May 2010 newsletter
The first month of our horse racing season has gone quite well, with none of those miserable chilly wet race days that April can sometimes throw up. The nights continued chilly until after the middle of the month and the high-mountain ski resorts still have some slushy snow. However, down in the flat lands the days have been sunny and the grass has grown well - as it always does in April.
The feature of the flat season so far has been that champion jockey Vaclav Janacek has ridden 12 winners in the first four Sundays at Velka Chuchle, and some young trainers have made a successful start. Dalibor Torok was disappointed to lose Ramble On, our second best 2-y-o, at the end of last season. Ramble On was sold in France for good money, and has already had two good wins there. Since winning the Gomba Handicap with Heat Set, Torok, training for Martin Wolf, has continued to do well. Vaclav Luka Jnr has also had some success, as has Ales Vanourek, training for Rabbit Trhovy Stepanov. I understand that Martin Srnec is de facto in charge, but he has not yet completed his trainer’s licence. Rabbit have had impressive winners in both Guineas trials. Mikrop Fong and Rabbit King will start as favourites for the One Thousand Guineas and the Two Thousand Guineas, respectively.
As soon as May begins, the steeplechase season kicks in. However, it should not be overlooked that Pavel Slozil put on a race day at Radslavice with a Category II main event that attracted a goodish field. The race was won by Kobuz, owned by Jasna, trained by Josef Vana snr, ridden by Josef Vana jnr.
The First of May Steeplechase at Lysa is a Category I race this year, with a Category I field. Mandarino takes on Ignacio, Life is Life, Caland, Imbir and Isar, among others.
There will be three Saturday afternoon meetings at Pardubice in the course of the month. The first Velka Pardubicka qualifying race of the season, on May 22nd, will be run as the Dick Francis Memorial.
More news emerged from the press conference organized by Dostihovy spolek, Pardubice this week. The qualifying races at Pardubice are to be somewhat downvalued, as Czech and foreign horses can now qualify for the VP by completing the course in any of the Crystal Cup races, or in any steeplechase or crosscountry race in Ireland, Britain, France or Italy over a distance of at least 4800 metres. The qualifying races at Pardubice are often run on firm ground, and the option of seeking better ground somewhere to the west of here will help trainers to find a suitable warm-up race.
The rules on elimination in the event of more than 25 declared runners have been clarified. A minimum of fifteen places in the field will be reserved for horses of Czech-registered owners, and balloting out will be on the basis of rule DŘ §281. I think this paragraph refers to handicap ratings – but it is not clear how this would be applied, for example, to a Russian entry or a Swedish entry (which I hear is a possibility).
Mirek Petran, president of Dostihovy spolek, organizers of racing at Pardubice, was as optimistic as usual after returning from his Antarctic trip. Not quite on the Dunwoody scale, but quite an adventure all the same. He is hoping for Swiss and Swedish entries for the VP this year, plus, of course, British, Irish, French and Italian. This will be the 120th renewal of the race, and the Ceska pojistovna insurance company will again be the sponsor.
The Pardubice contingent were very happy about Eaton Pardubice winning the ice hockey league rather impressively. 45-year-old goaltender Dominic Hasek, the Dominator, returned home to Pardubice after 21 years in the NHL in America, and played a full part in the triumph and in the celebrations.
Mirek Petran, by the way, is a candidate in the upcoming Czech national election. He heads the list of candidates for the Veci Verejne party, which is one of two newly-prominent parties based on getting rid of the old political crew. Veci Verejne, unlike Top 09, the other newly-emerged party, actually has new faces in it. It seems sure to get more than the 5% threshold, and Mirek seems sure to be an MP. Exactly what the party stands for, rather than against, is not clear, but it will very likely form a part of a wobbly coalition.
Josef Vana snr was also at the press conference. He seems well after the operation on his arm last October. He says his arm is better, though not perfect, and he is not going to be dropping any more whips. He says he has weighed 70 kg all winter, but he will get down to his racing weight for October 10th. He hopes to ride Welldancer in the VP.
April has been a successful month for Czech steeplechase jockeys. Josef Vana jnr rode 6 winners in 7 days: one at Lysa, three at Treviso and two at Radslavice, and now has his jockey’s licence for riding 50 winners. It is also good to be able to report a successful ride by Jaroslav Myska in the Grosser Preis der Stadt Zurich at Dielsdorf, Switzerland. This was race for 30 000 francs of prize money, and Jaroslav hopes to pick up some more rides in Switzerland this summer, for trainer Karl Klein.
An article by Maria Hornikova, Slovak correspondent, in the April edition of the printed magazine Paddock Revue provides evidence that the five countries in Central Europe that cooperate with each other, for example to organise the Central European Breeders’ Cup, by no means form a homogeneous group. The five countries concerned are Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria, and the figures that caught my eye concern the number of foreign-trained runners participating in the races in each of these countries. The figures were: Austria: 45%; Slovakia: 41%; Hungary 9.6%; Czech Republic: 3.3% (flat races), 2.7% (jumps); Poland 0%.
The reasons are fairly clear. There is a shortage of owners in Austria, and a lack of Austrian races for their horses to run in. On the other hand, for trainers in Slovakia, Hungary and the eastern part of the Czech Republic, where a number of major trainers work, the courses at Ebreichsdorf and Vienna are handily located, and the prize-money is comparatively attractive.
Racing in Slovakia is reasonably well funded. For Czech trainers there are no major linguistic or cultural barriers, and many of them as a matter of course look at the race conditions at Bratislava. For trainers in most parts of Moravia, Bratislava is the nearest major racecourse. It is often not easy to find suitable races for horses, and a trip to Bratislava is well worth considering, even for trainers based in or near Prague.
The prize money in Hungary is unattractive, and the foreign-trained horses are mainly from nearby Slovakia. For Czech trainers, Hungary is a long way away.
Sending horses from abroad to the Czech Republic for low and medium category races is not worthwhile. The entries and transportation are expensive, and the races are not easy to win. The major Czech racecourses are concentrated in Bohemia, far from Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. The significant incoming flat horses are nowadays from Germany, where our trials and even our classics are regarded as possible preparatory races for the German classics.
As far as Poland is concerned, the major racecourse is in Warsaw, and that is a long way away, with remarkably poor road links. I think the Polish race conditions are not published on the internet.
Czech trainer Zdeno Koplik took Sharpour and Tullamore to Warsaw for Derby Day 2008. In 2009 Zdeno took Tullamore to Longchamp for the Arc de Triomphe, and did not finish last. What a wonderful adventure for owner, trainer and jockey to take a goodish horse to Warsaw and Paris, after winning the Czech Derby with him in Prague. Zdeno said he might never get another chance to stand in the parade ring on Arc de Triomphe day, and he is glad he did not miss his opportunity.
Entries for the Velka Pardubicka close at midday on May 13th.