I enjoyed watching the last day of the Czech horseracing season on television. A well-devised programme of races attracted good fields for the races, on the flat and over fences, and a bright afternoon attracted a good crowd to Slušovice, a part of the country that is starved of good quality racing. We television viewers were well served by the television team, whose photographers did their usual fine job. Martin Cáp and Libor Šimůnek were well-informed presenters, and Marek Svačina read the races.

In October 2018, there were some special achievements. David Liška had shown himself as an oustanding apprentice rider in the autumn of 2017 and in the first two months of the 2018 season. By the end of May, he seemed sure to be our champion jockey on the flat this year, and to become the youngest Czech rider ever to reach 50 winners and earn his title as a “jockey”.

 Diane Hill and James Fry again sponsored and organized a Best Turned Out competition for each race on VP day, assisted by Pavel Jankovič. Their guest-of-honour for the 128th running of the Velka Pardubicka with Česká pojišt'ovna was Peter Gehm.

Sunny weather and exciting racing attracted 35 000 people to Pardubice over the weekend

http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/cs/node/8273, click on "zde", which means "here"

Dostihový svět editor Petr Guth is a first-class horse-racing photographer. To see his photographs of the 2018 Velka Pardubicka, which are up to his usual standard, click on to the reference above, and on to "zde".

You will also be able to find photographs by Petr and others that record the Czech 2018 racing season, and previous seasons.

After the 2018 Velka Pardubicka, Jan Faltejsek is a five-time winner of the race that makes the Czech Republic hold its breath. This year’s race had its sad moments and its happy moments, and was won by a horse carrying the colours of Dr.

The Velka Pardbicka is run at level weights. All horses will carry 70 kg, with the exception of the one mare in the field, Delight My Fire, which will carry 68 kg. For your interest only, the official handicap ratings for the 21 runners in the Velka Pardubicka are as follows:

The lengthy works on the bridge over the railway lines near Pardubice main station have finally been completed, but have done nothing to improve access by road to Pardubice racecourse, which has always been lamentable on VP day. It has also done nothing to improve access on foot, either.

Theophilos, one of the declared runners trained by Josef Váňa, is a non-runner in the Velka Pardubicka. It is a pity - the horse is owned by a large syndicate of racing fans, and was to have been ridden by young Patrick Boekhout, for whom this would have been agood opportunity. 

The Pardubice weather forecast for the next week is dry and with clear skies. I understand that the course is being watered to prevent the race being run on firm or hard ground. However, the course for the VP is well over 4 miles long, and no part of it is repeated. Watering such a large area is no easy task, though at least it is no longer a task being taken on - metaphorically speaking - by two men fighting over a single watering can.