Welcome to the unofficial webpages of the Velka Pardubicka Steeplechase, mainland Europes most demanding and exciting steeplechase

The Velka Pardubicka Steeplechase is run on the second Sunday in October in the town of Pardubice in the Czech Republic. The race  is widely considered to be the toughest steeplechase in Europe if not the world.

I first became aware of the race one Saturday afternoon in the mid seventies while watching the late lamented “World Of Sport” on television. On a day when the weather had wiped out the racing in Britain as a consolation a short film of the Velka was shown. It was a silent film accompanied with a strange musical soundtrack and I can only remember the site of horse after horse running (or so it seemed) headfirst into several enormous water jumps. I had never seen anything like this on a British racecourse and vowed that I would discover as much as I could about the race. I was only seven at the time and the for the next ten years all I could find out was that the race was run in a country far far away called Czechoslovakia beyond the depths of the Iron Curtain. Plumpton was more accessible.

In 1986 thanks to Essexs participation in the Grand National I was able to video a short clip of his attempt in the 1985 Velka securing my first permanent record of the race. With the fall of communism I made my first attempt at visiting the race in 1990.

Unfortunately you still needed a visa to travel to Czechoslovakia as it then was known and due to a problem with mine my journey ended at the Austrian border. As some small compensation that years race was broadcast in its entirety on British terrestrial television for the only time.

Five years later I was successful and if you forget the stressful train journey from Prague  sharing a carriage with neo-Nazis and animal rights protesters, the fact that my tickets had gone missing and were not at the hotel to be picked up, the last minute rush to find alternate seats IT WAS A BRILLIANT DAYS RACING. I witnessed the most exciting finish ever seen to a Velka and to top it all I cheered the British trained It’s a Snip to victory until my voice had completely gone. I did not return (I have a young family) until 2005 but such was the warm welcome I received from racecourse chairman Mirek Petran and his staff I vowed that a pilgramage to Pardubice, the European home of steeplechasing will become an annual event. 2006 & 2008 - it gets better every year.

I would like to thank Miroslav Nehyba, the leading authority on the race for all his help with my research and for those wonderful DVDs (my lifes work is almost complete now), Robin Healey who provides me with all the information on Czech racing throughout the year and who doesn`t mind when I crib his form guide, Miran Petran and his lovely wife for their kind hospitality on Velka weekend, Karel Simana and the staff in the press room and the lads at Course & Distance Racing. IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO VISIT THE VELKA PARDUBICKA THESE ARE THE BOYS YOU NEED TO CONTACT.

These pages are designed to act as a guide to the great race . "The Road to the Velka" page will guide you through the Czech Jumps season and hopefully point you in the right direction of a few winners if, like myself and thousands of other British and Irish racegoers you decide to take a racing break in the Czech Republic and Pardubice. A warm welcome and some excellent horse racing awaits. You won`t regret it.