The Velka Pardubicka meeting 2009-10-02
The Velka Pardubicka meeting is the high point of the Czech steeplechasing season. It is also a major social and national event in the Czech Republic. If you are invited to the box of one of the Czech sponsors on Velka Pardubicka day, it is appropriate to be smartly turned out and to be aware that for many Czechs this day is considered as a major symbol of Czech nationhood.The events surrounding the Velka Pardubicka are nowadays spread over three days, with the 2nd annual Central European bloodstock sale being held on Friday, October 9th, beginning at 1 p.m. This year some quite interesting Czech-bred, Irish-bred and Polish-bred yearlings are being offered, as well as one or two older horses that will be declared to run at the Velka Pardubicka meeting.
The racing day on Saturday, October 10th is one of the major flat race meetings in the Czech calendar. The main races are the Pardubice St Leger and the Pardubice Mile (run over a distance nine and a half furlongs). There are also top races for 2-y-o colts and 2-y-o fillies. An innovation this year is a charity race for celebrity riders, including multiple Velka Pardubicka winners Josef Vana snr and Vaclav Chaloupka, and intrepid lady riders Martina Ruzickova and Lucie Baluchova, both of whom have ridden in the Velka Pardubicka. Josef Vana snr will be riding Tiumen in the Velka Pardubicka on Ocotber 11th, and no doubt Martina and Lucie will let it be known that they are fully race-fit and available to ride on Sunday afternoon. Famous jumps jockeys of the past, including Steve Smith-Eccles, who will be in Pardubice with Course and Distance Horse Racing Tours, will ride in the event. Former German champion jumps jockey Reinhard Ording will also be riding. Apart from being a long-term friend of Pardubice racecourse, Reinhard is a close friend of Peter Gehm, who is to be a beneficiary of this charity race. Part of the proceeds will pay for further rehabilitation for Peter Gehm, and part will go to the Leila Abbas Fund for children in need. German jockey Petr Gehm rode the winner of the Velka Pardubicka in four successive years, and received serious injuries in a training accident shortly after the last of these four wins. Note that the first race on Saturday will be around 12 midday.
Velka Pardubicka day features eight races, each of them a championship in its category. There are two hurdles races, one of them for 3-y-os, one oval-track steeplechase, and five cross-country chases. The first race will be at 11.10 a.m., and the Velka Pardubicka will be the final race of the afternoon, starting at about 3.40 p.m. There will be a large crowd, and it is a good idea to be at the course not long after 10 o’clock!
Twenty-six horses have been declared to run, twenty of which are Czech-trained. There are 4 from Britain, and one each from France and Ireland. Among the Czech-trained horses, 2007 and 2008 Velka Pardubicka winner Sixteen is the clear favourite. The other Czech-trained horses that were expected to be contenders this year have either dropped out or shown only moderate form.
The four VP qualifying races were won by Profil, Tomis, Sixteen and Gawain. Profil and Tomis were shock winners, and Gawain is not entered for the VP and will run in the Labe prize on VP day instead. Sixteen won the August qualifying race with a dominant performance.None of the foreign-trained horses is outstanding, but Mr Big and Lucky Nellerie are trained by long-term friends of Pardubice racecourse, Charlie Mann and Ferdy Murphy, respectively, and their jockeys, Noel Fehily and Keith Mercer, know more or less what to expect. In the absence of major Czech contenders, one of these might take advantage if Sixteen does not, as expected, win the race for the third time and confirm that she is a great champion.
The weather in Pardubice on the second weekend in October is unpredictable. We have had pleasant sunny weather for the last four runnings of the Velka Pardubicka, but there have also been incidences of cold, rainy days and heavy overnight frost within the last 15 years. The medium range forecast is notoriously unreliable. For what it is worth, a moderate amount of rain is predicted during the week and Saturday and Sunday should be fine autumnal days. However, be prepared for chilly nights and the possibility of rain.
