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Fifty-eight entries for the Velka Pardubicka
Fifty-eight horses are entered for the 2012 Velka Pardubicka, which will be run on Saturday, October 13th. Please note that the race will be on the Saturday, a day earlier than originally been announced. I will look more closely at the entries in due course.
Mystic Swing wins the Two Thousand Guineas
The first leg of the triple crown produced a 10-1 winner, Mystic Swing, which was followed home by Glorious Eagle and Almond Magic. The more favoured Hyacint, Betpak Dala and My Afantou finished only 5th, 6th and 8th in the 12-horse field.
Opening day of the Pardubice season held on the oval-track steeplechase course
The large number of racegoers who turned out on a lovely sunny spring afternoon for the first meeting of the season at Pardubice were welcomed by an interesting announcement that the seven planned crosscountry races would all be run on the oval-track steeplehcase course. Trainers, riders and the commission responsible for approving the safety of the course all agreed that there were three places on the cross-country course that were unsafe for racing.
French Quebec wins the Czech One Thousand Guineas
The Czech One Thousand Guineas, run at Prague Velka Chuchle on May 6th, was won by Irish-bred French Quebec, by Excellent Art out of Soul Mountain (Rock of Gibraltar) by one and a quarter lengths from Iceni Girl (Iceman) and White Angel (Dark Angel). French Quebec was held up until the last 200 metres, and won quite convincingly from the horses that had finished first and second in the 1000 Guineas trial race.
Two generations of Vanas take the limelight at Lysa
The traditional May Day meeting at Lysa attracted a large crowd on a remarkably warm and sunny spring day.
Josef Vana junior returns home to help out
Josef Vana jnr was driving through Austria on his way to the Czech Republic from Italy when he heard about his father’s accident. It had already been agreed that top Italian jumps trainer Paolo Favero would release Pepik for three months to replace the Váňa stable jockey, Josef Bartos. Young Vana has been riding as second jockey for Favero, i.e. the second best job for a jumps jockey in Italy. Bartos will be out for period of about three months convalescing from the neck operation that he had recently following his fall at Kolesa on Easter Monday.
Váňa after the operation: I’m not handing over to the boys just yet
Josef Váňa has undergone an operation in the orthopedic department in Plzeň (Pilsen, where the beer comes from) on a broken thigh bone, and is now already making plans for a full return to the saddle. Shortly after the successful operation, he confirmed that the problem had been a broken thigh bone.
Josef Váňa injured in a fall from Dancing Babe
Trainer Josef Váňa received an injury at his training centre in the open countryside on Vladař Hill. After a fall from 4-y-o Dancing Babe he was taken to the hospital in Plzeň with a broken thigh, and was to undergo an investigation at the local orthopedic clinic.
May 2012 newsletter
As I begin writing this, on April 26th, the sun is shining brightly in Prague, and the Sakura cherry blossoms are fully out for their first day. No doubt, the world as a whole is in a terrible mess, and times are certainly hard in Czech horse racing, but summer is coming and there are plenty of blessings that we might also be counting.
Josef Vana breaks a thigh
According to the novinky.cz website, http://www.novinky.cz/krimi/265943-zokej-vana-se-zranil-pri-padu-z-kone.html, Josef Vana snr. suffered a broken thigh in the morning of April 26th.