3 minute read

The race has been going since 1874, is 6.9kms long and there are 31assoted jumps to negotiate.

Horses have to be 6yo to enter and then the locals have to pass muster in one of the designated prep events.  This year's edition has 3 foreign "raiders" and one of them has a very good chance.  That is the Gordon Elliott trained Coko Beach, a 9yo gelding with Keith Donoghue booked for the ride. It's a first trip to Czechia for Coko Beach and Donoghue but Coko Beach has had success in cross countries including a third in the La Touche Cup while his jockey has won at Cheltenham and had four wins in other cross countries.  Like all the other runners they will need luck but they are a live chance to give Western Europe a first win this century.

Jeremy Pass is a former Irish runner who had now gone to the U,S, where he is trained by Joseph Davis with his son Teddy an amateur jockey on board.  This looks too tough,

Streets of Doyen is a 10y gelding trained by John McConnell with Ben Harvey to ride.  They have had success in Ireland with cross country races but this is much harder so they will need to lift quite a obit to be competitive here,

From the locals Godfrey, an Irish bred 8yo gelding has Jan Faltejsek in the saddle for Dalibor Tǒrök with the jockey going for his 7th win in the race.  They are a big chance and will probably start favourite.

Santa Klara is a 9yo mare trained by Josef Váña jr. and the ride of top jockey Josef Bartos who has been champion jockey several times and is aiming for his 4th win in the race and they too have a big chance.

The weather looks OK for Sunday about 15 degrees with sunny intervals although there is rain expected earlier in the week.

There are few races that generate as much excitement as this and the crowd will come from all over the world.  It's a family day for the locals who come with kids and dogs etc and then there will be large contingents of Brits and Irish.