September 2010 newsletter
You may have noticed that I have delayed the newsletter a little this month. Not so much out of laziness, poor time management or being busy. The reason was that I posted several reports on the busy racing weekend at the end of August, and readers needed time to absorb the information and wait expectantly for the newsletter.
August again sent some extraordinary weather to the Czech Republic. There were dramatic and calamitous flash floods in the streams that flow into the Nisa (Neisse) 100 km north of Prague, near the German and Polish border, and to a less extent in other places. The second day of the race meeting at Mimon had to be called off because of waterlogging. In any case, the flooding would have affected access to the course. Then there was a major hailstorm in parts of Prague that covered cars with multiple dents and broke windscreens. The insurance companies say the claims for hail damage will cost them as much as the floods, which killed five people, demolished houses, bridges and roads and flooded basements and ground floors. It seems that repairing dented car roofs is as expensive as compensating the victims of what seems to me a far more terrible tragedy in north Bohemia. The hailstorm did 5000 euros worth of damage, and more, to many cars worth less than the damage done to them, so the cars were written off. The majority of Czech car owners do not take out comprehensive insurance, and Prague now features people driving around town in dented vehicles that are not worth repairing and will start rusting in due course.
I do not think August 2010 was one of the more interesting months in Czech racing, but there will be those who disagree. For example, Helena Blazkova, who recently qualified as a trainer, will have been delighted to have won small races at Mimon with Rechialfa and on September 5th with Galantery at Velka Chuchle (let us not argue over whether September 5th is in August - well done, Helena). Others, of course, have higher expectations. After winning the two main races at Pardubice on August 29th with Mastman and Aspirant, Jiri Charvat was grinding his teeth on the following day because his St Leger favourite Ulan only finished third. If his other entry in the race had set a proper pace, as ordered, Ulan would have had a chance to test the stamina of Taro and Makler, which fought out the most dramatic finish of the season so far. However, I think Ulan was quite well beaten.
At the beginning of September, it is time to look forward to big races. The Gran Premio Merano Forst is on September 26th, and there are five Czech-trained entries. Budapest, Gilmour, Nikodem, Magic Slipper and Sherento are all useful by our standards, and any of them could get into the lower echelons of the prize money (which goes down to about 7th place), but there are several good French, Italian and German entries that seem more likely to finish at the head of the field.
As for the Velka Pardubicka, which will be run on October 10th, we will not have a clear idea until Thursday Ocotber 1st, when runners and riders will be declared. The report that J. P. McManus and Enda Bolger are planning to bring Drumbeag and Freneys Well, Nina Carberry and J. T. McNamara is very welcome. All six of these are big names, and even the report, provided by Course and Distance Horseracing Tours, made a buzz at the recent meeting at Pardubice.
The last meeting at Pardubice before the two-day Velka Pardubicka meeting is on Saturday, September 11th. The main race will be the 4th qualification race for the VP, though, of course, Czech- and Slovak-trained horses are no longer limited to qualifying via the four races at Pardubice. As a matter of fact, three Czech horses have qualified outside the Czech Republic: Marath, when he ran at Cheltenham last November, and Juventus and Wavelight Laser, which ran at Merano. Marath and Wavelight Laser subsequently also got round in the 3rd qualification race at Pardubice on August 29th.
The entries for the final qualification race are always curious. Some owners and trrainers are trying to qualify their horses at the last minute. Others are taking a warm-up race for the October meeting. Yet others, perhaps, are attempting to pick up some easy prize money. There are 10 entries this time. Baggio was pulled up early in the August QR, and is in danger of not qualifying - like last year! Gont has not run in any of the other qualifiers, and it is hard to imagine that trainer Josef Vana has been aiming him at the VP. 14-y-o Hirsch has already twice failed to qualify this year, after falling at the Taxis last year. Kobuz was 4th in the May QR, but has been pulled up twice since. Korinka was 5th in the June QR, and recently won the Velka Benesovska for the third time. Lakreg fell in the August QR, but in any case has no chance in the VP. Lirain finished 8th in the June QR. He has changed owner and trainer and is now in the Vana stable. He will presumably at last have a competent rider on his back. Tresh fell in the June QR, but in any case has no chance in the VP. 6-y-o Valldemoso qualfied in 6th place in June. He has won the main event at Albertovec in 2009 and 2010 and the main event at Svetla Hora in 2010, too. This might be a VP horse in future years. Finally, Welldancer is entered. This has been trumpeted as Josef Vana snr's ride in VP 2010, but he was tailed off in the August QR, finishing last. Maybe the race on Saturday is to see whether this horse will run in the VP, or whether Josef snr will look for another ride. Of these 10 entries, Gont, Kobuz, Lirain and Welldancer are all trained by Josef Vana. All ten are entered for the VP, and Baggio, Gont, Hirsch, Lakreg and Tresh have not yet qualified. An impressive win by Baggio or Welldancer could put them into contention for the big race, but it seems likely that the final qualification race will, as usual, have no impact on the VP.
I hope you are making plans to be at the Velka Pardubicka meeting. I look forward to meeting you, not only on the Sunday but also at the flat race meeting on Saturday, October 9th. If you are new to the Velka Pardubicka, have in mind that the first race is at about 11.15. If you are planning to travel from Prague, there are trains at 9.11 and 9.39 from the main station (Hlavni nadrazi), and there is a shuttle bus service to the course from opposite Pardubice railway station.