It was no great surprise when Greg Wroblewski, who began training for Rabbit Trhovy Stepanov less than a year ago, moved on a month or so ago. Rabbit has great ambitions, and has high demands on its trainers. Many of us thought that Dalibor Torok had done rather well for Rabbit in the 2008 season, but he moved on. Wroblewski, too, produced good results with the horses available, and even won the Oaks with Rabbit Zamindar in July 2009. No doubt Greg Wroblewski, with his distinguished record as a trainer of steeplechasers in various parts of Europe, will reemerge and will be sought out by new owners of racehorses.       

It is also no great surprise that Roman Vitek, who  has been private trainer to DS  Pegas for several years, is moving on. DS Pegas has the finest training centre in the country, at Zhori, near Jihlava, but its location in a notoriously cold part of the Czech Bohemian highlands is problematic, and the stable has for several seasons not enjoyed much success. In particular, the owner's ambition for success in steeplechasing has been frustrated. Roman Vítek is a qualified vet (he studied at Brno in the same year as Cestmir Olehla), and he is a highly respected figure in Czech racing - chairman of the national trainers association, and son of former top trainer and jockey Frantisek Vitek. He intends to leave Czech racing, at least temporarily. "I am leaving because I was not able to fulfil the aims that we set with the training centre at Zhori and the horses that we have purchased," Vitek explains, "In particular, our steeplechasing aims were unfulfilled, but on the flat, too, we purchased horses for which we had higher ambitions than their results justified. I have therefore decided to bring my work at Zhori to an end while we can part company without any dramatic situations arising, in a way that will be better for both parties.“

Roman Vitek now intends to work as a vet outside the Czech Republic. After training 190 winners, he does not want to continue training at the moment. "I certainly do not want to train any horses for a while," he adds, as he leaves one of the most modern training centres in Central Europe. Roman Vitek is sure to move on to some good position, as people with his knowledge, experience and personal qualities are in short supply everywhere.

(quotations from the Czech language Paddock Revue website)