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August 2010 newsletter
The custom of beginning this newsletter with a retrospective weather report has been fully justified this year. First, we had an extraordinarily long and cold winter, then in April and May there was quite severe flooding, mainly on mountain streams in the east, the north and the south, and then a period of extraordinarily hot and humid weather in July. That was followed by more local thunderstorms and flooding.
Shamal Sally wins the Oaks, Valldemoso wins at Albertovec
Big meeting at Most
The biggest out-of-town summer meeting in the summer months was on July 24th at Most. The main race was the Czech Oaks, which was won very convincingly by Slovak-owned, Slovak-trained Shamal Sally. American-bred Shamal Sally is by E Dubai, is co-owned by OMS and Miko Racing (co-owner of Overdose), trained by Zuzana Kubovicova and was ridden by Zdone Smida. The Category I sprint went to Another True Story, owned by Yoko, trained by Zdeno Koplik and ridden by Raek Koplik.
Overdose wins at Bratislava, but not in style
Those, including myself, who had looked forward to a series of outstanding performances by all the big stars of Central European flat racing at Bratislava on July 18th were disappointed.
Fantastic Derby day on Sunday at Bratislava
Slovak Derby Day at Bratislava on Sunday July 18th offers the prospect of the best day of racing ever to be held in Central Europe.
In the Derby, 16-year-old Slovak girl Maria Magdalena Rossak will again ride Talgado, on which she sensationally won the Czech Derby. Talgado was an impressive winner at Prague Velka Chuchle, and must have a good chance of winning again at Bratislava. The best of the other horses may be Tutanhamon, unlucky not to win the Hungarian Derby, and Slovak-trained Bribon and Innovator.
July 2010 newsletter
In these newsletters, I normally write about enthusiasts who keep Czech racing going, against the odds, and the July newsletter, in particular, normally takes up this theme. Our ‘summer season’ is now beginning, when racing closes down at the headquarters (Prague Velka Chuchle for flat racing, and Pardubice for steeplechasing). For two months, there is racing only at the up-country courses.
Royal Mougins still supreme
Royal Mougins, owned by Jiri Charvat, trained by Frantisek Holcak and ridden by Jiri Kousek, won the Chladek & Tintera Gold Cup yet again at Pardubice on June 26th, his seventh win in seven races at Pardubice, all of which have been Listed races on the classical steeplechase course. He has won 18 of his 27 races over hurdles and fences, and is absolutely the outstanding Czech chaser of recent years. He races mainly in Italy, where he has won 5 Graded races. Royal Mougins is still only 8 years old, and we hope he will continue at the top.
Sixteen-year-old girl rides the winner of the Czech Derby
16-year-old girl rides Czech Derby winner
2009 Horse of the Year Age of Jape is a non-runner in protest against discriminatory measures
Anyone who was looking forward to the race of the year in Prague in the Yoko Gold Cup in Sunday’s races leading up to the controversial Fortuna Czech Derby at Auto Hase Park Prague Velka Chuchle Racecourse is in for a big disappointment. Age of Jape, 2009 Horse of the Year in the Czech Republic and also in Slovakia, unbeaten in his last 12 races, has been scratched from the list of runners and has left the race for his challengers.
No racing at Netolice on Saturday
The race meeting planned for Netolice on Saturday June 20th has been postponed due to the waterlogged state of the course. It is hoped that the meeting can be rearranged, probably in September.
Bremen Plan wins the 2nd VP qualification race
The second of the four Velka Pardubicka qualification races is the Paramo Grand Prix, Milos Svoboda Memorial, 5800 metres, crosscountry, which was run at Pardubice on June 12th. To fit in with the football World Cup on television, the meeting began at 3 pm, and the main race was after 7 pm. This was just as well, as the heat of a very hot and humid afternoon had died down a little. After several hot days, the going was firm (officially, good to firm). 15 runners lined up.