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.

Early February is the middle of the off-season for Czech trainers, and we have had a very hard and long cold spell. The Czech language pages of the Paddock Revue web site asked our most internationally-oriented trainers to comment on their intentions with regard to the Crystal Cup series. Cestmir Olehla stated. "My priority is to find horses for the Velka Pardubicka, and after that I can consider some race in the Crystal Cup series. Josef  Vana said, "Perhaps we will try a trip to France some time later."   

The second race in the Crystal Cup series is at Fontainebleu on March 27th.

Crystal Cup website  http://crystal.mi-dev.co.uk/GBR/Home.htm