Fourteen horses lined up for the 121st running of the Velka Pardubicka, after Teviot was withdrawn due to injury. Following substantial rain on the previous day, the going was good to soft, and on a cool afternoon the conditions were good for steeplechasing. Zulejka did not get far, coming down at the second fence. As they approached the Taxis, Sixteen was surprisingly in the lead. Karlsbad came down at the Taxis. His jockey, Marcel Novak, explained that he had not got a good run in to the fence, and that you do not get over the Taxis without enough momentum. Tiumen made a mistake at the Taxis, and was at this point 5 lengths behind the field. Sixteen remained in the lead, setting a pace that all the others were able to keep up with. Flambion and Bremen Plan were prominent. Tiumen gradually made up ground, and nothing dramatic happened until the Big Water Jump. Here Klaus, which had been backed in to a rather short-priced second favourite, put a foot in, and unseated jockey Jaroslav Myska. The jockey was frustrated as his horse had not made any mistakes prior to that, and was going well. The next to go was at Havel´s fence. Trezor, which had not settled well in the first half of the race, had been started going better by this point, and his jockey, Bohuslav Matl, had begun to hope he might achieve a good finish. However, a fall put an end to his race. Sixteen was still in the lead, and by the second from home it became clear that there were only three left in with a chance. Sixteen was closely followed by Valldemoso, with Tiumen moving up ominously. They came to the last fence in that order, and Sixteen and Vallldemoso put in a rather better jump than Tiumen.

It was obvious that Tiumen´s 58-year-old jockey was going to have to drive his horse all the way to the line. He managed to find the strength, winning by half a length from Sixteen, ridden by Josef Bartos and also trained by Vana. Valldemoso tired a little, and finished 2 lengths behind in third place. The rest of the field was quite well beaten. Flambion came in 4th, 12 lengths behind, and then there was three and a quarter lengths back to Mandarino. Both of these exceeded expectations. The prize money for 6th and 7th places went to Bremen Plan and Aspirant, respectively. Amant Gris was 8th, and Wavelight Laser trailed in in 9th place. Lirain was pulled up at the beginning of the finishing straight when he was well beaten.

Josef Vana thus duly won his 8th Velka Pardubicka as a jockey and his 9th as a trainer, including hat-tricks on both Zeleznik and Tiumen. We obsevered yet another astonishing performance by the greatest personality in world steeplechasing. It is a sad reflection on our sport that his extraordinary achievement will presumably be ignored, or mentioned as a footnote, in those countries that doubtless have faster horses, but do not have a jockey capable of winning their toughest race at the age of 56 and 57, and now again at 58.