Newsletter - April edition No. 2

Let me begin by admitting that I have made some errors in earlier newsletters. In my comments on the Monolit affair (April edition), I should have said that legal proceedings had already begun. The original appeal made by Monolit’s owner was on the grounds that the punishment (disqualification in a big race) was disproportionate to the (minor?) offence (putting up a jockey who should not have ridden because he is also a trainer), and not on the grounds that the protest had been lodged too late. Also, the owner is Jozef Rosina, not Josef Rosina (Josef is normally the Czech spelling, while Slovaks are called Jozef). There will be a meeting of the Central European turf authorities in Prague at the end of May. The discussions will include the rejection by Ebreichsdorf racecourse of Jozef Rosina’s entries for the Central European Breeders Cup. Racing people sitting together should be able to resolve such problems better, and certainly much more cheaply, than a court of law.

In the April newsletter, I praised the fine weather on March 26th. This was a another mistake. The following days were also fine and warm, and the heavy winter snows all over the country melted so rapidly that there were major floods in several parts of the Czech Republic. Prague Velka Chuchle racecourse, severely flooded in August 2002, narrowly missed another soaking.

In the March edition, I did not pick up and report the news that more than one expensively-purchased Derby hopeful was in fact gelded between the time when an article appeared stating that geldings would be allowed to run in the classics and the announcement that geldings will not be eligible for the 2006 Derby, because entries had long since been accepted only for colts and fillies.

Being a writer of a newsletter than contains its share of errors, I can only advise you not to believe everything you read – even when it is written by me - and express sympathy with the writer and editor, owner and trainer who had the misfortune to write, publish and act on published information that turned out to be inaccurate.

I will try to write twice monthly during the season, and mainly about steeplechasing. Most of the news so far has come from the Josef Van’a stable. He has almost 70 horses in training, over fences and on the flat, twice as many as any other trainer. He has been the first out of the gate, winning races outside the country before the season began here, and then having two winners on the flat on the opening day of the season at Velka Chuchle. Interestingly, Martin Srnec is riding for him on the flat. Martin has ridden around the world, and has just returned from spending the winter in Britain. In 2005 he had reappeared here, and rode very well to finish a very close second in the jockeys’ championship, impressing not only me but, more importantly, trainers Olehla and Van’a, for whom he will ride on the flat this year. I think Olehla has first claim on him.

Over fences, Josef Vana’s first jockey will be Josef Bartos, who was a revelation last year. Frantisek Holcak will use Radek Havelka, though perhaps Dirk Fuhrmann will ride Maskul again in the Velka Pardubicka. Cestmir Olehla will call in Jim Crowley for big races, and will use mainly Jan Faltejsek and Marek Stromsky in smaller races. Lenka Horakova, who trains for Dr Bruna, has retained Dusan Andres to ride both on the flat and over fences. Vaclav Luka will presumably ride the horses he trains, and will be in great demand with other trainers, as will Tomas Hurt. Michal Köhl has spent the whole winter at Alistair Charlton’s yard in northern England, and has had quite a few rides, recently finishing second in the bumper at Aintree. I do not know what his plans are.

All our top trainers over fences take their horses to run abroad. There is a very limited number of well-endowed races in the Czech Republic, and a fair number of horses good enough to win abroad. In the latest edition of Paddock Revue, Cestmir Olehla wrote saying that the Italians are getting fed up with the Czechs winning so many of their top races, and are now reducing prize money and closing more and more races to foreign horses. Whether this is cause and effect, or just a coincidence, I do not know. Certainly the quality of the Czech horses is not the only problem in Italian racing, and in central European racing, in general.

Josef Van’a has expressed an ambition to take horses to run in Britain, and Polish trainer Gregor Wroblewski, too. The problems are that the travel is expensive, the main races in Britain are outside our season, and owners of the best Czech-trained horses are not much oriented towards Britain. Wroblewski speaks English quite well, but Josef Vana’s second language is German. Cestmir Olehla has stated that he plans to run some horses in France this year, for example in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at the end of May. Trainers based in Moravia – Olehla and Holcak – have experienced a lot of snow, and have had difficulty getting their horses ready for the beginning of the season, especially Olehla. Josef Van’a, who trains in west Bohemia, started winning races abroad in March.

Some news of old favourites from the Velka Pardubicka.
Olehla:
Registana is to be given a much easier season than in the past. She will be aimed at the Velka Pardubicka, and this year may not make any long journeys to Merano, where she has won nine races in the last 4 seasons. Wrbna Racing’s Hastaven and Red Dancer will also run again in the Velka Pardubicka. Laneret, 3rd in the VP in 2005 and 5th in 2004, will presumably be aimed at the VP.
Masini, the biggest prizemoney winner in Czech racing history, is now old enough to run in the Velka Pardubicka. He did not seem to like Pardubice last year, but it seems the connections have not given up hope that he will be a contender for the VP in October 2006. Duce is also now 7, but he will be kept for shorter distances and for races over hurdles and easy oval-track chases. Kolorado is still only 6, and is presumably one of the horses likely to run in France. Look out also for younger horses such as Lark, Theoden and Sun Set.
Van’a:
Decent Fellow is also to be given a less stressful season this year, though he is likely to be aimed at the Iffezheimer Jagdrennen at Baden Baden in addition to the Velka Pardubicka. Kedon has been retired, but Josef Van’a hopes that Juventus will turn out to be a Velka Pardubicka horse. Pessoa is considered to be one of the best prospects among the Van’a-trained horses, but it is not clear whether he will be aimed at the Gran Premio at Merano or at the Velka Pardubicka. Retriever’s fitness remains questionable, but he could also run again in October. Jack de Trao Land will also go for the VP.
Holcak:
Maskul is now 12 years old, but the connections hope he may have one more VP in him. He will again be raced lightly in preparation for the VP.
Although it is in Czech language only, you may be interested in the Frantisek and Radek Holcak web site. http://www.valencio-holcak.cz/staje.php?site=1
Bagdad, trained by Lenka Horakova, will be the main hope of Dr Bruna, owner of Peruan. He is now seven years old, and can run in October.
Belovodsk, 3rd in 1999 and 2nd in 2000, made a wonderful comeback to be 5th in 2005, but he has now been retired.

The first meeting of the steeplechase season, at Pardubice on April 22nd, has been called off, due to problems with the course, but the meeting on May 8th will go ahead. Before that, there are mixed meetings at Radslavice and Lysa, with main races that could attract some top chasers.

All of us here are sad to hear that Ken Whelan, who has ridden several times in the Velka Pardubicka, finishing second on Risk of Thunder behind Peruan in 1999, was badly injured in a fall in Ireland. However, it seems that his back protector saved him from even more serious injury. We wish him the quickest and fullest possible recovery.