In spite of the Indian summer conditions in the Czech Republic, the coming weekend will mark more or less the end of our horseracing season, with only a single meeting to be run in November (at Kolesa, on Saturday November 9th).

The three meetings this weekend will be at Pardubice, on Saturday; at Prague Velka Chuchle, on Sunday, and at Slusovice on Monday, which is a state holiday. Please note that the first race at each of these meetings will be at midday.

Velka Pardubicka day - Best Turned Out horses

(translation of an article in the Czech language pages of Dostihovy Svet, written by Kateřina Jupová) 

Although only 6 of the 20 runners got round in the 2013 Velka Pardubicka can, there can be no doubt that the best horse won the race, nor that several of the non-finishers would have finished between Orphee des Blins and second-placed Nikas, if misfortune had not befallen them.

"I’ve learnt that the time to celebrate is after the race"

For the second year in succession, Orphee des Blins won the Velka Pardubicka brilliantly and very easily. As far as she was concerned, the race went very much the way it went 12 months earlier. Again, she went straight into the lead, and jumped every fence perfectly, again with the exception of the Irish Bank, where she was a bit hesitant.

Shalimar Fromentro had a minor mishap on the course at Pardubice, losing a plate when trying out the ploughed fields. It is hoped that the vet will pass him fit to run in the Velka Pardubicka.

There was steady rain in Pardubice on Friday evening, and it began to rain again on Saturday evening. On Saturday afternoon, the going on the crosscountry course was good/good to soft. The ploughed fields appeared not to be deep.

It has been clear for several years that the number of Czech jumps jockeys has been dwindling. This has led to a growing problem of finding a good race rider, or any rider at all. Another problem, no less acute, is the problem of finding a work rider who is able to teach horses to jump effectively. Poorly-schooled and almost unschooled novices are a common sight. Only a few yards consistently turn out well-prepared young jumpers. Plenty of smaller trainers are poorly equipped and poorly staffed for this job.

Betino, Czech racing’s monopoly bookmaker, has not yet changed its odds substantially. What changes have been made have been slight shortenings of their odds. This presumably reflects some medium-size bets on certain horses. Orphee des Blins remains the 6 to 4 favourite, with Trezor at 5 to 2. Tiumen has come in slightly to 3 to 1, and both Klaus and Budapest are currently at 9 to 1.