The second Sunday in October traditionally belongs to the Velka Pardubicka, and this year will be no exception. There are 16 runners – unfortunately last year’s winner Sacamiro will be missing because of an injury, as will Chelmsford, the convincing winner of the August Qualification Race. All the same, there is no shortage of interesting names on the list of runners and riders. This year’s Velka Pardubicka has also attracted some of the best competition from abroad in the whole history of the race.
Nevertheless, the favourite for the 134th running of the Velka Pardubicka with Slavia Insurance, under the aegis of the Minister of Agriculture, Marek Výborný (Listed, 6900 metres) is Czech-trained and Czech-owned Godfrey. Trained by Dalibor Török, he was already considered to have a good chance a year ago, but the mass fall at the Taxis put an end to his race. This year, his only run has been in the 1st Qualification Race, which had the strongest field of all the Qualification Races, and he was the winner. In the last few metres he got past Chelmsford, winner of a later qualification race. As has already been mentioned, Chelmsford will miss the Velka Pardubicka due to an injury, while two of the other winners of Qualification Races, Korfu and Aeneas, will be running in other races on the Velka Pardubicka day programme. Godfrey will therefore be the only horse in the field to have won one of this year’s Qualification Races. He will be ridden for the first time by Jan Faltejsek, who is the second most successful jockey in the history of the Velka Pardubicka, with 6 winning rides. He won half of these races in the same colours as he will wear on Sunday, as DS Pegas was also represented by outstanding triple winnerof the Velka Pardubicka Orphée des Blins.
Acccording to Tipsport’s odds, the main challenger to the favourite is irish-trained Coko Beach. This horse, trained by Gordon Elliott, one of the most successful present-day Irish trainers, has had a career that is very likely more distinguished than that of any previous participant in the Velka Pardubicka. Two of his 7 wins have been in group races, and he has run in each of the last 3 Aintree Grand Nationals, in which he has finished in 8th place and in 11th place. He has earned a high rating of 162 lb in England. In addition, he has had an introduction to crosscountry steeplechasing at Punchestown, winning a race there in February and finishing 3rd in the La Touche Cup in May, when he was beaten only by two horses that he was giving weight away to. His jumping reliabilty is shown by statistical data, which records just a single fall in 35 runs over jumps, and that was five years ago in a hurdles race. His jockey, Keith Donoghue, has 4 times won the Glenfarclas Crosscountry Chase at Cheltenham, the biggest crosscountry race in the UK. Three of these wins were on the phenomenal Tiger Roll.
Behind these two favourites there is a second list, consisting mainly of horses that followed Godfrey home in 3rd to 6th place in the May Qualification Race. 13-year-old veteran Star (Velek) went for victory, but was caught and overtaken by Godfrey and Chelmsford at the end of the race. Trainer Hana Kabelková’s horse will be defending his 3rd place in last year’s Velka Pardubicka.
Sexy Lord will be running for the first time in the Velka. Last year, he finished a series of winning runs with a convincing win in the Labe Stakes. The chances of trainer Martina Růžičková’s horse will no doubt be strengthened by the fact that top jockey Jaroslav Myška will be back in his saddle.
Until this year, Her Him specialized in races on grass, and last year he won the two biggest races over fences in Poland. Finishing in the first 5 in the two Qualification Races with the strongest fields showed that crosscountry races at Pardubice are also no problem for him. This will be the first Velka Pardubicka for the female team of trainer Ivana Porkátová and rider Lenka Neprašová.
Although Argano has not beaten any of the above-mentioned horses this year, he has shown in past years that he is an autumn horse. This horse, trained by Martin Liška, who will again be in his saddle, last year won the September Qualification Race, and two years ago he finished 5th in his first attempt at the Velka Pardubicka.
In September, Dulcar De Sivola (Beaurain) joined the list of horses fancied by some. He has run in the Velka Pardubicka 5 times, but he has never finished higher than in 7th place. However, he moved this summer to trainer Luboš Urbánek, and he won convincingly in the trial race for the Labe Stakes.
