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Raffaelo Romano rides at Pardubice on Saturday
Romano rides for Radek
Shamalgan 3rd in French Two Thousand Guineas
Shamalgan 3rd in French classic
64 entries for the Velka Pardubicka
Entries for the 120th running of the Velka Pardubicka, sponsored by Ceska pojistovna, closed at midday on May 13th. Sixty-four horses are named, nine of which are trained abroad. The best known of the foreign horses is L'Ami, long established as a leading crosscountry chaser in Ireland and at Cheltenham, and winner of the Avon Ri Corporate & Leisure Resort Chase For The La Touche Cup at Punchestown in April 2010. Trainer Enda Bolger also has two other J. P. McManus-owned entries, Freney's Well and Drombeag.
Acute shortage of jumps jockeys
The long-term shortage of jumps jockeys in the Czech Republic is a particularly acute problem at the moment. Our best riders are in demand abroad, especially in Italy. Jan Faltejsek and Petr Tuma are to be based in Italy this summer, and all our jockeys make frequent trips to meetings there. At the moment, Josef Bartos is recovering from broken vertebrae. He hopes to be back in the saddle for the next meeting at Pardubice, on May 22nd. Dusan Andres has a broken arm, and should be back in June.
No racing at Benesov on Saturday
The meeting at Benesov scheduled for Saturday May 15th has been called off, as the course is waterlogged. The meeting will be rearranged and run on July 11th. The meetings this weekend at Most and at Velka Chuchle are not under threat.
Outsider Vinnah wins One Thousand Guineas
The Czech One Thousand Guineas (Spring Prize for Fillies), sponsored by JVM Computers, was won by 30 to 1 outsider Vinnah, owned by Orling, trained by Jaroslav Votava and ridden by Tomas Lukasek. Vinny is Czech bred, by Look Honey (Saddler's Wells) out of the unraced Vinnyca (Beccari). The favourite Mikrop Fong delayed the start by many minutes due to her tantrums, ruining her own chance and very likely that of some other nervous fillies. Not everyone agreed with the decision to wait such a long time for Mikrop Fong.
Mr Land wins the Italy Grand Prix
The first meeting of the 2010 season at Pardubice was run in ideal conditions - a cool sunny afternoon after a reasonable amount of rain during the week. The main event, the Italy Grand Prix, a Category I race this year, was won by Mr Land, ridden and trained by Pavel Slozil. Mr Land is nowadays an old and very experienced horse, and he showed he is still improving. He will now be aimed at the Velka Pardubicka. Some promising young horses emerged from the other races.
Rider dies at Brno
Rider dies at Brno
According to the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic web site, 46-year-old amateur rider Zdenek Kalab was killed in an accident in a flat race at Brno on May 1st. He was riding Riche in a Category IV race. The horse fell, landing on top of the rider, who received multiple injuries. Zdenek Kalab rode 5 winners, and had taken second place in an earlier race.
Mandarino wins the First of May Steeplechase for the 3rd time
May 2010 newsletter
The first month of our horse racing season has gone quite well, with none of those miserable chilly wet race days that April can sometimes throw up. The nights continued chilly until after the middle of the month and the high-mountain ski resorts still have some slushy snow. However, down in the flat lands the days have been sunny and the grass has grown well - as it always does in April.