November 2009 newsletter
This year, the November newsletter, written at the end of October, comes before the end of our season. Velka Chuchle has two more meetings, on November 1st and November 8th, and one of these is the President of the Republic’s Prize meeting. This is now a major event, as President Vaclav Klaus’s presence and endorsement will lead to a large crowd and, not least, will lure advertisers, sponsors and corporate hospitality.
On National Day, October 28th, President Klaus presented a major award for distinguished achievements to Josef Vana. Having recently won his sixth Velka Pardubicka as a jockey and his seventh as a trainer on Tiumen, as well as being a towering figure in Czech racing, Josef Vana richly deserves this recognition.
Josef Vana (October 20, 1952) for his contribution to the state in the field of sport
Josef Vana is a great personality and legend of Czech horse racing. He has been a jockey, trainer and racehorse breeder for the whole life. He has been riding horse-races since 1979 and he has competed in over 600 races over fences. He has won the prestigious Velka Pardubicka steeplechase six times, most recently a couple of weeks ago aged almost 57.
The first third of October was very dry and warm, but the rains came just in time for the Velka Pardubicka meeting. The second third of the month was extraordinarily cold and wet, but from about October 20th onwards we have had something like ordinary October weather. It is good that the racing season has been extended into November, as we now have good conditions for 2-y-os to get a bit of racecourse experience, and trainers who have been waiting for their horses to be able to race on good to soft ground have at last got the opportunity they have been looking forward to. Of course, the season continues into November and beyond in countries to the west and south of here, and some trainers will be looking abroad for more races for their horses.
I hear that some Czech-trained horses are likely to run at Cheltenham in the November meeting. Pavel Slozil is expected to take Mr Land. Other names that have been mentioned are Montgomery and Hirsch.
There will be plenty of time during the long off-season, which lasts until the beginning of April, to look back on the 2009 racing season in the Czech Republic. I will leave that for next month, and for months after that, no doubt.
October, of course, is dominated by the Velka Pardubicka meeting, and the 2009 Velka Pardubicka, sponsored again by the Ceska Pojistovna insurance company, was dominated by 56-year-old Josef Vana’s fantastic ride to victory on Tiumen. No only did he give Tiumen a perfect ride - Tiumen also obeyed every instruction with alacrity. He was seemingly as much under the spell of Josef Vana as we all are! I hope you will be able to watch the excellent Czech television coverage of Velka Pardubicka day again on http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/209471290330001-velka-pardubicka-2009/
Another significant event in October was the meeting at Slusovice on Wednesday, October 28th. Ever since the Changes in 1989, Slusovice racecourse, near Zlin in eastern Moravia, not far from the Slovak border, has been a victim of the mad rush to delete all (economic) traces of socialism and privatize all property. Slusovice races, extraordinary events in the 1980s, would have gone under without the great efforts of local people to save, and more recently to revive the course. The meeting on October 28th celebrated the installation of a much-needed irrigation system, though, in fact, on this occasion, natural rainfall had done its job.
I had planned to take the 0609 train from Prague, via Olomouc, Otrokovice and Zlin to Slusovice, and to arrive back late in the evening. However, I failed to achieve my target of getting up well before 5 in the morning, and ended up watching the races, on a fine afternoon and with a good crowd, on Czech Television. Babie Lato, owned by Wrbna Racing, trained by Cestmir Olehla and ridden by Jaroslav Myska, won the Velka Slusovicka steeplechase very impressively, confirming that he is one of our very best oval-track chasers. Next season, I will go to Slusovice. In the meantime, I offer you my translation of part of the Slusovice web site
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/program/10213462962-28.10.2009-13:55-4-velka-slusovicka-steeplechase-slusovice.html
History of the Slusovice horseracing centre
Establishing a horseracing centre at Slusovice was a logical outcome of the growing interest in horse racing in and around the town in the 1970s. The first racing stable was set up at the United Cooperative Farm (JZD Slušovice) in 1975, and had three horses. Two were with trainer Pindura at Kunovice, and one was with Eva Palyzova at Lysa nad Labem. In 1976, JZD Slušovice took on trainer Helda and entrusted him with 4 horses, and in 1977 the stable had 8 horses. Races were run on a temporary course at Vizovice, where the size of the course and the conditions were less than ideal. In 1978, the Slusovice stable had 18 registered horses, and one of them, Beller (which had been brought abroad), was a surprise winner of the Czechoslovak Derby, ridden by jockey Klucka. In 1980, there were 20 horses in the stable. Later, Vaclav Chaloupka was engaged as trainer, and the number of horses grew to 48.
