Jaroslav Myška and Štěpánka

It really is not getting any easier to write these monthly newsletters. I have not been racing this year, as my wife and I are in the over 70s age group (without a pre-existing condition). Neither of us is personally awfully scared of catching the virus – but neither of us wants our partner to be infected.

There was some good rain in Pardubice on the day before the last of the four qualification races for VP2020. The race was run on a cool day, and the going was 3.2 (good to firm). In this exceptional year, all four qualification races were run in July and August. There were hot, dry spells in these months in Pardubice, as usual.

Josef Váňa senior solves jockey problems for Pardubice and Most this weekend

The Jockey Club of the Czech Republic has set up a charitable foundation

The European Jockeys’ Cup has been held each year since 2015 at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse.

The following press release was issued by the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic on 31 July 2020

The Czech Oaks, run at Karlovy Vary on Sunday, August 9^th, was won by Irish-bred Zariyannka, in a well fought with German-trained Vivienne Wells.

The weather the Czech Republic was mainly not too hot and not too dry in July 2020, until the second half of the month. Then there was a dry spell, which got quite hot as the end of the month approached. The number of local fires on farmland and on forest land, and also the number of thunderstorms leading to local floods up in the hills, began to increase, as is usual when there is a hot spell here, accompanied by thunderstorms, in the later part of the summer.