Hours after the local press reported that the liquidator of Merano Maia Spa had made his choice between the only two offers submitted, the latest news is that there is now a new, third offer!
The organisers of events at Pardubice racecourse will not present the new name1 of the racecourse until next week, but the shape of the coming season is already clear in east Bohemia. Pardubice is preparing to present a racing calendar to the council of the Czech Jockey Club that will be supplemented by an innovation in the form of Friday afternoon racing2.
The 2012 horseracing year in Italy has ended on a rather melancholy note. This should not be a surprise, when one considers the present critical situation in the country and in the sport. The gravity of the economic situation and its impact on the racing sector are best described by just two facts: the government racing authorities reduced their subsidy by 40% this year; and payments of prize money from June 2012 onwards are still pending.
The January 2013 newsletter seems likely to be short, as there is little enough from the recent past to report on, and I do not want to waste the reader’s time with my predictions for the future. I will leave ill-informed forecasting to the multitudes of tweeters, twitterers and futurologists that the blogosphere has created!
The death of Ludvík Raimond, winning rider of the Velka Pardubicka in 1956, was announced on December 18th. He was born on December 13th, 1928 in Lazne Bohdanec, just outside Pardubice. He was introduced to riding as a child, and first rode in the Velka Pardubicka in 1951. In 1954 he won the race on Unkas. Later, he took up show jumping, and was a member of the Czechoslovak national team. As a pensioner, he took up horse breeding.
An extraordinary general meeting on December 17th of Dostihovy Spolek, organisers of events at Pardubice racecourse, approved the transfer of 22.51% of the shares in the association from Dr Martin Vokál to Bělecký mlýn s.r.o. For some time it has been known that Dr Vokal, a Czech gynaecologist working in Switzerland, wanted to sell his shares. The purchaser is a company owned by Richard Benýšek, who is according to the Czech media an associate of Petr Kellner, the "wealthiest Czech".
A full-length illustrated article, written by Petr Guth pays tribute to Josef Vana. As far as I know, this is the best and most detailed article written about Josef Vana in English language.
Soon after his winning ride in the Velka Pardubicka, Jan Faltejsek left for France, from where he subsequently set out for Cheltenham. After the ride there on Orphee des Blins, he returned to France, and he resumed spending the winter months at the training centre of Guillaume Macaire, the king of French trainers over fences. Until now he has ridden three winners for Macaire, but Faltejsek himself does not expect many more in the coming weeks.
While he was in Cheltenham in November, Greg Wroblewski was interviewed by Marcus Armytage for the Daily Telegraph. Marcus rode a horse trained by Greg 25 years ago!
Greg was also interviewed on TV by Alistair Down.
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.
