ENGLISH TEXTS eran and stalwart french races, Roi Mage aged 12, is no stranger to the big time having finished 3 rd in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris in the past. After being purchased by current connections he moved to Ireland but is still a regular on the French shores especially in Crystal cup cross countries as he won the Compiegne edition the year before. It was a dominant display under former champion jockey and cross specialist James Reveley on Roi Mage to go and win the race by 7 lengths and give us a very poignant result. Age is just a number when it comes to these races.
The journey continues into the Italian hill to the spa town of Merano also known as the pearl of South Tyrol. A racecourse with a stunning back drop of the mountains it’ s a weekend to savor with the palm tree lined town offering plenty of things to do for race goers. Having begun in 1935 the Gran Premio Merano is the biggest jumps race in the Italian calendar and has horses from all over Europe take part. It’ s a twisting turning figure of eight circuit featuring plenty of big green hedges including three in a row that can catch out even the best. It also offers one of the biggest prize funds in any Crystal Cup with the total pot coming to 250 thousand euros. It’ s a track where specialist thrive and was most recently won four times in a row by L’ Estran and Josef Bartos. Last year’ s edition however found the winning trophy going back to Royan and the home of Guillaume Macaire and Hector de Lageneste. They are no strangers to the race having won it in 2010, 2011 and 2018 with James Reveley. This time they relied on Speed Emilie and Baptsite Le Clerc and they didn’ t disappoint winning the race by ten lengths eased down and looked like a horse that could dominate this race for many years to come.
You’ d think one nations big race would be the same as another, but you couldn’ t be more wrong. Our next race is in my opinion is one of if not the, toughest test in the Crystal Cup calendar. The Velka Pardubice in Czech Republic. Usually on the second Sunday in October It would be the most similar to the Liverpool Grand national from 15 to 20 years ago. Its over four and a half miles and has 31 obstacles including the famous Taxis fences which is only jumped once in the whole year and that’ s during this race. The taxis come up very early on in the race as the forth jump and has a huge ditch which measures 1 meter deep and 5 meters long. Not only do they have to deal with this, but a quarter of the race is ran through ploughed fields which offers a unique and tricky challenge whatever the weather. The race began in 1874 and one man stands out as from the rest, Josef Vana sr. Having won the race eight time as a jockey and ten times as a trainer, with three of those wins on Tiumen in 2009 to 2011 that he rode himself. Last year was a first for the race in its history as it was a dead heat between Sexy Lord ridden by veteran jockey Jaroslav Myska winning it for the first time and the favorite for the race Godfrey ridden by Jan Faltejsek. This was Faltejsek seventh win in the race and he will be determined to chase down the record of Vana for the most wins in the race. I for one will be attending this year to see if history can be made.
From one eastern European country to another as the Crystal Cup contenders steam onwards to Poland and Wroclaw just a week after the Velka Pardubice. The Partynice racecourse opened in 1907 after replacing another racecourse in Poland the Szczytniki and the Crystal cup event the Wielka Wroclawska steeplechase is the biggest jumps race they have. It would have the least prize money out of any of the Crystal Cup races but is a tricky test over 5000 meters with lots of twists and turning including some very big green hedges. Last years winner came from Czech Republic with Santa Clara under Josef Bartos scooting away clear after the last hurdle to win in decisive fashion. She’ s trained by Josef Vana junior for owner Scuderia Aichnir who are always very prominent in all the major race across Europe especially the Crystal Cup ones.
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