The first qualification for the Grand Pardubice won Baggio with the jockey Jaroslav Myška. Valldemoso finished second and the third was Aspirant. Nine horses completed the race.

The Town of Pardubice Prize, the first of the four qualification races for the 2011 Velka Pardubicka, caused the official handicapper, Milan Tuma, to scratch his head before making major adjustments to the ratings of our top cross-country chasers.

With the exception of the first two in VP 2010, Tiumen and Amant Gris, almost the entire elite of Czech long-distance cross country chasing turned out for this race. There was 2007 and 2008 VP winner Sixteen, which had finished third in VP 2010. The winners of all four of the 2010 qualification races were there: Mandarino, Bremen Plan, Aspirant and Valldemoso, together with Zulejka, which dead-heated for first place in the First of May Chase at Lysa recently and Baggio, which finished a close third in that race and won the Final Steeplechase last October at Pardubice. The first two in the Labe Prize on VP day 2010, Wavelight Laser and Trezor, were in the field, too, together with Lirain, which finished 6th in VP 2010. Of the 11 runners, only Karlsbad and, in particular Resserl, were unlikely to be able to compete in this company.

In the early part of the race, Wavelight Laser, Baggio and Lirain were prominent. Josef Vana jnr lost his way on Lirain behind the trees. You do not often see a Czech jockey lose his way on the route of the Velka Pardubicka, and it will surely never happen to young Josef again. As the race developed, Valldemoso joined the leaders, Wavelight Laser and Baggio, and Sixteen and Zulejka were prominent. Between the fifth from home and the fourth from home, a large gap suddenly appeared between the leading four: Valldemoso, Baggio, Wavelight Laser, Sixteen, and the rest of the field. Valldemoso, as always, was up for it, and by the third from home it was a race between him and Baggio. They jumped the last together, and then Baggio pulled way within a few strides and won very easily. Second place went to Valldemoso, some way behind in third place was Aspirant, followed by Wavelight Laser and Bremen Plan. Three more trailed in a long way behind, but at least qualified for the VP by finishing the race: Karlsbad, Sixteen and Mandarino. Zulejka unseated her rider at the 6th from home after going well. Resserl and Lirain also failed to get round.

Baggio, owned by Wrbna Racing, trained by Cestmir Olehla and ridden by Jaroslav Myska really won very easily, but a study of the video of the race showed that he took plenty of liberties with the obstacles, and he came home with a flesh wound and minus a horseshoe. He finished 5th in the Czech Derby in 2005 (when Royal Mougins finished 6th). He beat a lot of good horses very easily here, but it will be a different matter on October 9th.

Valldemoso ran an honest race. Aspirant came from some way behind to finish third. Wavelight Laser performed well against top horses. Bremen Plan and Mandarino scarcely competed. Sixteen faded after running prominently.

The VP qualification races are often more about achieving qualification for the big race (by completing the course) than about competing for victory. It is understood that the only target for each of these horses is Sunday October 9th. Baggio, of course, excelled. Valldemoso did not do badly, but the others are all capable of something considerably better than this.

The other three qualification races are at Pardubice on June 11th, August 20th and September 10th. Czech-trained horses are no longer required to qualify only via the qualification races at Pardubice, but this still seems to be the favoured warm-up route.