In the early part of the summer there were a lot of local windstorms and floods in various parts of the Czech Republic, and our television showed  almost daily what are normally small streams overflowing, and areas of forest that had been blown down. Several localities suffered calamities, some of them more than once. It was good to return to a period of less extreme weather in August, though now we would welcome some steady rain again.

I had not heard that Lysa-nad-Labem racecourse was hit by a windstorm at the end of July, but photos in the racecard of the meeting at Lysa on August 28th showed plenty of devastation. About 120 trees were uprooted or were seriously damaged on the raccourse area, which lies at the edge of a forest. The course had been put into good order for the meeting, for which we racegoers are grateful.

Racing at the upcountry courses this summer was, as usual, a pleasant adventure. It is impressive how much effort is put into organising race days, by local enthusiasts who clearly love the sport.

When the "autumn" season began at Pardubice on August 22nd and at Velka Chuchle on August 30th, there were impressive winners of the main races. Sixteen won the VP qualification race really impressively, and Age of Jape completed the Triple Crown by running away from his rivals in the Czech St Leger. In a way, it was good to get back to "serious" racing, but it was also sad to say goodbye to another fine horseracing summer in the Czech Republic.

After going to the races at Albertovec at the end of July, I decided to translate some Albertovec materials into English. Most of the Czech racecourses have a strange tale to tell, due to the range of problems thrown up by the mad dash in the early 1990s to restitute property to its 1948 owners, and to  privatize unrestitutable properties and enterprises, at any cost. In this month's newsletter, I offer you a couple of articles about Albertovec. Next month, I will include something about the nearly successful efforts in the name of privatization and restitution to destroy racing at Slusovice, and the valaint efforts of local people to keep the course as a going concern.

History of Albertovec

The Albertovec estate (formerly known as Hilvetihof), was founded by Eduard Maria Lichnovsky in 1818. From the beginning, Albertovec was a major adminstrative centre, and was the headquarters of an estate comprising 23 extensive manors and farms supplying a wide range of agricultural products. The lands stretched across south-eastern Prussia, present day Poland and Silesia, from Hlucin to Ratibor.

The Lichnovskys ran Albertovec until 1945. In 1952, the State Stud farm in Hostoun, in the Sumava region of west Bohemia, which bred riding horses for the military, was moved here. Soon after this move, however, the state administration lost interest in breeding high-quality riding horses, and began to concentrate on farm horses. Nevertheless, Albertovec remained a horse-breeding institution until the Revolution, after which MVDr. Vít Holý was appointed director of the stud. He later won the competition to rent the stud farm, and finally gained ownership of the stud through privatisation by public tender (obalkova privatizace).

Early in 2000, Ing. Luboš Vondráček managed to obtain the neglected stud farm, which he administered until October 2005, when it was bought by Josef Hájek and his family. They took over the tumbledown buildings with leaking roofs and a herd of 182 horses of little quality. The most urgent task was to reconstruct the stables of the breeding stock, the foaling shed and the loose boxes. The reconstruction work at Albertovec is still proceeding, but the estate is already getting back its lost beauty. The restoration work aims to preserve as much as possible of the noblesse and spirit of the old structures, while at the same time raising the quality of horse breeding in accordance with the latest European standards. There was a need for decisive and rapid action. The breeding material was reviewed, and the breeding programme for mares and stallions led to a renewal of the tradition of breeding Hannoverians and Trakehns at Albertovec.

The racecourse was restored, and in 2006, after an interval of 17 years, a horse racing and equestrian day was held at Albertovec.

Mor

The most famous racehorse to have carried the Albertovec Stud colours is without doubt Mor, a double winner of the Velka Pardubicka.

Mor was born at the Napajedla stud in 1964, by Masis out of Mora. His sire, Masis, is one of the legends of the Czech turf, winning the Czechoslovak Derby and St Leger in 1955, and also two races at the international meeting in Moscow in the same year.

As a 3-y-o at Albertovec, Mor trained with the eventers, and he became fairly successful in eventing. When he was sent steeplechasing he soon started winning. In 1970, he won the Vltava Prize at the Velka Pardubicka meeting. He then had a string of successes in the Velka Pardubicka, twice winning the race, twice coming second and twice third, ridden by Karl Benš and trained by František Janík. In 1973 and 1975, Mor also won the Albertovec Cross Country.

At the Horse Racing and Equestrian Day at Albertovec on July 25th, 2009, a bronze of Mor’s head was unveiled outside the Eduard Maria restaurant at Albertovec.