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Blue Coral takes on Sharpour and Ediggio
Hřebčín Křenek takes over Paddock Revue
As of April 7th, Hřebčín Křenek is taking over the publication of Paddock Revue magazine and the Paddock Revue website. Both the printed magazine and the website are still being edited by Petr Guth, and the English pages will presumably continue in the present form or with future improvements. The new publisher aims to maintain and improve the present structure and to expand and strengthen the content on breeding.
Heat Set wins the Gomba Handicap
The Gomba Handicap over 1200 metres is traditionally dominated by outsiders, but not this year. It was won comfortable by Heat Set, owned by Martin Wolf, trained by Dalibor Torok and ridden by Jan Raja. Second place went to champion jockey Vaclav Janacek on Trinity. Janacek rode 4 winners in the course of the afternoon, and clearly has his eye on beating his own record of 82 winners, achieved last year.
April 2010 newsletter
I have delayed the April newsletter slightly, not out of lethargy but because the pre-season press conference is on April 1st, and there may be some announcements. I hope so, because there is not so much else to write about. As far as lethargy is concerned, our bodies are adapting to an abrupt change in the weather after the long, cold winter. Not much before the middle of March, we suddenly began to enjoy warm sunny days.
2010 racing season begins on April 4th
The Czech horseracing season begins at Prague Velka Chuchle on April 4th. The main race will be the Gomba Handicap, 1200 metres. There will be racing at Velka Chuchle every Sunday afternoon until midsummer, first race at 2 pm.
Red Dancer to run at Hexham
After a long and distinguished career as a crosscountry chaser in Central Europe, 14-y-o Red Dancer has been sent to Britain, where he is now in training in George Charlton's yard in Northumberland. He is to run at Hexham on Saturday, where he will be ridden by his established Czech partner, Jan Faltejsek. No comment!
March 2010 Newsletter
As February comes towards its end, the snows that arrived at the end of 2009 are finally thawing. Here in Prague, the main problems for city dwellers are the dirty state of the thawed water, the large amounts of grit and salt that were spread to protect us from falling down too often, and seven weeks worth of dogshit, if that is the word I am looking for. It is a quite mess, and the city authorities and their work force will be busy for some time putting everything back in order, and it will be unpleasant work.
Dick Francis mourned in the Czech Republic
Dick Francis, leading steeplechase jockey in the past and the most loved writer of thrillers based on horseracing, died on February 14th at the age of 89. He wrote over 40 books, almost all of which were expertly translated into Czech by Jaroslava Moserova.
Crystal Cup not yet international
The first race in the Crystal Cup international series of crosscountry races was held at Pau on February 6th. The Prix Gaston De Bataille, over 6200 metres, was won by the favourite Malberaux, ridden by D. Cottin. The winner is trained by French traner David Cottin, who is among the favourites to win the Crystal Cup series.
A disappointing aspect of the first race in the Crystal Cup series was that all 12 runners at Pau were French-trained.
February 2010 Newsletter
The 15th Czech Turf Gala Evening was held on January 23rd, in Prostejov, which is not far south of Olomouc. If January 23rd is anything to go by, it is a freezing place, but my memory of Czech Turf Gala evenings is that the coldest night of the winter is normally chosen for them. This time it was held in the attractive but slightly underheated Narodni Dum in Prostejov. That is to say that it was just warm enough for me in my suit and tie, but the young ladies in their decollete dresses, if that is the word I am looking for, had to suffer a little to be beautiful.