Sixteen-year-old girl rides the winner of the Czech Derby
16-year-old girl rides Czech Derby winner
The 90th renewal of the Fortuna Czech Derby was run on a fine midsummer afternoon, June 27th, and ended in a comfortable win for British-bred Talgado, by Lomitas, out of a Zafonic mare. Talgado finished 3 lengths ahead of Polish-bred Ulan, by Exaltation, with Irish-bred Miracle Match a further 3¾ lengths behind. Talgado had won the main Derby trial, but eyebrows were raised and interest was aroused when it was announced that the horse, owned by Lider Racing Stable and trained by Filip Neuberg, was to be ridden by 16-year-old Maria Magdalena Rossak, daughter of the owners. Riding as an amateur under the name Magdalena Rossakova, she had ridden a winner in 2008, and she has since qualified as a rider in Panama. At the half way point, Talgado was in last position, but his rider moved him up round the last bend, and the horse in the black colours with red stars on the arms hit the front and comfortably outstayed the rest of the field. Maria Magdalena is the first Slovak woman to win a Derby. The Czech Derby was one of the first Derbies to be won by a woman rider, when Mila Hermansdorferova won on Crapom in 1972, and Maria Magdalena is only the second woman to win the race. She must be the youngest-ever winning rider of any Derby. The race was won in record time, 2 minutes 28,46 seconds.
Happily, the 90th running of the Czech Derby will be remembered for the Slovak girl who rode the winner, and not for the Slovak-trained horse that was incorrectly eliminated from the race.
Talgado likely to head for Slovak Derby and Czech St Leger
According to the Czech language pages of Paddock Revue, trainer Filip Neuberg expects Talgado, provided all is welll after his race in the Czech Derby, to go for the Slovak Derby at Bratislava racecourse on July 18th and then for the Czech St lLeger at the end of August at Prague Velka Chuchle. Another option would be to head for France, Germany or Italy. However, he would favour leaving that for next year.
Sharpour and Mariydi win on Derby Day
The Yoko Gold Cup, 2400 metres, Listed, attracted a very good field, though unfortunately Age of Jape was absent. German-based Filip Minarik, making a rare return to Prague, kept Mariydi, Irish-bred, by Kalanisi, out of trouble and brought him with a strong run on the outside in the straight. Mariydi is owned by Dr Jiri Charvat and is trained by Tomas Satra. Slovak-trained horses Ramblin Scout, Camill and Ryan took 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. The Wago Prize, 1600 metres, Category I, was a less competitive race. Golden Eagle attempted to make all the running, but champion jockey Vaclav Janacek brought Sharpour with a late run on the outside, and he won comfortably enough. Irish-bred Sharpout, by Desert Sun, is owned by YOKO and trained by Zdeno Koplik. The other major race of the afternoon was the Polish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Prize, 2200 metres, National Listed. This trial for the Oaks was won by Czech-bred Serena, by Rainbows for Life out of a Dara Monarch mare, is owned by DS Maentiva, trained by Vaclav Luka, jnr, and was ridden by Jiri Chaloupka.
Summer break at Auto Hase Park Prague Velka Chuchle Racecourse
As usual, Derby day at Velka Chuchle is followed by a summer break that lasts until the last Sunday in August. August 28th will be Czech St Leger day, first race at 2 pm. Throughout the summer there are race meetings every Saturday and Sunday outside Prague, see http://www.dostihyjc.cz/dostihy.php click on to “Dostihy”.