After 24 years, there is no horse in the Velka trained by Josef Váňa senior, and his family will be represented only by Santa Klara (Bartoš), trained by Josef Váňa junior. This mare has won several times at Merano, and last time out she won the Wielka Wroclawska, the high point of the Polish steeplechase season. Last year’s Velka Pardubicka came to an end for her at Havel’s Fence.
Like his training partner Star, Talent (Kratochvíl) is 13 years old. He won the Velka Pardubicka in 2021, and finished 2nd in the race in 2022 and 2023. However, in his only outing this season he was well beaten. Trainer Hana Kabelková’s third runner is Del Rey ( Kocman). This winner of the May Qualification Race in 2022 returned to the track this year after an absence of 2 years, and fulfilled the qualification conditions by finishing in 4th place in the September Qualification Race.
The 3rd 13-year-old horse in the race is Lombargini (Odložil), trained by Stanislav Popelka, which sprung a surprise by finishing in 4th place a year ago. Player (Novák), trained by Lenka Kvapilová, has finished 2nd in the Velka Pardubicka. However this achievement was 4 years ago, and this year he has finished among the backmarkers in three of the Qualification Races. On the other hand, the youngest horse in the field, High In The Sky (Vyhnálek), is on the way up. This is Godfrey’s stablemate. He only joined the crosscountry chasers elite this year, when he took 4th place and 2nd place in the two Qualification Races which had comparatively weak fields.
It remains to introduce the 3 remaining horses that are trained abroad. Although they are below the quality of Coko Beach, that does not necessarily mean that they will only be making up the numbers. Slovak trainer Marián Štangel‘s Zataro (Best) is at home at Pardubice racecourse, where he can for example boast a second place in the Labe Stakes. The second Irish-trained horse, Streets of Doyen (Harvey), is trained by John McConnell. Although he has won 7 races, and reached a very good rating of 142 lb, his more recent runs have been disappointing. Jeremy Pass competes under the American flag, because he recently moved to trainer Joseph Davies, whose son Teddy Davies will be in the saddle. In any event, all Jeremy Pass‘s races until now have been in Britain and Ireland. Until recently, he ran mainly in point-to-points, but in June he won a hunters chase that had quite a good field.
Tipster’s verdict:
Triple participant in the Aintree Grand National Coko Beach is the highest class horse in the field, and he also has experience of crosscountry racing at Punchestown. Neverthelss, Pardubice’s crosscountry races are something different. A safer tip is therefore GODFREY, which already shaped up well last year and this year won what appeared to be the Qualification Race with the strongest field. Last year’s third past the post in the Velka, Star, is not getting any younger, but in the first Qualification Race this year he was in contention for the leading places. 4th place behind behind these two went to Sexy Lord, which is likely to set the pace in this year‘s Velka. Behind these in the first Qualification Race was Her Him, which had previously specialized in races on grass tracks. However, after gaining experience in crosscountry races at Pardubice, he can be a tip to spring a surprise. Unlike in past years, Dulcar de Sivola can be a contender, after improving considerably following a move to a new trainer. Argano has not shown as good form this year as in the past, but his performances may improve in the autumn, as in previous years, and the defensive tactics used on him may be more successful over the longer distance. Although he has not yet shown as much as in previous years, his form may improve in the autumn, and the defensive tactics that are used on him may be more effective over the longer distance of the Velka. Santa Klara is an interesting runner, though her participation in the million-crown Qualification Race was not a test her stamina. (Ondřej Blahník)
Tip: Godfrey – Coko Beach – Star
There are six other attractive races on the Velka Pardubicka day programme. With a single exception these are Category I races, and the list of runners include a number of stars of Czech crosscountry chasing.
Note that the first race is at 11:30, and the highlight of the day’s racing is scheduled for 16:00. If you are not able to get to the racecourse in person, Czech television will again as usual carry a direct transmission of the entire day’s racing.
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