Veteran jumps jockey Marek Stromský has decided to carry on riding in 2017. He is famous as the unluckiest jockey in the history of the Velka Pardubicka. He passed the post in first place on Amant Gris in 2008, but was rightly disqualified for missing a marker. In 2010, again on Amant Gris, he was beaten into 2^nd place by a nose, and many people consider he was unlucky not to win the race on a protest for crossing. Then in 2015, he was first past the post on Nikas, but the horse was later disqualified after banned substances were found in his body fluids. In 2017, Marek Stromský hopes to ride Nikas again, and he will be working on preparing two horses that will be reviving the famous colours of the Albertovec Stud, which Amant Gris carried.

A year ago, Marek Stromský seriously considered ending his career in the saddle. After the unhappy disqualification of 2015 Velka Pardubicka winner Nikas, he struggled to find motivation to continue. In the end, fortunately, he decided to go on riding, and one of his rewards was a win in the 2016 Velka Wroclawska, the biggest race over jumps in Poland. At the beginning of 2017, he is facing the upcoming season in a much better mood, and he believes he has something to look forward to this year.

“The plan for this year is quite simple,” Stromský considers. “I want to ride in as many races as possible, and, ideally, to win as many as I can.” Most jockeys will be entering the season with a similar plan, but Marek Stromský’s experience will in many cases be the decisive factor when deciding which jockey to engage.

An innovation for him this year will be a return to riding in the traditional colours of the Albertovec Stud, which have in recent years fallen into disuse. This stable is to reopen this year, with Stromský working on preparing two horses. “Mr Boček has two horses with some experience that will be at Albertovec for this year, and they’ll be trained by Mr Ministr. Waldo Pepper has come from Mr [Josef] Váňa’s stable. He won at Kolesa last year, and he has some ability over fences. The other one came from the Darhorse Centre. He’s been placed in a classic race on the flat, and we want to jump with him,” Marek Stromský says. [4-y-o Waldo Pepper won a small 3-y-o hurdles race at Kolesa last November; 4-y-o Luck Ahead was 2^nd in the Czech Two Thousand Guineas in 2016.]

Apart from riding “his own” horses, he is expected to ride for Hana Kabelková and for František Holčák, on whose Sergeant Thunder he had a lot of success last year in Poland. “We won four times together last year, and I’d like to add to that this year. [8-y-o Sergeant Thunder arrived here from the UK a year ago, and won all of his four races: one at Bratislava, in Slovakia and three at Wroclaw, in Poland. He won the both of the two biggest races over fences in Poland last year.]

“As far as I know, his owner wants to see the Sergeant run at Pardubice, and Mr [František]Holčák will presumably be preparing him for that. Whether he’ll be able to learn the jumps at Pardubice this year remains to be seen. Each horse takes to Pardubice differently. We’ll see how he does,” says Marek Stromský, who will surely want to continue riding Nikas. “I’ve had some discussions with his owner, Mr Kupka. If Nikas takes the Velka Pardubicka route this year, I’ll be happy to ride him,” he says, with reference to the horse on which he failed to finish in 2016, after they were disqualified from first place in 2015.

“I’m looking forward to this season a lot,” Marek Stromský adds, “I still enjoy riding, and I think I’d miss it if I gave it up now.”