Gavin Cromwell’s latest assault on the Velka Pardubicka with Final Orders is far from a fait accompli, despite his chase rating of 147. A select field of entries for this year’s 136th Velka Pardubicka includes previous winner Godfrey and a French challenger from Patrice Quinton, undisputed king of this particular genre across the Channel. With no entries, Josef Vana, currently topping the Crystal Cup leaderboard, will not be asserting his superiority on home turf.

11 entries make the prospect of the smallest field in recent years a likelihood rather than a possibility. And whilst there is still time for trainers to make supplementary entries, given the obstacles to travel, not least the high cost of fuel nowadays, this seems improbable.

Among the home-trained cadre of entries, a single race in early September holds the clue. No less than 5 of the 11 took part in the fourth qualifying race for the Velka, and they filled the first five places, led by 10 year old Godfrey, who memorably dead-heated in the big race with Sexy Lord in October 2024.

Godfrey has excellent credentials to repeat the dose, this the most recent winner in a four chase tally dating back to 2022. The September race has been his only outing in 2026, clearly focused on the main event by his trainer Dalibor Török.

Polish-bred nine year old Zarate was a 9l second in that race, but no match for the winner. On a line through him in May, he also has the beating again of High In The Sky, also from the Török stable.

The third horse in that race, Angkor Wat, trained by Stanislav Popelka, is a rare British-bred running in the Czech Republic, where French-breds dominate. He might overturn form with Zarate, but the margin with Godfrey was considerable. hs best effort this year is a 1/2l second to Hibernian over a shorter 4,500m in May at Pardubice.

The fifth horse in that race is Dumon Roclay, winner of two chases in October 24 and the following Spring. That seems a long time ago even in a country with limited jumps fixtures and his form recently suggests he’s best watched.

The most likely challenge from the home team should come from Čáryjape, third to Stumptown last year. he, Araucarias and Greek Dessert all met in the third qualifier at Pardubice in August. Araucarias had the best of that exchange behind Fort Medoc.

Which leaves three.

We can discount the old man of the party, Sacamiro, who, despite the age of 13, continues to run good races, the latest a 2 1/4l second to Ironika over 5,200m here in June. He hasn’t won for three years, which has me asking if that trend is likely to be reversed in a race of this calibre.

Nine year old Hard Roc de Kerser is a product of the Patrice Quinton school of cross country champions. Quinton is acknowledged as the master of this particular genre of the sport, but generally campaigns his horses within France, although he’s run horses at Merano and Waregem previously in the Crystal Cup.

Hard Roc de Kerser is winner of 6 of his 30 races, and has been hitting the bar in 2026 without going th extra yard to win. Placed efforts at Saumur and most recently at Le Touquet in lower rated races leave him something of a learning curve at Pardubice, but his game owners, Haras d’Erable and Ecurie des Dunes are not afraid to travel, and any French challenger is to be respected.

Which leaves the Irish challenger, Final Orders, winner of 7 of his 27 chases, including cross country events at Cheltenham in December ’25 and last March. He has prepped for this with a sharpener in a 2m4f handicap hurdle at Bellewstown, where he looked in need of the race. Cromwell knows what is required at Pardubice, and Final Orders will likely be sent off a hot favourite, and justifiably so.

See the full list of entries here