The 127^th running of the Velka Pardubicka was a muddy event. The turf was only on the soft side of good, after good amounts of rain in the weeks, days, hours and minutes before the race. However, the ploughed fields had pools of water on them, and by the end of the afternoon they were muddy rather than very deep. Be that as it may, these were tough conditions.

The three French horses declared for the Velka are the most serious foreign-trained candidates that we have had for a few years. Presumably Virtus d’Estruval is the best of them. He has a good crosscountry racing record in France, including good recent form. His trainer, Guillaume Macaire is a top jumps trainer in France, and he will be ridden by Czech jockey Jan Faltejsek, who spent two years working for Macaire a few years ago. Jan Faltejsek has won 4 of the last 5 VPs, riding Orphée des Blins (2012/2014) and Charme Look (2016).

Sunday, October 8^th, 2017

127th running of the Velka Pardubicka, with Česká pojišťovna

Four years ago, I wrote a short article on this topic, and I do not think I could do anything better now that I am four years older.

http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/en/node/2762