The decision to set up a racecourse was taken in 1980, when the course at Vizovice was no longer considered large or good enough. In the autumn of 1980, preparatory work began on establishing a racecourse at Slusovice. The main initiator was Josef Čuba, brother of the chairman of JZD Slušovice, Ing. František Čuba. Under the leadership of František Čuba, JZD Slušovice developed from a small cooperative farm into a remarkable phenomenon, a wide-ranging enterprise that developed and manufactured state-of-the-art electronics, automobile, agronomical and other products, and offered for sale a range of items that were not otherwise available on the Czechoslavak market at the time. On Sunday August 23rd, 1981, the director of the nearby Zlin Film Studios, National Artist Karel Zeman, was invited to start the first race at Slusovice.
The original plan was to set up a racecourse outside Slusovice, facing the road from Vesela, as you come from Zlin. Later, some waterlogged, low-value land in Slusovice was chosen. The original plan to establish an 1800-metre track with stands and other structures below the small town of Brezova could not be carried out in full, because not all the land could be taken out of the Agricultural Fund, and the horseracing area was established in its present form.
The track has a perimeter of 1470 metres, with banked turns (the only banked course in the Czech Republic). The course is 23 metres in width, the outside 5 metres of which is the sand track, which is used for training. The foundation of the grass track is clay, which was covered with sand. Later, humus was added and the course was seeded. In the infield there are 16 natural fences (hedges). In the infield there are also two ponds that collect groundwater. The surface is nowadays firm, springy and fast, as required for horse racing.
A nine-hole golf course has been established on the infield. Golf tournaments are regularly held here, and club members come from Slusovice and the surrounding countryside.
An irrigation plan has recently been installed to reduce the dependency of the state of the turf on the current weather conditions.
Slusovice races used to be a legendary meeting place, not only for fans of horse racing but also because of the things that were on sale here. The skilful economic policy of the managers of the JZD Slušovice farm cooperative enabled visitors to Slusovice to find goods on sale that were in scarce supply or unobtainable elsewhere. The races at Slusovice were accompanied by a major bazaar, and exhibitions of technology and farm animals. The races attracted enormous crowds. The May Prize in 1984 attracted a crowd of 43600. The area was not only used for horse racing. The participants in the Valašská zima rally and the Barum rally came here, and other sports and social events were held at the course.
Following the break-up of JZD Slušovice after 1989, race meetings continued to be held under momentum from the past, and they were run by various organisers. After GRADO, which failed to keep to the undertakings it had made to the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, the Moravian Horse Racing Association took over. This Association was set up mainly on the initiative of owners, breeders and trainers from Moravia. However, this was only a temporary solution, brought about by a critical situation, and after a year it handed its rights on to Turf Rekord a.s., which had shown interest in organising horse racing. Turf Record organised some meetings, and was later transformed into S-Media a.s. This association, too, was unable to overcome the problems of ownership and other difficulties that organisers of horse racing repeatedly came up against.
The situation became very critical, because various parties began to take an interest in the racecourse, including some speculators, and there was no guarantee that it would be possible to hold on to the course. In 2006, on the initiative of Ing. Vraj and his team of supporters, horse racing was to some extent revived, and, above all, interest was aroused in the future of the racecourse, which was under threat of closure and sale of the grounds. The Town of Slusovice then took over the initiative and bought up most of the land, or in some cases entered into long-term rental agreements.
On the initiative of the mayor, Ing. Pavelka, the Foundation Fund for the Development of Horse Racing at Slusovice was set up. It is nowadays the organiser of horse racing at Slusovice, and intends to continue in this role. It aims not only to keep the course in business, but also gradually to improve it and equip it technically for the requirements of present-day horse racing. Some small steps have already been taken. A remaining problem is the inadequate technical infrastructure for the participants: the stable capacity is inadequate, and the sanitary facilities are not in good order. The greatest limiting factor, however, is that, with the exception of one stand which the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic purchased at auction and intends to hand over to the Town of Slusovice, none of the buildings and structures are owned by the Town. The Town is therefore unable to invest in maintaining them, and depends on the good will and initiative of their private owners.
Slusovice racecourse has the chance to become again one of the major racecourses in the Czech Republic, but the road back will not be easy or cheap. Nevertheless, not only tradition but also the very existence of this beautiful course make it incumbent on present and future organisers and supporters of horse racing not just to save the course but to make it again one of the glories of Czech and Moravian racing.
Through joint efforts, we think we can do it. Individually or through your company, you can participate directly in the fate of the racecourse through the Foundation Fund for the Development of Horse Racing at Slusovice.
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Last but not least, on behalf of all readers, I wish Petr Guth, editor of Paddock Revue, a good recovery from his broken right arm. He is nobly maintaining a limited service using his left hand!