VP qualification races that he has contested in the last two seasons, Trezor has disappointed in each of his three runs in the Velka Pardubicka itself.

Vaclav Luka, president of the Czech Jockey Club since 1997, did not stand for re-election this year. His place has been taken by Aleša Jakub.

Congratulations to Miloslav Vlcek on his fine article about the golden era of Czech racehorse breeding, in the years after Aristide Baltazzi set up the Napjedla Stud in eastern Moravia, before the first world war, The article shows the long-term influence of the major stallions that stood at Napajedla at that time. This article has already been read around the world. Miloslav Vlcek is the editor of the Fitmin website and is our leading writer on Czech and international racehorse breeding.  

 When I started thinking about this final newsletter of 2013, I decided to avoid making a review of the past year and making predictions about the future. After all, there will be six newsletters in the five-month winter period between the end of the 2013 Czech horseracing season and the beginning of the 2014 season. During this period, there is generally not much happening. I need to be careful not to concentrate all the looking back into a single end-of-year newsletter.